Unusual Compliments
In this
chapter we find a man taken by the beauty of his bride. As many commentators are quick to illustrate,
many of these analogies are foreign to the modern ear. We must remember the agricultural nature of
the Hebrew people and look with fresh eyes not onto the literal comparison but
rather to the idea and premise behind the comparison. The Hebrew people were not only an
agricultural people, but they were also a highly symbolic people.
We begin
with the doves behind a veil. This is an
image for purity. Doves, because of
their white color, have long since been a symbol for purity and even
“wholeness.” The fact that there is a
veil separating the author from the doves implies that there is a reserved
nature within the analogy. The eyes of
the bride are valued, treasured, and set-apart.
There is a serious attempt to keep the eyes of the bride pure and whole
rather than allow the world to come in and defile them.
The hair
is like goats jumping down a rock wall.
This analogy is one of the more foreign.
However, all it takes is a quick watch of how nimble and masterful goats
are in the most unsturdy of places.
Their footing is sure when it should not be. The herd flows from one precipice to the next
as they defy both logic and gravity. It
is this flowing nature of beauty that the author is capturing. The author desires his bride to feel as
though her beauty flows from her person in a way that defies logic and common
expectation.
Teeth
being like shorn sheep would qualify as another analogy that many modern people
might not desire at first. However,
anyone that has seen a flock of sheep pre-sheering knows that the sheep are all
different in shape, color, and size. The
wool is dirty, scraggly, and full of various textures and thicknesses. However, shorn sheep are all pretty much the
same. Their shape is the same. They look like one another. This would be the image that the author desires
to convey to his bride. In a world of
bad dental hygiene and among a people famous for having bad teeth, this bride
has teeth that are uniform and complete.
To go
along with the teeth, the author speaks of the bride’s lips as a scarlet thread
and checks like cut fruit. The scarlet
lips are a sign of physical health. The
author is saying that his bride is a healthy specimen, unlike many of the
people of the land. Cheeks like
pomegranate halves would also imply health.
But I think there is more than health with this one. When you cut fruit in half, you end up with
symmetrical objects with definite and fine edges. The author is complimenting his bride on the
symmetry of her face and the regal lines that her cheeks give to her face.
The
bride’s neck is like a tower. Besides
being beautiful and eye-catching, towers protect valuable things or
people. The author is telling his bride
that she is not only physically stunning but that he values her ability to
think and reason.
Verse 5 –
the verse about the breasts – is perhaps the most famous verse in this
book. From early on scholars have tried
to remove the sexuality out of this verse, as if sexuality has no place in the
Bible, especially in this book!
Commentators have tried to explain this verse so that the breasts are
really symbols of the “Messiahs” – Joshua and the “messiah to come.” Or perhaps they are symbols of Moses and
Aaron, who led the people out of Egypt.
New Testament commentators have tried to make these breasts into symbols
for the Old and the New Testaments. I
don’t personally believe any of it. I
think the author’s words should stand with the greater context of the author
complimenting his bride. The breast is
the place where a baby first learns of compassion and nourishment. The breast is the place of protection. The breast is the place where a child learns
acceptance. In comparing the breasts of
his bride to twin fawns of a gazelle he is claiming that the breasts of his
bride are beautiful and rare. His bride
is a rare source of beauty, compassion, nurture, protection, and
acceptance. What a beautiful thing to
say indeed!
Throughout
the rest of the passage we hear Solomon speak about his bride with respect to a
garden or a spring. But notice that the
spring and garden is locked. This is yet
another passage to speak about the importance of sexual chastity. The bride has locked herself up for her
husband, and it is something that the husband values and cherishes. Real men don’t cherish sexual
promiscuity. Real men cherish sexual
intimacy. The world might want us to
believe that promiscuity is normal or “the in thing.” But real men don’t follow the crowd,
especially when the crowd points us to an unhealthy place. Real men cherish intimacy over promiscuity.
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