11 The Song of songs, which is Solomon’s.
Beloved
2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth;
for your love is better than wine. 3 Your oils have a pleasing fragrance.
Your name is oil poured forth,
therefore the virgins love you. 4 Take me away with you.
Let us hurry.
The king has brought me into his chambers.
Friends
We will be glad and rejoice in you.
We will praise your love more than wine!
Beloved
They are right to love you. 5 I am dark, but lovely,
you daughters of Jerusalem,
like Kedar’s tents,
like Solomon’s curtains. 6 Don’t stare at me because I am dark,
because the sun has scorched me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me.
They made me keeper of the vineyards.
I haven’t kept my own vineyard.
7 Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
where you graze your flock,
where you rest them at noon;
For why should I be as one who is veiled
beside the flocks of your companions?
Lover 8 If you don’t know, most beautiful among women,
follow the tracks of the sheep.
Graze your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents.
9 I have compared you, my love,
to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots. 10 Your cheeks are beautiful with earrings,
your neck with strings of jewels. 11 We will make you earrings of gold,
with studs of silver.
Beloved
12 While the king sat at his table,
my perfume spread its fragrance. 13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh,
that lies between my breasts. 14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
from the vineyards of En Gedi.
Lover 15 Behold, you are beautiful, my love.
Behold, you are beautiful.
Your eyes are doves.
Beloved 16 Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, yes, pleasant;
and our couch is verdant.
Lover 17 The beams of our house are cedars.
Our rafters are firs.
Beloved
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:1-20
Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:1
(Read Song of Solomon 1:1)
This is "the Song of songs," excellent above any others, for it is wholly taken up with describing the excellences of Christ, and the love between him and his redeemed people.
Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:2-6
(Read Song of Solomon 1:2-6)
The church, or rather the believer, speaks here in the character of the spouse of the King, the Messiah. The kisses of his mouth mean those assurances of pardon with which believers are favoured, filling them with peace and joy in believing, and causing them to abound in hope by the power of the Holy Ghost. Gracious souls take most pleasure in loving Christ, and being loved of him. Christ's love is more valuable and desirable than the best this world can give. The name of Christ is not now like ointment sealed up, but like ointment poured forth; which denotes the freeness and fulness of the setting forth of his grace by the gospel. Those whom he has redeemed and sanctified, are here the virgins that love Jesus Christ, and follow him whithersoever he goes, Ephesians 6:24. The daughters of Jerusalem may mean professors not yet established in the faith. The spouse was black as the tents of the wandering Arabs, but comely as the magnificent curtains in the palaces of Solomon. The believer is black, as being defiled and sinful by nature, but comely, as renewed by Divine grace to the holy image of God. He is still deformed with remains of sin, but comely as accepted in Christ. He is often base and contemptible in the esteem of men, but excellent in the sight of God. The blackness was owing to the hard usage that had been suffered. The children of the church, her mother, but not of God, her Father, were angry with her. They had made her suffer hardships, which caused her to neglect the care of her soul. Thus, under the emblem of a poor female, made the chosen partner of a prince, we are led to consider the circumstances in which the love of Christ is accustomed to find its objects. They were wretched slaves of sin, in toil, or in sorrow, weary and heavy laden, but how great the change when the love of Christ is manifested to their souls!
Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:7-8
(Read Song of Solomon 1:7-8)
Observe the title given to Christ, O Thou whom my soul loveth. Those that do so, may come to him boldly, and may humbly plead with him. Is it with God's people a noon-time of outward troubles, inward conflicts? Christ has rest for them. Those whose souls love Jesus Christ, earnestly desire to share in the privileges of his flock. Turning aside from Christ is what gracious souls dread more than anything else. God is ready to answer prayer. Follow the track, ask for the good old way, observe the footsteps of the flock, look what has been the practice of godly people. Sit under the direction of good ministers; beside the tents of the under shepherds. Bring thy charge with thee, they shall all be welcome. It will be the earnest desire and prayer of the Christian, that God would so direct him in his worldly business, and so order his situation and employment, that he may have his Lord and Saviour always before him.
Commentary on Song of Solomon 1:9-17
(Read Song of Solomon 1:9-17)
The Bridegroom gives high praises of his spouse. In the sight of Christ believers are the excellent of the earth, fitted to be instruments for promoting his glory. The spiritual gifts and graces which Christ bestows on every true believer, are described by the ornaments then in use, verse 16, speaks with praise of those holy ordinances in which true believers have fellowship with Christ. Whether the believer is in the courts of the Lord, or in retirement; whether following his daily labours, or confined on the bed of sickness, or even in a dungeon, a sense of the Divine presence will turn the place into a paradise. Thus the soul, daily having fellowship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, enjoys a lively hope of an incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading inheritance above.