I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains.
Parallel Translations
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I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains.
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I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
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'I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
Cross-references (27)
Passages linked to Song of Solomon 1:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Song of Solomon 2:14 My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places of the mountainside, let me see your face. let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely.
- Luke 15:22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet.
- Psalms 120:5 Woe is me, that I live in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
- Song of Solomon 2:7 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires.
- Song of Solomon 5:8 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love.
- Song of Solomon 5:16 His mouth is sweetness; yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.
- 2 Corinthians 5:21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
- Song of Solomon 4:3 Your lips are like scarlet thread. Your mouth is lovely. Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind your veil.
- Song of Solomon 6:4 You are beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.
- Isaiah 60:7 All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered together to you. The rams of Nebaioth will serve you. They will be accepted as offerings on my altar; and I will beautify my glorious house.
- Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My soul will be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
- Ezekiel 16:14 Your renown went out among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- Matthew 10:25 It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household!
- Matthew 22:11 But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who didn’t have on wedding clothing,
- Luke 13:34 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused!
- Romans 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.
- 1 Corinthians 4:10-13 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You have honor, but we have dishonor. Even to this present hour we hunger, thirst, are naked, are beaten, and have no certain dwelling place. We toil, working with our own hands. When people curse us, we bless. Being persecuted, we endure. Being defamed, we entreat. We are made as the filth of the world, the dirt wiped off by all, even until now.
- Song of Solomon 8:4 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires.
- Isaiah 53:2 For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no good looks or majesty. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
- Galatians 4:26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
- Ephesians 5:26 that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,
- 1 John 3:1 See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him.
- Psalms 45:9 Kings’ daughters are among your honorable women. At your right hand the queen stands in gold of Ophir.
- Psalms 90:17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us. Establish the work of our hands for us. Yes, establish the work of our hands.
- Psalms 149:4 For Yahweh takes pleasure in his people. He crowns the humble with salvation.
- Song of Solomon 3:5 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up nor awaken love, until it so desires.
- Song of Solomon 3:10 He made its pillars of silver, its bottom of gold, its seat of purple, the middle of it being paved with love, from the daughters of Jerusalem.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain She confesseth her own negligence.
She confesseth her own negligence.
The corruption of nature through sin and afflictions.
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Mine own brethren, which should have most favored me.
Consider not the Church by the outward appearance.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Son 1:5 I [am] black, but comely, O ye…
Son 1:5 I [am] black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
Ver. 5. I am black, but comely.] Heb., Black as the morning, or day dawning, which hath light and darkness, dimness at least, mixed together. It is not Hως ροδοδακτυλος, wherein there is more light than darkness, but κροκοπεπλος, wherein there is more darkness than light, as the grammarians distinguish. {a} This morning light is lovely, though not pure; so is the Church comely, though not dear. The coy daughters of Jerusalem might make a wonderment, that so black a dowdy, as the Church appeared to them that saw not her inward beauty, should ever hope to have love from the "fairest among men." We read how Aaron and Miriam murmured against Moses, who was "fair to God," {b} because of the brown skinned woman whom he had married. {Num 12:1} For answer to whom the spouse here grants that she is black, or blackish at least: - (1.) As having some hypocrites in her bosom, that as that blasted grain {c} {Mat 13:25} smutcheth and sullieth the better sort; (2.) As being not fully freed from sin till after death. Sin is dejected, indeed, in the saints, but not utterly ejected while they are here. For what reason? It is in them as the spots of the leopard, not by accident, but by nature, which no art can cure, no water can wash off, because they are not in the skin, but in the flesh and bones, in the sinews and the most inward parts. Howbeit the Church is freed from the damning and domineering power of sin. And whereas (3.) She is looked upon as "black," {Job 30:30 Lam 4:8 Jer 8:21} because of her afflictions, those fruits of sin, and seems to have lain among the pots, as the Psalmist hath it, places where scullions use to lie, and so are black and collied, yet shall she be "as the wings of a dove that are covered with silver," &c. {Psa 68:13} Though she "sit in darkness, the Lord shall give her light." {Mic 7:8} And as black soap makes white clothes, so do sharp afflictions make holy hearts, where God is pleased to set in with his battle door, as that martyr said. {d} Puriores caelo afflictione facti sunt, saith Chrysostom of those that were praying for Peter. {Act 12:13-17} And "some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white," saith the prophet of those suffering saints. {Dan 11:35} The face of the Church is never so beautiful as when it is washed with its own tears; as some faces appear most orientally fair when they are most instamped with sorrow. Christ did so. {Isa 52:14}
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But comely.] Or, Goodly, lovely, desirable, delectable, viz., for my double righteousness, those righteousnesses of the saints, {Rev 19:8} imputed and imparted. Hence the Church may better sing than Sappho did -
“ Si mihi difficilis formam natura negavit,
Iustitia formae damna rependo meae.
Ingenio formae damna rependo meae. ” - Ovid. Epist.
As the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.] Kedar signifieth black; and the Kedarens, a people of Arabia, descended from Ishmael, dwelt in black tents, made of hair cloth, and had no other houses; {e} they also dwelt not far from the Ethiopians, or blackmoors. {2Ch 21:16}
As the curtains, &c., ] i.e., As his costly tapestry and other sumptuous household stuff, whereof read 1Ki 10:1-2, &c. Josephus {f} also makes mention of the Babylonish rich furniture wherewith Solomon’s rooms were hanged. These are to set forth the Church’s comeliness, as the other did her homeliness. Let none be despised for his outward meanness; for within that leathern purse may be a pearl. Christ himself was hidden under the carpenter’s son and a poor outside. {Isa 53:2}
“ Saepe sub attrita latitat sapientia veste. ”
Often under the surface lies hidden the vesture of wisdom.
{a} Eustath. in Hom. Odyss.
{b} αστειος τω Yεω. {Act 7:20}
{c} ζιζανιον, frumentum adustum,
{d} Acts and Mon., 1486.
{e} Plin., lib. vi. cap 28; Solin., cap. 26; Isa 13:20
{f} Joseph., Antiq., lib. viii. 5.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I am black. It might be objected, Who art…
I am black. It might be objected, Who art thou, that thou shouldst have or pretend to such a royal Bridegroom, and such honours and favours? To this the church answers, I confess, as to myself and outward appearance in the eyes of the world, I have not that pomp and beauty which men admire, but am black, contemptible and deformed, both for my own infirmities and disorders, and for the scandals of some of my own members, and for the reproaches and persecutions of worldly men. She alludes to the complexion of Pharaoh’s daughter, who was black.
But comely; yet I am glorious within, Psa 45:13, and comely, through the beauty which my Husband hath put upon me, by his graces and blessings conferred upon me, such as justification and sanctification, &c.
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Daughters of Jerusalem; by which she understands particular believers, whose mother Jerusalem is called, Gal 4:26, who had joined themselves to her, especially young converts and weak Christians, who were startled and offended at the contemplation of her blackness.
Of Kedar, i.e. of the wild Arabians, the posterity of Kedar, Gen 25:13, who dwelt in tents, which were black and uncomely, both in themselves, and by the injuries of the weather, to which they were constantly exposed.
As the curtains of Solomon; as the hangings wherewith Solomon’s house was furnished, which none can doubt that they were most beautiful and glorious. So these two last clauses answer to the two first, and that in the same order in which they lie.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Black - I confess, as to myself, I am…
Black - I confess, as to myself, I am contemptible and deformed. She alludes to the complexion of Pharaoh's daughter. Comely - Yet I am glorious within, and comely through the beauty which my husband hath put upon me, by his graces conferred upon me, in justification and sanctification. Daughters - By which she understands particular believers, whose mother, Jerusalem is called, Gal. iv, 26. The tents - Of the wild Arabians, the posterity of Kedar, Gen. xxv, 13, who dwelt in tents, and were black and uncomely. The curtains - As the hangings wherewith Solomon's house was furnished, which none can doubt were most beautiful and glorious. So these two last clauses answer to the two first, and that in the same order in which they lie.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. I am black, but comely] This is…
Verse 5. I am black, but comely] This is literally true of many of the Asiatic women; though black or brown, they are exquisitely beautiful. Many of the Egyptian women are still fine; but their complexion is much inferior to that of the Palestine females. Though black or swarthy in my complexion, yet am I comely - well proportioned in every part.
As the tents of Kedar] I am tawny, like the tents of the Arabians, and like the pavilions of Solomon, probably covered by a kind of tanned cloth. The daughters of Jerusalem are said to represent the synagogue; the bride, the Church of Christ. It is easy to find spiritual meanings: every creed will furnish them.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Son 1:5. I am black — I confess, as…
Son 1:5. I am black — I confess, as to myself, I am contemptible and deformed. She alludes to the complexion of Pharaoh’s daughter; but comely — Yet I am glorious within, Psa 45:13; and comely, through the beauty which my husband hath put upon me, by his graces conferred upon me, in justification and sanctification. O ye daughters — By which she understands particular believers, whose mother Jerusalem is called, Gal 4:26. As the tents of Kedar — Of the wild Arabians, the posterity of Kedar, (Gen 25:13,) who dwelt in tents, which were black and uncomely. As the curtains of Solomon — As the hangings wherewith Solomon’s house was furnished, which none can doubt were most beautiful and glorious. So these two last clauses answer to the two first, and that in the same order in which they lie.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain This section is made by the Targumist and other…
This section is made by the Targumist and other Jewish interpreters to adumbrate the condition of Israel in the wilderness; by some Christian expositors, that of the Gentile Church on her first conversion.
Son 1:5
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I am black ... - Dark-hued, as the tents of Kedar with their black goats’ hair coverings, rough and weather-stained, “but comely (beautiful) as the rich hangings which adorn the pavilion of Solomon. Kedar was the name of an Arab tribe Gen 25:13; Psa 120:5. The word itself signifies “dark” or “black.” Possibly “tents of Kedar” stand here poetically for shepherds’ tents in general Isa 60:7.
Son 1:6
Look not upon me - In wonder or scorn at my swarthy hue. It was acquired in enforced but honest toil: the sun hath scanned me (or “glared upon me”) with his burning eye. The second word rendered “looked” is a word twice found in Job Job 20:9; Job 28:7, and indicates in the latter place the piercing glance of a bird of prey.
My mother’s children, - Or, sons; a more affectionate designation than “brothers,” and implying the most intimate relationship.
Angry - This anger was perhaps but a form of jealous care for their sister’s safety (compare Son 8:12). By engaging her in rustic labors they preserved her from idleness and temptation, albeit with a temporary loss of outward comeliness.
Mine own vineyard - A figurative expression for herself or her beauty.
Son 1:7
whom my soul loveth - A phrase recurring several times. It expresses great intensity of affection.
Feedest - i. e., “Pursuest thy occupation as a shepherd;” so she speaks figuratively of the Son of David. Compare Son 2:16; Son 6:3; Psa 23:1.
Rest - Or, lie down; a term properly used of the couching of four-footed animals: “thy flock” is here therefore easily understood. Compare Eze 34:14-15; Psa 23:2; Jer 50:6.
As one that turneth aside - Or, goeth astray like an outcast.
Son 1:8
The chorus, and not the king, are the speakers here. Their meaning seems to be: If thy beloved be indeed a shepherd, then seek him yonder among other shepherds, but if a king, thou wilt find him here in his royal dwelling.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Altered. Hebrew, "looked upon me," (Protestants) or "darted his…
Altered. Hebrew, "looked upon me," (Protestants) or "darted his rays at me." (Montanus) (Haydock) --- The Church of the Gentiles was quite disfigured before Christ chose it. Persecutors afterwards strove to tarnish its beauty, but in vain. --- Vineyard. My face (Calmet) and person I have not regarded, while I was attentive to serve others. (Haydock) --- Pastors, who are chosen against their will, sometimes pay so much attention to the welfare of their flock, that they neglect their own interior, and fall into small faults, which Christ will know how to excuse and pardon, Ezechiel xxxiii. 2. (St. Bernard, ser. xxx.) (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5. Daughters of Jerusalem — The “daughters of Jerusalem”…
5. Daughters of Jerusalem — The “daughters of Jerusalem” are, like the Greek chorus, a group of bystanders in close sympathy with the representation, whose part in it serves to explain and aid the general action.
Tents of Kedar — An Arab tribe, that, like the modern gipsies, often intruded itself among the villages of Palestine, was a familiar sight. As the curtains, etc. — The hangings of the pavilions, etc. The contrast would not be between a tent and a palace, but between the coarse hair-cloth tents of Kedar and the summer pavilions of the king, which, as Eastern rulers still do, he might pitch in some attractive spot for change of air and for recreation. In such a pavilion this song opens.
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Comely — That is, graceful.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. Here the Shulammite, under the inquisitive glances of…
5. Here the Shulammite, under the inquisitive glances of the court ladies, who probably desire to see whether they have in any degree accomplished their purpose of rousing her admiration for the king, remembers her rustic appearance, and explains that the swarthy colour which is so different from theirs, is not natural or permanent, and asserts her equality in beauty.
I am black] Better, swart. The word denotes here, not blackness as of a negro or of a horse (cp. Zec_6:2; Zec_6:6), but the ruddy or brown hue of sunburning; though with poetic exaggeration the speaker compares herself to the Bedouin tents of camel’s hair, for blackness, and to the brilliantly coloured curtains of Solomon’s tent, for beauty.
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Kedar] i.e. black, was the name of a tribe of nomads whose eponymous ancestor was (Gen_25:13) a son of Ishmael. They wandered in the Arabian desert towards Babylonia, and are called Kidru in the cuneiform inscriptions.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) As the tents of Kedar—i.e., Dark as the…
(5) As the tents of Kedar—i.e., Dark as the Kedareen tents of black goats’ hair, beautiful as the royal pavilions with their rich hangings. For a similar style of parallelism, comp. Isa_15:3 : “On her housetops, and to her open streets, every one howleth, descendeth with weeping.” For Kedar, see Gen_25:13.
As the poet puts this description of the lady’s complexion into her own mouth, we must understand it as a little playful raillery, which is immediately redeemed by a compliment. It also prepares the way for the reminiscence of an interesting passage in her early life. See next verse.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of…
I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. The word "black" (hrwOjv) does not necessarily mean that the skin is black, but rather sunburnt, dark brown, as in Lam_4:8, where the same word signifies the livid or swarthy appearance of one who has suffered long from famine and wretchedness. There is certainly no reason to take the word as an argument for the bride being Pharaoh"s daughter; but it points to what is confirmed by the rest of the poem the rustic birth and northern blood of the bride. She has been living in the fields, and is browned with the ruddy health of a country life. The best explanation of the words is that they are drawn out by the fact that the bride is surrounded by her ladies. Some think that they look askance at her, or with indignation at the boldness of her words; but that is quite unnecessary, and would be inconsistent with the dignity of the bride. The country maiden feels the greatness of the honour, that she is chosen of the king, and with simple modesty, in the presence of courtly ladies around her, sets forth her claim. The simile is not uncommon in poetry, as in Theocritus and Virgil. Comely; i.e. attractive, agreeable. Kedar (whether from the Arabic, meaning "powerful," or from the Hebrew, "black") designates the tribes of the North Arabian descendants of Ishmael, (Gen_25:13 Isa_21:17) Kedareens, referred to by Pliny, and remaining in Arabia until the time of the Mohammedans. The Bedouin still calls his tent his "hair house;" it is covered with goat"s-hair cloth, mostly black or grey. Whether the reference is to the colour of the goat"s hair or to the tents being browned or blackened by the heat of the sun, we cannot doubt that the allusion is to the complexion, and the rest of the simile would then be applicable to the lovely shape and features of the maiden, the curtains of Solomon being the curtains of a pavilion, or pleasure tent, spread out like "a shining butterfly," i.e. the beautiful cloth or tapestry which formed the sides of the tent or the tent coverings, the clothing of the framework, or tent hangings. (see Isa_54:2 Exo_26:36 2Sa 7 1Ch_17:1, etc.) Egyptian hangings were particularly prized. The custom prevailed among Eastern monarchs of sojourning once in the year in some lovely rural district, and at such times their tents would be very magnificent. The LXX has, wv derrev Solomwn , "as the skins of Solomon;" but this is a mistake. The word is derived from a root "to tremble," i.e. "to glitter in the sun." Those who desire to find an allegorical interpretation think there is an evident allusion here to the sojourn of Israel in the wilderness, or the admission of the Gentiles into the covenant; but there is no reason for any such strain upon the meaning. The simile is merely poetical. The soul realizes its own acceptance before God, but ascribes that acceptance to his grace. "The bride, the Lamb"s wife," sees the beauty of the Lord reflected in herself, and rejoices in her own attractions for his sake. There is no immodesty in the consciousness of merit so long as that merit is ascribed to him from whom it comes. There is often more pride in the assumption of humility than in the claim to be acknowledged. The same apostle who declared himself less than the least of all saints also maintained that he was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
Vers. 5-8. Dialogue between the bride and the chorus.
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I THE BRIDE"S SENSE OF UNWORTHINESS.
1. I am black. " The country maiden loved by the great king feels her own imperfections; she artlessly describes her misgivings to the daughters of Jerusalem, who constitute the chorus; she has been accustomed to rustic occupations; she has been ill-treated; the sun has embrowned her cheeks till she is black as the tents of Kedar, the tents of goat"s hair in which the wandering Arabs lived. The Christian soul knows its guilt. Worship begins ever with confession; when we draw near to Christ, we are most sensible of the plague of our own hearts. Christians will find help and comfort in communion with the like minded; they will tell them their spiritual troubles; but such holy communion can be held only with the like minded, with the daughters of Jerusalem. Christians sometimes have home troubles; they seem unable to keep their own vineyard, to attend to their own spiritual needs, because other work is forced upon them, because their time is taken up in matters which seem not to belong to their peace; they must be patient and meek, and wait for the Bridegroom"s call.
2. But comely. " In her artless simplicity she mentions her own beauty: she is fair as the curtains of Solomon. The king, we may suppose, had a stately pavilion in the Lebanon country, near the dwelling of the bride. The Christian recognizes with humble and adoring thankfulness the working of the Spirit of God within his soul. "By the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed on me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me." If God is drawing us nearer to himself we must know it. True unaffected humility recognizes his working in our unworthy hearts, and longs to be found in Christ, "not having mine own righteousness, which is of the Law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." The bride compares herself to the curtains of Solomon; the Christian owes whatever he may possess of the beauty of holiness to his communion with the King of saints.
II THE BRIDE"S LONGING FOR THE BRIDEGROOM"S PRESENCE.
1. Her seeking love. He is not with her now, but her soul goeth forth to him; she apostrophizes her absent lord, and pours forth her yearning in the presence of her companions.
(1) The address: "Thou whom my soul loveth." It is an expression of intense affection, repeated several times in the song. (Son_3:1, Son_3:2, Son_3:3, Son_3:4) The love of Christ is the life spring of the Christian heart. That love, when real and true, makes the Christian seek always, every day and every hour, the blessed presence of the Saviour. That love is the soul"s love. It is not a thing of words and phrases, not a matter of outward form and observance; it is treasured deep in the heart; it is the mainspring of life and action; it comes to Christ with the question, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" and that in the ordinary concerns of life, in the trifles, the little joys and sorrows of everyday life, as well as in the emergencies that come now and then, the dangers and distresses which cross our path from time to time. That true, deep love is exceedingly precious; it is the perfect love that casteth out fear; it can answer like St. Peter, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee." It is of all graces the holiest and the best; it is the first of the fruits of the Spirit; it is granted to the believer in answer to fervent persevering prayer. May we whose hearts have long been so cold and dead seek it, and gain it to be our own through the forgiving mercy of our God!
(2) She asks where he feeds his flock. The King of Israel is represented as a shepherd like his father David. The bride thinks more of his love than of his magnificence; she would have loved him with the same entire devotion had he been in her own lowly position. Perhaps it was a relief to her to regard him sometimes not as a king, but as a shepherd; perhaps the great king had been pleased to assume such a character for a time to give pleasure to his beloved one. The bride seems sometimes to hint that this description is figurative; (Son_2:16 Son_6:2, Son_6:3) she speaks of the son of David in language like that which David himself had used of Almighty God. (Psa_23:1, Psa_23:2) The Lord Jesus Christ is the good Shepherd; he laid down his life for the sheep; he knoweth his own, and his own know him. He is King of kings and Lord of lords; but it is a relief to the soul, dazzled by the awful glory of the Godhead, to remember that he laid his glory by that he might save us; and to think of him as made like unto us in all things, sin only excepted, and therefore touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and able to succour them that are tempted. She asks where he feeds his flock. It is like the aspiration of Job, "Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!" The Christian soul yearns for the good Shepherd, to draw ever nearer to him, to share his love and mercy. He maketh his sheep to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth them beside the waters of rest. He feeds them; for he is the Bread of life the Bread that came down from heaven to give life unto the world. Their prayer is, "Lord, evermore give us this bread." They feed on him in the daily life of faith, and in the blessed sacrament. His presence in the heart is the food, the life of the soul. "He that cometh unto me," he saith," shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." And he maketh his flock to rest at noon. In the hot sultry noon of life, amid troubles and anxieties and cares, he giveth rest. The weary and the heavy laden accept his gracious invitation; they find rest rest for their souls. There is no other rest for this restless, anxious soul of ours, but only that rest which he giveth rest in the Lord. He can give rest in the midst of trouble, rest even in the busy noon of life; such rest as Daniel found in his many cares, when he kneeled upon his knees and made his supplications three times a day; such rest as St. Paul found when he had learned to count all things as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord.
2. Her years. Compare Gesenius, s.v., " Lest I be as one who faints by the flocks of thy companions; lest I should wander in search of thee from flock to flock, languid even to fainting through the noontide heat." The bride seeks the king himself. His companions may be kind and good, but they are not the beloved. The soul seeks the good Shepherd. Other shepherds may be doing what they can to feed the flock of God, (see 1Pe_5:2-4) but they can only bring the flock to the chief Shepherd. He is the Desire of all nations; he only is the Saviour; without him we can do nothing. It is not safe to wander from flock to flock, to heap up to ourselves teachers. (2Ti_4:3) We must seek Christ himself, for the true sheep are his; they hear his voice and follow him. They that are his shall never perish; no man is able to pluck them out of his Father"s hand. But they must not listen to other voices which are not his; they must watch with earnest attention for the voice of the good Shepherd, and attend to every intimation of his will; they must ask him with loving entreaty thou whom my soul loveth by what way, in what path, he is to be found; they must not weary themselves in wandering from teacher to teacher, seeking always, like the Athenians, to hear some new things; they must walk in the old paths, where is the good way; and they will find rest, for they will find, not Solomon, whose name means "peace," but the Prince of Peace himself, who giveth peace, the peace of God, to all who seek his face with faithful and true hearts.
III THE COUNSEL OF THE DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM.
1. The address. "O thou fairest among women." The bride is addressed by the chorus in the same words in two other places. (Son_5:9 Son_6:1) She had described herself as "black, but comely." The daughters of Jerusalem see in her the fairest among women. Jerusalem was the holy city, the dwelling place of the great King. Her daughters are the saints, the children of the kingdom. The true Christian knows his own sinfulness, though he feels with thankfulness the work of grace within his heart; other Christians recognize in him the beauty of holiness. There must be no jealousies among the people of God; they must not dispute among themselves, as even apostles once did, who should be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven; they must gladly acknowledge the workings of the grace of God in other Christian souls; they will do so the more generously, the nearer they themselves are to the Lord.
2. The direction. "If thou know not," they say; as if to intimate that one so highly favoured must surely know the way herself. They can but guide her to the old way where all the saints have walked; she must follow the tracks of the sheep, the footsteps of the flock. They have followed the good Shepherd; she must do the like. "Be ye followers of me," said St. Paul, "even as I also am of Christ." It is good to read the lives of the saints, to study the graces of holy men. Holy Scripture bids us to follow their faith, considering the end of their conversation. But the bride is also told to feed her kids beside the shepherds" tents. We shall most surely find the Lord in faithful work for him. It he is to us what he was to the bride, "O thou whom my soul loveth;" if we can say in truth, "Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee," we shall surely hear his voice speaking in our hearts, "Feed my lambs;" "Feed my sheep." Those who, like St. Paul, labour most abundantly for Christ (if only that labour is wrought in faith and love) are sure, like St. Paul, themselves to win Christ and to be found in him. "He that watereth shall be watered also himself;" "They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever." Christ is most surely found by those faithful servants who do their best to bring others to the Lord.
Vers. 5, 6. Low estimate of self.
A genuine Christian will take a modest estimate of himself. "He has learnt not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think." Many Christians undervalue themselves; and though this practice is not so obnoxious in the eyes of others as over valuation, yet this also is a fault. It is better to pass no judgment on ourselves; it is seldom called for; it is often a folly.
1. EXTERNAL BLEMISH. "I am black.
2. This blemish (if it be one) is very superficial; it is only skin deep. A strong comparison is employed to convey more vividly the impression as the tents of Kedar." These were manufactured from camel"s hair, and, from long exposure to sun and dew, were in colour a dingy black. So when a Christian views himself as he appears externally to others, he sees, perhaps, his ignorance, his poverty, his imperfections, his obscurity, the contempt with which he is regarded by others, If the heavenly Friend should view him only in his outward appearance, he is devoid of attraction, destitute of ordinary beauty.
3. This blemish arises from the hard treatment of others. "My mother"s children were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards." Compulsion was used. The speaker had been coerced into employment which was menial and exhausting. It demanded long exposure to scorching sun and to chilling dews. The effect was to mar the beauty of the countenance. Yet the eye of love would detect beneath the surface a richer beauty the beauty of patient obedience and unmurmuring submission. Men of the world may oppress and persecute; they cannot injure character. Earthly kings and magistrates may scourge and imprison the bride of Christ; they may despoil her of much external comeliness; but in the eye of reason in the eye of God she is more comely than before. Only the dross is consumed; real excellence of soul comes clearer into view.
4. Or this may be a real blemish through self-neglect. "My own vineyard have I not kept." Possibly, in the endurance of such hardships, it might have been possible to escape the blemish. Suitable precautions were not taken. Under stress of cruel compulsion, there had been a feeling of self-abandonment a weak yielding to despair. It is hard to maintain a heavenly temper under daily provocations; yet it can be done. It is hard to cultivate the Christian graces amid scenes of suffering and mockery; yet it ought to be done. The King Omnipotent has said, "My grace is sufficient for thee." We shall render the most faithful and useful service to others when we maintain in vigour our own piety. The healthful face of a holy character must under no circumstances be neglected.
II INTERNAL BEAUTY. Though black (i.e. sun-browned), she was yet "comely yea, beauteous "as the curtains of Solomon." Likely enough, there is in this poetic drama a conversation, the parts of which are not distinctly marked. Likely enough, the daughters of Jerusalem here interject the remarks, "comely;" "as the curtains of Solomon.
1. The judgment of others respecting us is often more equitable than self-judgment. Some persons, confessedly, have a sad habit of overrating their virtues; but others are diffident and over-modest they are given to self-depreciation. Through a jealousy for truth, or through a fear of self-delusion, they underrate their real goodness. As we can judge the merit of a painting or a statue a little distance removed, so a judicious onlooker can often more accurately judge us than we can judge ourselves. It is better for our comfort and for our usefulness neither to underrate nor to overrate ourselves. Very precious is the inward spirit of truth.
2. Internal beauty is preferable to external. It is not so apparent to the eye of man, but it is more prized by God, by angels, and by the best class of men. It is superior in itself, because it belongs to the soul. It is more influential for good. It brings more joy to the possessor. It is permanent, and outlasts all changes of time and pain and death. The genuine Christian may be poor in earthly wealth, but he is endowed with the treasures of heaven. He may wear coarse and homespun apparel, yet his soul is clothed in a robe of perfect righteousness. His face may be marred with suffering and ploughed with the effects of arduous toil, yet is he comely with holiness and beautified by the hand of the great Artificer.
3. Internal beauty is obtained through self-sacrificing service. The bride was really comely, though she had been compelled to work, like a slave, in the vineyards; yea, she was comely in character, as the result of this toil. Very true is it that no persecution can injure us; it brings, sooner or later, real advantage. The noblest characters have been fashioned and burnished in the furnace of suffering. Even of the Son of God we are told that "he learned obedience by the things which he suffered." The statue is not perfected until it has felt ten thousand strokes of the chisel. The diamond does not sparkle at its best until it has been well cut on the wheel of the lapidary. The pearl of great price is the fruit of pain. The verdict of experience records, "It was good for me that I was afflicted." Suffering is God"s lancet, whereby he produces health. A vital lesson is here taught. Without personal piety there can be no permanent usefulness. A man"s character is the mightiest instrument for recovering and elevating others. If we long to see the vineyards of others fair and fruitful, our own vineyard must be a pattern of good culture. Our first duty is respecting ourselves. If we are full of light, we can lead others along the path to heaven. Personal holiness is the great desideratum. D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of…
Son_1:5-6
I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem.
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The churchs blackness
I. The church of God and Christians, whilst they are here, are in an imperfect state. There is a mixture of some light and darkness together, and so it will be till we come to heaven, both for sin and sorrow, for sins and defects in soul. The causes why God will have it so are:
1. In regard of outward infirmities, that we might be made conformable to His Son (Rom_8:17), and so reign with Him, being first made suitable to the body.
2. In respect of outward and inward infirmities, both because Gods glory is seen in our infirmities (2Co_12:7), His grace being sufficient to uphold us, and also in regard our weakness commends His strength, and our folly His wisdom.
3. Because He would draw us out of the earth, and have us hasten to accomplish the marriage and come away, therefore He sends us so many crosses, and so little rest in the flesh.
4. Because God would have us humble, patient and pitiful people, neither of which would be unless our state were imperfect; we would never know ourselves, our brethren and God, unless it were so, that on both sides we saw the prints of our imperfections.
II. Though our estate be here imperfect, yet we must not be discouraged.
1. We have a great and mighty deliverer. He loves His children in the midst of all their deformities.
2. He is able to help them in all estates; His grace is still sufficient, He hath present help. What needs the child be dismayed for pain when the Father can remove it at His pleasure?
3. The saints of God in all ages have gone through imperfections; they have been sick, poor, doubtful, passionate, as well as we. God hath brought them to heaven, to happiness, through all storms.
4. Uprightness may stand with imperfection, some gold may be amongst earth; as the Church shows here, beauty and deformity may stand together, some light, some darkness. Now God bids the upright hope, rejoice, says he is blessed (Psa_23:6).
5. Because the effects of discouragement are too bad, as fretting (Psa_42:11); yea, this doth not only keep Out praises, but causes neglect of all ordinances, drives from God, makes one fierce, envious, uncomfortable, impotent, etc.
III. There is a glory and excellence in the saints of God in the midst of all their deformities and debasements. Indeed their glory is like Solomons curtains, not obvious to every eye; like Kedars tents, or a heap of wheat in the chaff, and outwardly base, but inwardly excellent.
1. Needs it must be so, for being converted, they obtain a new name (Rev_2:17); yea, they, have this peculiar favour granted, as 1Jn_3:1, to be called the sons of God.
2. They have a new nature, being made partakers of the image of God, and so of the Divine nature; as it is (2Pe_1:4).
3. They have a new estate; Christ Jesus makes them free, as Joh_8:35, and He makes them also rich, supplying all their wants with the riches of His glory (Psa_4:3).
4. They have a new kindred and guide. God is their Father, they are members of Christ (1Co_12:13), they are led by the Spirit of God. God dwelleth in them, and the Spirit of glory rests upon them even in affliction (1Pe_4:14), and filleth them with glorious faith and precious graces.
(1) This first discovers a wonderful blindness in us, who can see no such matter in the saints of God.
(2) This is comfort to saints now and hereafter. Now they be glorious, but yet they are but in the way going to glory (Pro_4:18). If thus in their pilgrimage, what at home in their country? If thus, imperfect, what in perfection? If thus, in corruption, what when this corruption shall put on incorruption? And if thus, in mortality, what when mortality shall be swallowed up of life?
IV. We must not still be poring into the deformities of Gods Church and people, like flies on galled places, or dogs upon garbage and raw flesh. For--
1. This is a practice which utterly crosseth God in His commandments, who chargeth us not to despise the day of small things (Zec_4:10).
2. This is quite against justice; for Christians have beauty as well as blackness, graces as well as corruptions.
3. This neither cometh from any good, nor worketh good. It ariseth from pride, ignorance, etc., and showeth that a man neither knows his own estate, nor God s proceedings with His people, who brings them to honour through baseness, and confounds the glory of the world with base things.
V. Then Gods children pay for it, when they do not their own work, not keeping their own standing. It is with them as soldiers and scholars, when they keep not their own places, and learn not their own lessons: they are met with on every side.
1. Because no man speeds well out of his own place, but Christians worst of all; as Pro_27:8, a thousand inconveniences befall to oneself, to his charge, when absent. God will be upon him, and leave him to himself, till he hath wound himself into woeful brakes.
2. Men will be upon his back, as Paul on Peters, or else grow strange till he be humbled; but bad men they will curse him, all the hypocrites in the town will be at his heels.
3. The devil will be upon them, and having drawn them out of the way, will either still mislead them, or else cut their throats and steal all, or hold them, if possible he may, from returning unto God; as in the prodigal son.
4. Their own consciences will be upon them, and it is with them as with a child that plays truant, his heart throbs, he hath no peace: so a Christian, whether he prosper or not prospers, he hath no peace, he eats not, he sleeps not in peace. (R. Sibbes.)
The Churchs confession of infirmity
By the daughters of Jerusalem, Jewish expositors understand the Gentiles, Jerusalem being the spiritual metropolis and mother of us all. And, in substance, most Christian expositors agree with them--that is, they suppose the persons addressed to be some who are not yet openly joined to Christ; who are halting and undecided; seeing much of power and grace in Christ, but discouraged and driven back, either by the remaining infirmities of His followers, or by the persecutions to which they see them to be exposed. Hence the Church proceeds to vindicate herself against any suspicions arising out of these adverse appearances. True, in one sense I am black; judged of externally, and seen only as man seeth, I am as dark and swarthy as the skins with which the wild Arab roofs his tent. But, in another sense, I am comely; my clothing is of wrought gold, my raiment is of finest needlework; my soul, embroidered and enriched with the graces of the Eternal Spirit, makes me beautiful as the hangings in kings palaces, gorgeous as the curtains of Solomon. Black, but comely. The words may be taken, and by the Jews are taken, as anticipative of the glory of the Church in the latter days. In her present state she may be considered as dark as the Ethiops skin. Her heresies, her divisions, her heart-burnings, the spots in her feasts of charity, the scandals among men professing godliness, make the saying to be true of her which Jeremiah witnesses, that her visage is blacker than a coal. But how does Ezekiel speak of what her glory shall be (Eze_16:9-14)? Again, the expression, I am black, may be taken to refer to the many sins of the believer. In the eyes of no one is he so black as he is in his own. He is covered over with blemishes, and spots, and soils. There are stains upon his duties, stains upon his repentances, stains upon his prayers. But look we again. We have seen the picture but from one side. On looking at it from the other, this stained and darkened thing is beautiful as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners. Thus, while the believer is both black and comely, he is neither all the one, nor all the other. There is a strife for mastery always going on between the elements of his inner life--the grace reigning, but the sin not expelled--the flesh disputing inch by inch the claims of the Spirit, and iniquity forcing its presence into the shrine of his holiest things. Still, comely he is, and that through Christs comeliness. The world sees only the tents of Kedar, but cannot discern the curtains of Solomon. (D. Moore, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain Son_1:6. Look not upon me because I am black,…
Notes
Son_1:6. Look not upon me because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards; but my own vineyard have I not kept. ‘Look not upon me’ אַל תִּרְאֻנִי al tiruni. Look not at me. ZOCKLER. Gaze not on me. WILLIAMS. With surprise and doubt, as if wondering at her presumption. NOYES. In admiration of her beauty. HITZIG. With scorn or disdain. WITHINGTON, GINSBURG. With too much scrutiny. TAYLOR. With indignation. DURHAM. With delight at my affliction, as Oba_1:12. AINSWORTH. With an evil eye. MERCER. DO not survey me in my vile dress, but consider how I have it. DEL RIO. Allegorically; TARGUM: Spoken by the Congregation of Israel to the nations: Do not despise me because I am more sorrowful than you, having done according to your deeds in worshipping your false gods, and having brought upon myself the Divine displeasure. FOLIOT: Do not look so much at my sufferings, as at the reason why I endure them, and the fruit which I shall receive from them. WEISS: Addressed by Israel to the nations wondering at their boldness after the sin of the golden calf, or astonished that they could commit so great a sin.
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‘Because the sun hath looked upon me.’ שֶׁשְׁזָפַתְנִי sheshzaphathni; from שָׁזַר shazaph; to burn or scorch; to blacken; hence also to look upon, as Job_20:9; Job_28:1. From שָׁדַר by the change of ד into ז. VULGATE: Hath discoloured me. AQUILA: Hath blackened me. WICKLIFF: Has scorched me. COVERDALE: Has shined on me. LUTHER: Has so burned me. DIODATI: Has touched me with his rays. MARTIN: Has looked on me. VATABLUS: Has fixed his rays on me. TIGURINE VERSION: Striking me with his beams. PARKHURST: Has looked down on me, or has shined on me. WILLIAMS: Has beamed upon me. FRY: Properly, looked with penetrating rigour. WEISS: Has glanced or gazed on me. BURROUGHS and GINSBURG: Has browned me. THRUPP: Fiercely scanned me. ZÖCKLER: Scorched me. MERCER: The blackness not natural but accidental. RASHI: Not natural, and therefore may be removed. A. CLARKE observes that the brown complexion of the Egyptians is attributed to the influence of the sun or climate. But probably no Egyptian in the text. Allegorically; TARGUM: Israel made black by the worship of the sun. FAUSSET: Scorched with God’s anger, executed on her through the world-powers, because of her unfaithfulness before Messiah’s coming. GREGORY, &C.: The sun of righteousness blackens the soul by the sufferings endured on his account, or by showing it its own blackness in his presence. PHILO CARPATHIUS: DO not despise me for my sins; since Christ the sun of righteousness has shone upon me. AINSWORTH, GILL, &C.: The Church blackened by the sun of persecution. ROSENMÜLLER: By miseries and calamities.
‘My mother’s children were angry with me.’ נִחֲרוּ־בי (nikharu bhi); from חָרָה to burn, or Piel of נָחַר EWALD. SEPTUAGINT, VULGATE, &c.: Fought against me. COVERDALE: Had evil will. LUTHER, DIODATI, MARTIN: Were angry with me. So EWALD, DELITZSCH, and GESENIUS. Acted severely against me. A. CLARKE. Were severe with me. PERCY, GOOD, BOOTHROYD. Despised me; literally snorted at me: expresses the ill-treatment she received from her relations in exposing her to servile employments, which caused her dark complexion. Hence the Bride of low extraction compared with her royal Bridegroom. FRY. ‘My mother’s children’ synonymous with brothers: her father probably no longer living at the time of this transaction. ZOCKLER. The children those of her mother by a former husband. HOUBIGANT, UMBREIT, EWALD, &c. Her countrymen. HARMER. Allegorically; TARGUM: False prophets and teachers, the cause of God’s anger against Israel. RASHI: The children of Egypt, among whom I was brought up, and who came up from Egypt with me; and the the offspring of my mother in the wilderness. KEIL: Israel experienced, in consequence of their sin, the anger of the nations, and lost their beauty and glory. WEISS: The Egyptians were incensed against Israel on account of Noah’s curse on Ham, and his blessing on Shem, and so treated them cruelly. COCCEIUS, &c.: Persecuting Jews. MUNSTER, &C.: False prophets and kings. SANCTIUS: The Gentiles. MERCER: Nominal members of the Church. DUTCH ANNOTATORS: False brethren. PISCATOR: Affections of carnal corrupt nature. MENOCHIUS: All enemies, external or internal.
‘They made me Keeper of the vineyards.’ הַכְּרָמִים hak-keramim, plural of כֶּרֶם kerem, a vineyard; from the unused root כָרַם = ׁََדَ, to be of a noble disposition; hence noble, fruitful; כֶרֶם, land planted with noble plants (Jdg_15:5; Job_24:18). GESENIUS. A vineyard, possession, estate. EWALD. The noblest, most valued possession. ZÖCKLER. Ground cultivated like a garden; used generally of vineyards, gardens, and plantations. SIMON. ‘Made me keeper,’ &c.; made her a drudge in their service, to her own personal injury; keeping vineyards, a servile work. PERCY, COBBIN. BOSSUET, on the supposition of the bride being an Egyptian princess, observes: ‘The princess, by one of those family intrigues common at Eastern Courts, had perhaps been banished to some southern part of Egypt, where she had been employed on secular labour, till by a counter intrigue and revolution equally common, she was recalled from her banishment.’ Allegorically; TARGUM: Taught me to worship their idols and to walk in their statutes. MERCER: Forced me to observe rites not prescribed by God. DU VEIL: Made me a zealous observer of their human traditious SANCTIUS: Forced me to follow sinful pleasures and practices. COCCEIUS: Excommunicating me from their synagogues. AINSWORTH: To fall in with their corrupt worship and vain traditions. SCOTT: Drawn by original sin to evil things against my will. THEODORET, however, takes another view of the words, applying them to the Apostles: They gave me (the Gentile Church) the divine ordinances to keep. ORIGIN views them as spoken by the Apostles and others, who anxious about the salvation of men, suffered outwardly themselves. LYRA applies them to the drudgery of Israel in Egypt. DEL RIO thinks the vineyards were in the first instance the synagogue, then the Churches of the Gentiles. So COCCEIUS also views the vineyards as including the congregations of the faithful. FROMONDI sees the pastoral office indicated: Dispersed me among the Gentiles, and caused me to be made pastors and keepers of the Gentile Churches. DAVIDSON: The Christian Church charged with the care both of Jew and Gentile vineyards, in consequence of the Jews’ rejection of God and His laws; or made the depository of the oracles of God with which they are to be fed. HAHN: The brothers, or Hamitic Heathendom, having withdrawn from the service of God and given themselves to the service of Satan, and so made their vineyard or the vineyard of God to become a vineyard of Satan, alienated the weaker sister from the service of God, and drew her into that of Satan, causing her to keep the vineyard, like themselves, in his service.
‘But mine own vineyard have I not kept.’ פַרְמִי שֶׁלִּי carmi shelli, ‘my vineyard which belongs to me.’ MERCER: which was committed to me. ZÖCKLER: שֶׁלִּי (shelli), not only gives special emphasis to the suffix ‘my,’ but distinguishes her vineyard as quite distinct and of another kind from what she had been forced to keep, viz., herself, with all she has and is. GESENIUS, EWALD, &c., apply it in like manner to her beauty. SANCTIUS: That with which she was bought at her dowry, according to usual practice (Hos_3:2); the same mentioned in chap. Son_8:12. Allegorically; TARGUM: The Lord who is my God I have not served. The vineyard, according to THEODORET, the traditions received before accepting Christianity; or, her own soul. SANCTIUS: The more noble part of our nature. BERNARD, &c.: The Jewish people (Isa_5:1); or, the primitive Church composed of Jews, to whom Christ and the Apostles were first sent. MENOCHIUS: The charge of all the world’s vineyards, and especially that of the synagogue, was committed to me. DEL RIO: I forsook the vineyard, at first committed to me on account of the conduct of the Jewish husbandmen in killing the heir (Matthew 22) JUNIUS: I departed from my duty. PISCATOR: Did not adhere steadily to the worship of God. AINSWORTH: The charge not kept either from her own infirmity and negligence, or from the tyranny of others, or from both: persecutions and afflictions often the effect of chastening for sin. PATRICK: I was like one set to keep the vineyard of others, and could not look after his own: picture of the Gentiles seduced by false teachers into idol worship. GILL: Her own vineyard, either the Church or her own soul: not kept, either from fear or infirmity, or both. SCOTT: The treatment she received proved a temptation to neglect her duty and the care of her own soul, and so conduced to mar her loveliness. HAWKER: Neglected her own soul while engaged in the service of others. ROSENMULLER: Her own country’s religion and institutions forsaken. De WETTE: The Jewish vineyard neglected by the Jewish shepherds (Eze_34:7-9; Zec_11:8). THRUPP: The religions culture of all Israel. HAHN. The vineyard committed to her in the service of Satan she has not kept; having awoke to the painful feeling of her unrest, and learned to long after the better home with Israel’s King.
SHULAMITE
TO THE DAUGHTERS OF JERUSALEM, OR LADIES OF SOLOMON’S COURT
Gives an Account of herself in justification of her presence in the King’s Chambers.
Son_1:5-6
I am black,
But comely,
O ye daughters of Jerusalem;
As the tents of Kedar,
As the curtains of Solomon.
Look not upon me,
Because I am black,
Because the sun hath looked upon me.
My mother’s children were angry with me;
They made me keeper of the vineyards;
But mine own vineyard have I not kept.
Shulamite, in the Allegory, originally a rustic damsel, employed by her brothers in watching the vineyards. Though thus tanned and discoloured by the sun, yet not uncomely in herself, and therefore not to be despised by the ladies of the court. The words indicate the believer’s twofold character, and the reason of it.
The Christian Paradox.
“I am black, but comely.”
Shulamite, black or tawny in complexion from the reason given; but comely in feature and proportion. Swarthy, as the coarse tents of Kedar or Arabia, made of dark coloured goats’ or camels’ hair, and farther blackened by exposure to the sun and rain (Isa_21:13; Isa_21:17; Isa_42:11; Eze_27:21; Psa_120:5-6). Comely, as the beautiful embroidered hangings of Solomon’s palace (Ecc_2:4-8; Est_1:5-6).
Hence observe—
I. DARK side of the Paradox.—‘I am black.’ The believer black—
1. With sin. In common with others, the believer blackened—
(1) With original sin;
(2) With actual transgression. The character of sin to make men black. Sin black in itself, and blackens those who carry it in their nature and commit it in their life. Black, as contrary to the nature and will of God, who is Light. The least sin in a believer like a dark spot on the sun’s disk. Sin pervading our whole nature renders us moral Ethiopians. Man, originally created ‘upright,’ made black by the Fall (Ecc_7:29; Rom_5:12-19). Black with sin, both original and actual, now the character of the human race (Gen_6:5; Gen_8:21; 2Ch_6:36; Pro_20:9; Psa_14:1-3; Rom_3:9-19; Rom_3:23; Jas_2:10; Jas_3:2; 1Jn_1:8). The experience and confession of David (Psa_51:5). The teaching of Christ (Joh_3:5-7). Observe—
(1) The believer black through inbred corruption and daily transgressions, even while in Christ and enjoying His love. A law in his members warring against the law of his mind (Rom_7:23). Peter’s fall immediately after the feast. The believer carries his blackness into the King’s chambers. Good to remember and confess it in the midst of his spiritual enjoyments. ‘Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged’ (Isa_51:1).
(2) The believer not only black, but conscious of it. The great distinction between him and others. Others as black as he; but he alone sees and feels his blackness.
(3) The believer not afraid to acknowledge that he is black. His safety and comfort not in his not being black, or less black than others; but in his being comely in Christ, and washed in His blood. His sense of blackness, therefore, no hindrance to his rejoicing in Christ, but rather a help to it. Confession of blackness part of our rejoicing in Christ’s comeliness. The blacker we are in our own eyes, the more precious is Christ (2Co_12:8-10).
(4) The confession, ‘I am black,’ often the turning point in a soul’s history. Paul’s experience at Damascus (Act_9:1-18; Rom_7:9). That of Isaiah in the temple (Isa_6:5-8). Never comely till we realize we are ‘black.’
(5) Our whole nature black. I,—not a part of me; the whole natural man; the ‘me’ and ‘I’ of the Apostle. ‘In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. I am carnal, and sold under sin’ (Rom_7:14; Rom_7:17).
(6) Believers always black with sin while in this world. Times when the believer may be without suffering; no time when he is without sin.
2. With suffering. Suffering and grief blacken us as well as sin (Jer_8:21; Lam_4:8; Psa_119:83). Like others, the believer, while in this world, black with suffering as well as with sin. Sin draws suffering with it as its dark shadow. Believers no exception to this law. That believers have suffering, no more to be concealed than that they have sin. The difference between them and other men, not that they have less suffering, but that they have more comfort and better hope. The testimony of Scripture and the experience of believers, that ‘many are the afflictions of the righteous,’ and that ‘through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom.’ Believers, though having the first-fruits of the Spirit, yet groan within themselves (Rom_8:23). Groan, being burdened (2Co_5:2). Believers not only not exempt from grief and suffering in this life, but have naturally a large share of it. Their sufferings partly such as are common to men; partly, peculiar to themselves as believers. Various causes of their suffering.
(1) The love of their Father, who chastens them for their profit, to make them partakers of His own holiness (Heb_12:6-11).
(2) The hatred of the world, which persecutes the members as it did the Head (Joh_15:18-21; Joh_17:14; 2Ti_3:12).
(3) The temptations of Satan, acting both directly on the mind himself, and indirectly through the agency of others (2Co_12:7; 1Pe_5:9; Rev_2:10).
(4) Indwelling sin, or the body of sin and death which we carry with us, occasioning a constant warfare within, and often extorting the cry, ‘O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?’ (Rom_7:23-24; Gal_5:17; Jas_4:1; 1Pe_2:11).
(5) The sins and sufferings of others, as well of their own brethren as of the unconverted; these often awakening the cry of the prophet: ‘O that my head were waters,’ &c. (Jer_9:1; Jer_8:21; 1Co_12:26; 2Co_11:29; Rom_12:15).
(6) Faithful and self-denying efforts for the spiritual and eternal benefit of others; thus filling up in their flesh that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake, the Church (Col_1:24; 2Co_11:23-28). Believers, having the Spirit of Christ, suffer in seeking to save others, and grieve to see so many remain unsaved.
II. BRIGHT side of the Paradox. ‘But comely.’ The Bride, notwithstanding external blackness, ‘all glorious within’ (Psa_45:14). Shulamite’s comeliness rather that of the soul, which lighted up and gave a charming expression to her swarthy features. Believers’ comeliness that ‘in the hidden man of the heart,’ and diffusing a spiritual beauty over the life Believers comely—
1. Through imputed righteousness. Comely through the comeliness of their Head and Saviour put upon them (Eze_16:14). Believers made the Righteousness of God in Christ (2Co_5:21). Made accepted in the Beloved (Eph_1:6). Christ made righteousness to those who are in Him (1Co_1:30). The language of faith: ‘In the Lord have I righteousness’ (Isa_45:24). The name by which the promised Saviour was to be called: The Lord our Righteousness (Jer_23:6). The guests at the King’s marriage-supper accepted not in their own garments, but in those provided for and given to them by the King Himself (Mat_22:11-12). Paul’s desire to be found not in his own righteousness which was by the law, but that which was ‘through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith’ (Php_3:9). Believers, like Jacob, blessed in the garments of their Elder Brother (Gen_27:15; Gen_27:27). Men made sinners by one man’s disobedience; made righteous by the obedience of another (Rom_5:19).
2. Through imparted holiness. Believers saved and made comely as well by impartation as by imputation; made personally holy by the one, as they are made legally righteous by the other. Made righteous in our Representative, we are made holy in our own persons. Christ made to us ‘sanctification,’ as well as ‘righteousness’ (1Co_1:30). Faith says: ‘In the Lord I have righteousness and strength,’—the latter for personal holiness, as the former for acceptance with God (Isa_45:24). Believers clothed with ‘the beauty of holiness,’ as well as with the ‘robe of righteousness.’ Made to put on Christ in His spirit and character, as well as in His Surety righteousness. Renewed in the image of God, and conformed to the likeness of His Son. Made one with Christ, they possess His Spirit, and live because He lives in them (Gal_2:20). Sanctified as well as justified in Him (1Co_1:2). Christ our Life, as well as our Peace and Hope. ‘If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His’ (Rom_8:9). Believers chosen and blessed by the Father in Christ, in order to be holy and without blame before Him in love (Eph_1:4). Predestinated by Him to be conformed to the image of His Son (Rom_8:29). Redeemed by Christ to be sanctified and cleansed, and so presented to Himself a glorious Church, holy and without blemish (Eph_5:25-27). Believers accepted in Christ without any holiness; but accepted in order to their being made holy.
III. The COMBINATION of the two. The believer, like Shulamite, at once black and comely. The paradox: Black and yet comely. Comely while yet black. The explanation: Believers black in themselves, comely in Christ; black by nature, comely by grace; black in the flesh or old man in them; comely in the spirit or new man. Believers carry in them two natures at once,—the flesh and the spirit, the old man and the new. Like Rebekah, with two nations in her womb. The elder, or old carnal nature, to serve the younger, or the new and spiritual one. In the believer, with his twofold nature of flesh and spirit lusting and warring against each other, is seen ‘the company of two armies.’ Hence both inward conflict and outward incongruities. The believer both a saint and a sinner. Has in him the roots of all sin, and the principles of all holiness. Hence the believer’s frequent doubts and disquietude about his spiritual condition. The question natural to the inexperienced Christian: If I am a child of God, why am I thus? A part of spiritual wisdom to know that we can be, and that, if believers, we actually are, both black and comely at the same time. Not less black in ourselves because comely in Christ; and not less comely in Christ because black in ourselves. Believers often black outwardly in respect to condition and circumstances, when comely inwardly in respect to character and affections. Black like their Master, in the eyes of the world; comely in the eyes of God. Black in suffering; comely in the patience and meekness with which they endure it.—Observe—
1. Believers to be as conscious of their comeliness in Christ, as of their blackness in themselves. Our duty to know ourselves, that Christ is in us; and that while black in ourselves, we are comely in Him. Hence both the believer’s humility and joy.
2. Our duty and privilege to confess both our blackness and our comeliness. Grace not to be denied while blackness is acknowledged. To see and confess ourselves at once black and comely—black in ourselves and comely in Christ—the mark of a believer. Pride forbids both.
3. Our comeliness to attract and convince the world, more than our blackness might offend and deter them. The excellence of Christ and His Gospel seen in the comeliness of believers, notwithstanding their blackness. Believers to seek that others may think highly of Christ on their account, and rejoice in Him along with them. The world and weak professors apt to stumble at the blackness in believers, as seen in their sufferings, and especially in their sins. More power in their comeliness to attract, than in their blackness to repel. Believers more to be envied for their comeliness than despised for their blackness.
4. Much in the believer and the spiritual life mysterious and incomprehensible to the world. Apparent contradictions: black, yet comely; ‘sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich.’ Strange in the eyes of natural reason that the children of God should be black at all; still more, that they should be comely at the same time. Yet natural—
(1) That the Bride of the Man of Sorrows should be also for a short time a sufferer, and that the Wife of the Persecuted One should herself be persecuted;
(2) That the blackness of her own fallen nature should not be all at once removed, but allowed for wise and important purposes in part to remain till the Bridegroom comes and takes her to Himself. The blackness daily passing away; the comeliness ever increasing. The blackness carried only till death; the comeliness perfected in the New Jerusalem.
5. The glory of the work of Christ and of the grace of God, that those who are ‘black’ are thereby rendered ‘comely.’ Our blackness in respect to suffering assumed by the Surety, that we might have His comeliness put upon us. That comeliness imparted in regeneration and conversion. ‘Even when we were dead in sins, hath He quickened us together with Christ (by grace are ye saved); and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.’ ‘Neither fornicators, nor idolators, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God: and such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God’ (Eph_2:5-6; 1Co_6:9-11; read also Tit_3:3-7).
Notice the PARTY ADDRESSED
‘O ye daughters of Jerusalem.’
These, in the Allegory probably the ladies of Solomon’s court, now present with Shulamite in the King’s chambers. Now addressed by the rustic Stranger who has just been introduced among them. The probable representatives—
(1) Of the professing Church;
(2) Of persons only partially or carnally acquainted with Christ. Charged not to disturb the Beloved One’s rest (chap. Son_2:7). Connected in some way with the marriage of the King and Shulamite (chap. Son_3:10). Supposed to have some knowledge of the Bridegroom, though not possessing Him as their own (chap. Son_5:8). Made desirous to learn more about Him, and to seek Him with the Bride (chap. Son_6:1). Becomes interested in the Bride, and admires her beauty (chap. Son_6:13). The women of Jerusalem who followed Jesus to Calvary, called by this name; with a probable reference to the term in the text, and indicating the connection of the Song with the Gospel history, and the identity of the Bridegroom with Christ. Observe, in reference to—
The Visible Church.
1. Possible to be near Christ and yet not to belong to Him; to have a knowledge of the Saviour, but not a saving one; to have a place in Christ’s House, and yet not to be Christ’s Bride.
2. The duty of believers to have regard to the spiritual welfare of the unconverted in the visible Church, and to seek their salvation.
3. Believers to be careful to remove all stumbling-blocks out of the way of the Church’s unsaved members, especially such as are in themselves.
4. Young believers to regard the members of the visible Church with charity, and to treat them with deference and respect.
5. Believers to be able and willing, humbly and for edification, to declare, especially to the members of the Church, their spiritual standing and condition in Christ.
APPEAL AND EXPLANATION
“Look not upon me because I am black, because the sun hath looked (or glanced) upon me (to scorch me); my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards: but mine own vineyard have I not kept” (Son_1:6).
Shulamite begs the ladies of the court not to gaze upon her with such prying eyes nor yet to regard her with disdain, or be offended on account of her swarthy complexion; a dusky hue being a mark of inferior condition among Eastern females. She intimates the cause of her blackness—exposure to the sun whilst fulfilling a rural task imposed on her by hostile relatives under whose control she had been,—unmarried females in the East being under the guardianship of older male relations; and whilst watching the vineyards during the summer while the fruit was ripening,—a work which could easily be done by a young female, though both menial in itself and injurious to her complexion. This last circumstance perhaps figurately alluded to in the concluding clause of the verse: ‘Mine own vineyard’—my own interest, or what concerned my own person, namely, my complexion—‘I have not kept,’ or attended to. Or perhaps emphasizing the circumstance that it was in attending to the vineyards of others,—and not to her own,—and therefore unwillingly and by constraint,—that her otherwise fair countenance had become thus discoloured. Observe—
1. The condition of believers on earth, whether as one of sin or suffering, no just cause of offence to others; their sin being the result of a corrupt nature inherited from their first parents, and their suffering being partly the necessary consequence of that sin, and partly from the hostility of their unrenewed brethren (Rom_5:12; Rom_5:19; Rom_7:15; Rom_7:19; Joh_15:18; Joh_15:20; Joh_16:2; 1Pe_1:6).
2. Men of the world and unrenewed Church members apt to look more on believers’ blemishes than on their beauty.
3. Believers, like Christ Himself, often, through men’s sin, a stumbling-stone and rock of offence to others; partly from their unavoidable imperfections, and partly from their constrained sufferings. Chosen out of the world, and therefore made an offence to it. Sharers of Christ’s cross, and, therefore, of its offence (Gal_4:11; Heb_13:12-13).
4. The duty and desire of believers to remove as far as possible all occasions of stumbling from the way of others; and to guard them against stumbling at what must necessarily exist. Paul’s exhortation to believers: ‘Give none offence, neither to the Jew, nor to the Gentile, nor to the Church of God’ (1Co_10:32; 1Co_8:9; Rom_14:13). His own resolution: ‘If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend’ (1Co_8:13). His anxiety in respect to his sufferings: ‘I desire that ye faint not at my tribulation for you.’ ‘That no man should be moved by these afflictions, for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto (Eph_3:13; 1Th_3:3).
5. Connection with Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, sure to blacken us; as—
(1) Discovering to us our own corruption;
(2) Exposing us to persecution and tribulation from the world (Joh_16:2; Joh_16:33).
6. Our “mother’s children,” whether naturally or ecclesiastically, not always the children of our heavenly Father, or the Bride of His Son (Rom_9:6-8; Gal_4:22-31; Joh_7:5).
7. No uncommon thing for believers to experience the anger and persecution of their ‘mother’s children’ (Isa_66:5; Mat_10:21; Mat_10:35-36).
8. A sinning and suffering condition in this world, a necessity laid upon believers in common with others in consequence of the Fall. All men, believers included, children of wrath by nature, as well as children of disobedience (Eph_2:2-3) The creature made subject to vanity not willingly (Rom_8:20).
9. The duty of each to be careful in looking to the interests of his own soul. Each man’s soul his own vineyard given him by his Creator to keep (Pro_4:23). Loss of spiritual beauty the result of negligence and unwatchfulness (Pro_24:30-34). Ministers, while keeping the vineyard of others, to be especially careful to keep their own (1Co_9:27).
10. The part of a believer to look to the interests of others as well as, and to a certain extent, beyond his own. ‘I seek not mine profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved.’ ‘Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth’ (or welfare). ‘Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others: let this mind be in you which was also in Christ, (1Co_10:2; 1Co_10:33; Php_2:4-5). True ministers the servants of others for Jesus’ sake (2Co_4:5). Self-forgetting love one mark of the Bride of Jesus Christ.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 I am dark but lovely
I am dark but lovely
"My skin is dark, but I am still beautiful" or "Even though my skin is dark, I am beautiful"
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daughters of Jerusalem
"young women of Jerusalem." These young women could not hear her and were not present, but the woman speaks as if they were present and could hear her. (See: Apostrophe)
dark like the tents of Kedar
The nomadic tribes in Kedar used black goat skins to build their homes. The woman is comparing her skin to these tents. (See: Simile)
lovely like the curtains of Solomon
Solomon produced beautiful curtains either for his own palace or for the Temple. She says that her skin is beautiful. (See: Simile)
scorched
This exaggeration for "burned" or "made black" refers to the sun changing her skin from light to dark. (See: Hyperbole and Generalization)
My mother's sons
"My half-brothers." These brothers probably had the same mother as the woman but not the same father.
made me keeper of the vineyards
"made me take care of the vineyards"
but my own vineyard I have not kept
The woman compares herself to a vineyard. AT: "but I have not been able to take care of myself" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
Jerusalem
tent
Kedar
curtain
Solomon
anger
vineyard
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 1:5-11 If the Song is a three-character drama and…
1:5-11 If the Song is a three-character drama and the shepherd is her lover, the couple was apart while she was in the king’s palace, and in this passage she wants to be sure of where to find him when she leaves there. On two occasions, she is frantic about losing him again (3:1-4; 5:2-8). At other times, her concern is more subtle (2:14).
1:5-6 The woman’s dark skin color has nothing to do with her race; her complexion has been darkened by the sun. Even so, she retains her self-respect and asserts her beauty. She is wholesome-looking from tending vineyards and goats (see also 1:8). • Solomon had caretakers of his fields, vineyards, herds, and flocks; the herders lived in dark goats’-hair tents.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.