For I was my father's son. This is more than the mere statement of a physical fact. It indicates that the teacher was in the highest degree an object of endearment to his father, just as he states in the second hemistich that he held a unique position in the affection of his mother.
`The statement agrees with the historical record. Solomon would be more than ordinarily dear to his father, as being a child of promise, as "the beloved of the Lord," and as the son whom the Divine will had pointed as the successor to his throne, and the one on whom was to devolve the building of the temple (see 2 Samuel 7:12, 2 Samuel 7:13; 2 Samuel 12:24; 1 Chronicles 22:9).
Bertheau explains, "I also once stood in the relation to my (actual) father in which you stand to me your paternal instructor," thus giving prominence rather to the consecution of the passage, and preparing the way for the reception of the father's advice which is to follow.
But this rather loses sight of what appears an important element in the instruction, that not only was it "good," but that it was dictated by affection. The writer is fortifying and strengthening his instruction by the authority of his father, showing that what he was laying before others he had had placed before him; and as his father's advice was the outcome of affection, so he addresses his hearers in the same spirit.
Dathe and others connect "tender" rak) with "son" (ben), and render, "I was a son dear to my father." So the LXX; which, however, understands "tender" in the sense of "tractable," "obedient:" "For I was an obedient son to my father"—a meaning which the word rak can only bear as indicating the susceptibility of the young to receive impressions.
In general, rak means "tender," "soft," and has reference to the weakness and helplessness of the young; comp. Genesis 33:13, "My lord knoweth that the children are tender (rakkim)." Combined with yakhid, which follows, it signifies, in the passage before us, that the teacher was an object of tender care or love.
The Vulgate tenellus, the diminutive of tener, as signifying "somewhat tender or delicate," reproduces the idea of the Hebrew rak. In the word the teacher recalls his early lifo and the instruction in wisdom which he received in it.
Only beloved; literally, only (yakhid), as "beloved" does not occur in the original. The Vulgate renders, unigenitus; Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, μονογενής, i.e. "only begotten:" but this was not literally the fact, as Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, had other sons (2 Samuel 5:14; 1 Chronicles 3:5).
Both the Hebrew yakhid, "only," and the Vulgate unigenitus, "only begotten," consequently signify what is expressed by the LXX. ἀγαπώμενος, i.e. "beloved." Solomon was so beloved of his mother as if he were an only child.
So yakhid is used of Isaac in Genesis 22:2, Genesis 22:12 in the same way, since at the time that Isaac was so designated, Ishmael, the other son of Abraham, was still living. The word yakhid occurs in Psalms 22:20, where it is rendered "darling," and may possibly refer to Solomon.
Jennings, in Psalms 22:20, understands it, however, of the life besides which the psalmist has no other—unicam meam, as the Vulgate, i.e. "his only life" (cf. Psalms 35:17; and for the word yakhid, see Jeremiah 5:26; Amos 8:10; Zechariah 12:10).
In the sight of my mother (liph'ne immi); literally, ad facies matris meae, or, before my mother; Vulgate, coram matre mea, i.e. in her estimation (cf. Genesis 17:18). The mention of the mother is probably introduced here for the sake of poetic parallelism; cf.
Proverbs 1:8 (Zockler).