Solomon Admires His Bride’s Beauty
1 Christ sets forth the graces of the church. 8 He showed his love to her. 16 The church prayed to be made fit for his presence.
Son 4:1 How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are doves. Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from the hills of Gilead.
The principal speaker thus far in the song has been the Shulamite maid. Now begins the most extended speech of the bridegroom. The reminiscent address extols the beauty of the bride and culminates in a proposal for marriage, which is accepted.
Doves’ eyes. See ch. 1:15.
The veil worn by many Eastern women is a dark cloth that is suspended from the head. The forehead and the eyes are left uncovered. This veil covers not only all the face except the forehead and eyes, but also the neck, and hangs loosely down over the bosom.
A flock of goats. Her hair is black and sleek like the hair of Palestinian goats, which were mostly black or dark brown in color.
Son 4:2 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn, coming up from the washing. Each has its twin; not one of them is alone.
Flock of sheep. The teeth are beautifully white, well formed, and evenly paired. None is missing.
Son 4:3 Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon; your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like the halves of a pomegranate.
Son 4:4 Your neck is like the tower of David, built with courses of stone; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors
Son 4:5 Your breasts are like two fawns, like twin fawns of a gazelle that browse among the lilies.
Son 4:6 Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of incense.
This seems to be another refrain, perhaps spoken by the bride in her modesty and humility, to check the fervor of the bridegroom. He, however, immediately continues to pour forth his love with new expressions of affection.
Son 4:7 You are altogether beautiful, my darling; there is no flaw in you.
Jesus is represented as saying these words to the church, His bride.
Son 4:8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, come with me from Lebanon. Descend from the crest of Amana, from the top of Senir, the summit of Hermon, from the lions’ dens and the mountain haunts of leopards.
Amana. The Anti-Lebanon Mts. Shenir. The Amorite as well as the Ugaritic and Akkadian name for Mt. Hermon (see Deut. 3:9). The two mountains may stand in apposition here, or Shenir may be a prominent peak of Hermon. Solomon wants the Shulamite maiden to leave all the beautiful mountains of her northern country land.
Son 4:9 You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.
Son 4:10 How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much more pleasing is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfume more than any spice!
Son 4:11 Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride; milk and honey are under your tongue. The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.
Son 4:12 You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.
Under the symbolic expression of an enclosed garden King Solomon proposes marriage, and under the same symbol is accepted by the Shulamite maiden (v. 16).
No one has ever entered this garden, no one has ever tasted this fountain, the seal of this fountain has never been broken.
Son 4:13 Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, with henna and nard,
Son 4:14 nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with every kind of incense tree, with myrrh and aloes and all the finest spices.
Son 4:15 You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon.
The language of this verse has been used to describe the ever-refreshing draughts that may be drawn from the Word of God.
Together in the Garden of Love
Son 4:16 Awake, north wind, and come, south wind! Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread everywhere. Let my beloved come into his garden and taste its choice fruits.
This is the answer of the Shulamite. She invites him into his garden to eat of his fruits.