Song of Solomon 4 explained: He Praises Her, She Invites Him

Her face, feature by feature (vv. 1-3)

He praises her with pictures from country life: dark hair like a flock of black goats on the slopes of Gilead, white, even teeth with none missing, and lips like a red thread. The Hebrew word translated "temples" may also mean cheeks, glimpsed through her veil and rosy like a slice of pomegranate.

Neck like a tower (vv. 4-5)

No "tower of David" is known outside this poem, and a key Hebrew word describing it is unclear, so the translations differ ("built with courses of stone" or "builded for an armory"). Hung with shields, the tower pictures a tall, proud neck, perhaps adorned with layers of jewelry, while the twin fawns suggest softness and youthful grace.

Until the shadows flee (vv. 6-7)

The translations differ on the time of day because the Hebrew says the day "breathes," which could mean the dawn or the cool evening breeze. The "mountain of myrrh" is most often read as her fragrant body, and verse 7 sums up his praise: to him she has no flaw at all.

Come with me, my bride (vv. 8-11)

He calls her to come with him from Lebanon, the mountain range to the north, and from the heights of Amana and Hermon (Senir is another name for Hermon), wild country of lions and leopards that pictures her as remote and hard to reach. Here he first calls her "bride" and also "sister," a common loving name in ancient love poetry that does not mean they are related, and he says a single glance from her has captured his heart.

A locked garden (vv. 12-15)

A walled garden and a sealed spring were private and guarded, so the images say she belongs to no one else, which many readers take as her keeping herself for marriage. The spices named, such as nard, saffron and cinnamon, were costly, many brought from as far as India, and in verse 15 the same spring is pictured as fresh water streaming down from Lebanon, full of life.

She invites him in (v. 16)

Most readers hear the woman answering here, calling on the north and south winds to carry her garden's fragrance toward him. She calls it "his" garden and asks him to come, so the poem presents the desire as shared.

Key verse: Song of Solomon 4:7

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether this chapter is mainly a celebration of love and desire between a husband and wife or mainly a picture of God's love for his people (as Jewish tradition read it of God and Israel, and many Christians of Christ and the church), and many today hold both together.

Something to think about

What do you make of a poem this frank about desire being kept in a collection many people treat as sacred?