Song of Solomon 4: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

The man praises the woman's beauty in detail, from her eyes and hair to her neck and her body, and says she has no flaw. He calls her to come with him down from the mountains. He calls her a locked garden and a sealed fountain, names the spices and fruits of a garden, and calls on the winds to blow through it. She answers, inviting him into his garden.

Claim by Claim

1. 4:1
   • The man tells the woman she is beautiful.
   • He repeats that she is beautiful.
   • He calls her his love.
   • He says her eyes are doves, seen from behind her veil.
   • He says her hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Mount Gilead.
2. 4:2
   • He says her teeth are like a flock of freshly shorn sheep that have come up from the washing.
   • He says every one of them has its twin.
   • He says not one of them is missing.
3. 4:3
   • He says her lips are like a scarlet thread.
   • He says her mouth is lovely.
   • He says her temple is like a slice of pomegranate.
   • He says her temple is seen from behind her veil.
4. 4:4
   • He says her neck is like the tower of David.
   • He says the tower is built for courses of stone, or for an armoury; the term is obscure.
   • He says a thousand shields hang on it.
   • He says they are all the shields of warriors.
5. 4:5
   • He says her two breasts are like two fawns.
   • He says the fawns are twins of a gazelle.
   • He says they graze among the lilies.
6. 4:6
   • He says he will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.
   • He will go until the day breathes and the shadows flee.
7. 4:7
   • He says she is entirely beautiful.
   • He calls her his love.
   • He says there is no blemish in her.
8. 4:8
   • He tells her to come with him from Lebanon.
   • He calls her his bride.
   • He repeats that she should come with him from Lebanon.
   • He tells her to look out, or to descend, from the top of Amana; the verb is uncertain.
   • He names the top of Senir and Hermon as a place she is to come from.
   • He names the dens of lions as a place she is to come from.
   • He names the mountains of leopards as a place she is to come from.
9. 4:9
   • He says she has taken away his heart.
   • He calls her his sister and his bride.
   • He repeats that she has taken away his heart.
   • He says one glance of her eyes did it.
   • He says one jewel of her necklace did it.
10. 4:10
    • He asks how beautiful her love is.
    • He calls her his sister and his bride.
    • He says her love is much better than wine.
    • He says the scent of her oils is better than all spices.
11. 4:11
    • He says her lips drip honeycomb.
    • He calls her his bride.
    • He says honey and milk are under her tongue.
    • He says the scent of her garments is like the scent of Lebanon.
12. 4:12
    • He says she is a locked garden.
    • He calls her his sister and his bride.
    • He says she is a locked spring.
    • He says she is a sealed fountain.
13. 4:13
    • He says her shoots are an orchard of pomegranates.
    • He says the orchard has choice fruits.
    • He names henna and nard among them.
14. 4:14
    • He names nard and saffron.
    • He names calamus and cinnamon.
    • He names every kind of frankincense tree.
    • He names myrrh and aloes.
    • He names all the finest spices.
15. 4:15
    • He says she is a fountain of gardens.
    • He says she is a well of living water.
    • He says she is streams flowing from Lebanon.
16. 4:16
    • The woman calls on the north wind to awake.
    • She calls on the south wind to come.
    • She tells the wind to blow on her garden.
    • She says the purpose is that its spices may flow out.
    • She asks that her beloved come into his garden.
    • She asks that he eat its choice fruits.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

4:1

"Within thy locks" translates a Hebrew word most scholars take to mean a veil rather than hair. Gilead was hill country east of the Jordan River, known for grazing. The flocks there were largely black-haired goats, and a herd picking its way down a slope in a long dark stream is the picture behind the comparison.

4:2

Sheep were washed before or after shearing, so a freshly shorn, freshly washed flock was startlingly white. "Every one bear twins" means each ewe has a matching pair, the teeth are even and matched, upper to lower. "None is barren" here means none has lost her young: no gaps in the row.

4:3

"Comely" in 1611 English meant lovely or attractive. The Hebrew word rendered "speech" is literally "mouth," so the praise covers both how she speaks and how her mouth looks. The flesh of a pomegranate is a deep translucent red, which is what the sliced fruit contributes to the image of her brow.

4:4

A "buckler" is a small round shield. Captured or ceremonial shields were hung along the walls and towers of a fortress as a display of strength and victory; the picture is of a straight, ornamented neck hung with rows of jewelry. The tower of David is otherwise unknown to us.

4:5

"Roes" is the 1611 word for small deer; the Hebrew animal is a gazelle. Twin fawns were proverbial for a matched, delicate pair.

4:6

"Until the day break, and the shadows flee away" is an idiom for the whole night, ending at dawn when night shadows vanish. Myrrh and frankincense are fragrant tree resins, imported and expensive, used as perfume and incense. No actual mountain is meant; the phrase belongs to the language of love, describing her body in the terms of the perfume trade.

4:7

"Spot" in 1611 English meant a blemish or flaw on the skin, not a stain or a mark of guilt.

4:8

Lebanon is the mountainous country north of Israel. Amana, Shenir (elsewhere spelled Senir) and Hermon are peaks of the same northern range; Shenir and Hermon are two names used for the same mountain, or for parts of it. Lions and leopards genuinely lived in those uplands then, so the invitation is to come down from wild and dangerous high country.

4:9

"My sister, my bride" is a set term of endearment in ancient Near Eastern love poetry, Egyptian love songs of the period regularly call the beloved "sister", and does not imply blood kinship. "Ravished my heart" translates a Hebrew verb built on the word "heart"; it means to seize or carry off someone's heart. "One of thine eyes" means a single glance.

4:10

The Hebrew word translated "thy love" here is a plural noun meaning caresses or lovemaking, not affection in general. The same word appears in the comparison with wine in chapter 1.

4:11

Honey and milk together were a stock pairing for sweetness and plenty. Lebanon was famous throughout the region for its cedar forests, whose resinous scent is what her clothes are said to carry.

4:12

A walled garden and a covered well were private property in a dry country. A spring could be shut off and its cover sealed with a stamped clay seal so that only the owner had use of it; breaking the seal without right was theft. The image is of something valuable, guarded, and belonging to one person.

4:13

"Camphire" is henna, a shrub whose blossoms are strongly fragrant and whose leaves yield a reddish dye used on hands and hair. "Spikenard" (nard) is a costly perfumed oil made from a plant of the Himalayas and carried west by trade. "Thy plants" translates a word meaning shoots or branches, keeping the garden picture going.

4:14

This is a list of luxury imports, most of them arriving by long-distance trade: saffron from crocus stigmas, calamus an aromatic cane, cinnamon bark, frankincense resin, myrrh resin, and "aloes", not the modern aloe vera plant but a fragrant wood, probably aloeswood or eaglewood from the Far East. No real garden in Israel grew all of these; the point is the extravagance of the list.

4:15

"Living water" is the Hebrew term for water that flows from a spring or stream, as opposed to still water standing in a cistern. It was the fresher and more valuable kind. The streams of Lebanon ran cold off snow-covered heights.

4:16

The Hebrew pronouns and verb forms show that the woman speaks here, answering the man. She calls the garden he has just described "my garden" and then hands it over as "his garden", the invitation is hers to give.