Song of Solomon 1:6

“Do not look upon me, Because I am swarthy, Because the sun has scorched me. My mother's sons were incensed against me. They made me keeper of the vineyards, But my own vineyard have I not kept.”

With becoming honesty the young maiden now admits that all is not quite as she has maintained. While it is true that she is black, but comely, she acknowledges that she has been out in the sun too much, and has thus become very sunburned, and she asks that they will not look at her beauty too closely. For the sad fact is that at present she is swarthy because the sun has scorched her. And she admits that it has largely been her own fault. It was true that her stepbrothers had not been kind to her, and had forced her to attend to the vine gardens, which was the lowliest of tasks (2 Kings 25:12; Isaiah 61:5), thus demonstrating how poorly she had been treated. However, while she had kept the vine gardens well enough she realized that rather foolishly she had failed to keep ‘her own vine garden', that is to watch over her own personal appearance. She had failed to protect her complexion against the sun (although it had clearly not put the king off). She had probably not expected the king to take an interest in her, and now that he had, she was deeply aware of her imperfections.

Israel too had similarly failed to maintain their personal appearance. Not only had they become sunburned (to be smitten by the sun was seen as a judgment from which they needed to be delivered - Psalms 121:6) but also covered in festering sores (Isaiah 1:6). They too had let themselves go and had let God down. They had become marred in the hands of the potter (Jeremiah 18:4, compare Jeremiah 5:1; Hosea 6:1; Hosea 9:16). And the result would be that when their expected King did come they would not be ready, apart from the chosen few who received Him with delight. Israel's leaders had also been made the keeper of the vineyard (Jeremiah 12:10), but had failed to keep its own vineyard (Isaiah 5:1).

It is here being made clear that what had happened to Israel was partly the fault of others. She had been ill used by the nations around her. It did not, however, clear her from blame, for she had gone along with them in it. Whatever they had done to her, she could have sought to maintain her beauty.

The true church, the new Israel, also has to admit that underneath the surface of her comeliness, her complexion has been spoilt (1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10), and that it is her own fault. It is thus time that she too began to attend to her appearance and seek after righteousness and purity, so that she might be pleasing to Him Who has chosen her. Nevertheless she knows that the King loves her in spite of the fact that she is merely a vine dresser, for to Him she is beautiful. He has chosen her in love before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4). Yet how careful we who make up that church should be to avoid the effects of the sun of sin and temptation lest we be caught by its rays, and grieve Him by what it does to us, for it will mar His image in us. That is why He urges, ‘Like as He Who called you is holy, so be yourselves holy in all manner of living, even as it is written, Be you holy, for I am holy' (1 Peter 1:15). ‘Be you also perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect' (Matthew 5:48 in terms of Matthew 5:42).