Song of Solomon 6:1-10

TEXT 6:17:10

Court Ladies: Inquiry, Song of Solomon 6:1

Shulammite: Answer, Song of Solomon 6:2Avowal, Song of Solomon 6:3

Solomon: Interview with the Shulammite, Song of Solomon 6:4 to Song of Solomon 7:10

Dialogue: Solomon, Song of Solomon 6:6-10

TEXT 6:1-10

1.

Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women?

Whither hath thy beloved turned,
that we may seek him with thee?

2.

My beloved is gone down to his garden,

To the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens,
And to gather lilies.

3.

I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine;

He feedeth his flock among the lilies.

4.

Thou art fair, O my love as Tinzah,

Comely as Jerusalem,
Terrible as an army with banners.

5.

Turn away thine eyes from me,

For they have overcome me.
Thy hair is as a flock of goats,
That lie along the side of Gilead.

6.

Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes, which are come up from the washing;

Where every one hath twins,
And none is bereaved among them.

7.

Thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind thy veil.

8.

There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.

9.

My dove, my undefiled, is but one;

She is the only one of her mother.
She is the choice one of her that bear her.
The daughters saw her, and called her blessed;
Yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

10.

Who is she that looketh forth as the morning,

Fair as the moon,
Clear as the sun,
Terrible as an army with banners?

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 6:1-10

151.

Why did the women ask the questions of the whereabouts of the beloved? Did they really want to seek him?

152.

The maid knows immediately where he was. How was it she was so well informed?

153.

As a shepherd wasn-'t gathering lilies a rather superficial job? Explain.

154.

What is the strong avowal in verse three?

155.

Solomon is again attempting to win the heart of the maid. Why bother if he has a harem full?

156.

How does the maid compare with two cities? i.e., with Tirzah and Jerusalem?

157.

The maiden had qualities other than physical beautyshe was as terrible as an army with banners. Explain.

158.

The king was overcome with a look. What did he see in her eyes that so moved him?

159.

The shepherd had used the same figure of speech in his description of the maid (cf. Song of Solomon 4:1 ff). Is there any difference between Song of Solomon 4:1-2 and Song of Solomon 6:6?

160.

The description in Song of Solomon 6:7 is repeated in Song of Solomon 4:3 b. Why? Discuss.

161.

Why mention the 60 queens and the 80 concubines?

162.

What was the purpose in having virgins or maidens? in such large numbers?

163.

There are four descriptions of the Shulammite in verse nine. Discuss their meaning.

164.

The maiden must have made quite an impression upon everyoneor perhaps Solomon is only full of flattery. Discuss.

165.

There is a beautiful expression in verse ten. Discuss the qualities here suggested.

PARAPHRASE 6:1-10

Court Ladies:

Song of Solomon 6:1.

Whither is thy beloved gone,

O thou fairest among women?
Whither is thy beloved turned aside?
And we will seek him with thee.

Shulammite:

2.

My beloved is gone down to his garden,

To the beds of balsam,
*To delight himself in the gardens, (Dr. R. Young)
And to gather anemones.

3.

(But) I am my beloved's and my beloved his mine!

He (who) pastures his flock where anemones grow.

Solomon:

4.

Thou art fair as Tirzah, O my companion,

Comely as Jerusalem,
Imposing as troops marching with their banners!

5.

Turn away thine eyes from me,

For they are taking me by storm.
Thy hair resembles a flock of goats
That browse along the slopes of Gilead.

6.

Thy teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep

Just come up from the dipping pool.
Each has its twin,
And none among them is bereaved.

7.

Thy cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate

Behind thy tresses.

8.

There are sixty queens and eighty concubines,

Also virgin damsels without number.

9.

My dove among all the rest is alone perfect;

She is her mother's only daughter,

The darling of her that bore her.

The damsels saw her and pronounced her happy,
Queens and concubines, too, praised her, saying,

10.

Who is this that appears like the early dawn,

Fair as the moon, clear as the sun,
Imposing as troops marching with their banners?

COMMENT 6:1-10

Exegesis Song of Solomon 6:1-10

We have been impressed and greatly helped by the comments of Walter F. Adeney in An Exposition of the Bible (p. 533, 34):

The mocking ladies ask their victim where then has this paragon gone? She would have them understand that he has not been so cruel as really to desert her. It was only in her dream that he treated her with such unaccountable fickleness. The plain fact is that he is away at his work on his far-off farm, feeding his flock, and perhaps gathering a posy of flowers for his bride. He is far awaythat sad truth cannot be denied; and yet he is not really lost, for love laughs at time and distance; the poor lonely girl can say still that she is her beloved's and that he is hers. The reappearance of this phrase suggests that it is intended to serve as a sort of refrain.
In the first refrain the daughters of Jerusalem are besought not to attempt to awaken the Shulammite's love for Solomon; this is well balanced by the refrain in which she declares the constancy of the mutual love that exists between herself and the shepherd.
Now Solomon reappears on the scene, and resumes his laudation of the Shulammite's beauty. But there is a marked change in his manner. This most recent capture is quite unlike the sort of girls with whom his harem was stocked from time to time. He had no reverence for any of them; they all considered themselves to be highly honoured by his favour, all adored him with slavish admiration, like, that expressed by one of them in the first line of the poem. But he is positively afraid of the Shulammite. She is terrible as an army with banners. He cannot bear to look at her eyes; he begs her to turn them away from him, for they have overcome him. What is the meaning of this new attitude on the part of the mighty monarch? There is something awful in the simple peasant girl. The purity, the constancy, the cold scorn with which she regards the king, are as humiliating as they are novel in his experience. Yet it is well for him that he is susceptible to their influence. He is greatly injured and corrupted by the manners of a luxurious Oriental court. But he is not a seared profligate. The vision of goodness startles him; but there is a better nature in him, and its slumbering powers are partly roused by this unexpected apparition.
We have now reached a very important point in the poem. It is almost impossible to reconcile this with the theory that Solomon is the one and only lover referred to throughout. But on the shepherd hypothesis the position is most significant. The value of constancy in love is not only seen in the steadfast character of one who is sorely tempted to yield to other influences; it is also apparent in the effects on a spectator of so uncongenial a nature as King Solomon. Thus the poet brings out the great idea of his work most vividly. He could not have done so more forcibly than by choosing the court of Solomon for the scene of the trial, and showing the startling effect of the noble virtue of constancy on the king himself.
Here we are face to face with one of the rescuing influences of life, which may be met in various forms. A true woman, an innocent child, a pure man, coming across the path of one who has permitted himself to slide down towards murky depths, arrests his attention with a, painful shock of surprise. The result is a revelation to him, in the light of which he discovers, to his horror, how far he has fallen. It is a sort of incarnate conscience, warning him of the still lower degradation towards which he is sinking. Perhaps it strikes him as a beacon light, showing the path up to purity and peace; an angel from heaven sent to help him retrace his steps and return to his better self. Few men are so abandoned as never to be visited by some such gleam from higher regions. To many, alas, it comes but as the temporary rift in the clouds through which for one brief moment the blue sky becomes visible even on a wild and stormy day, soon to be lost in deeper darkness. Happy are they who obey its unexpected message.
The concluding words of the passage which opens with Solomon's praises of the Shulammite present another of the many difficulties with which the poem abounds. Mention is made of Solomon's sixty queens, his eighty concubines, his maidens without number; and then the Shulammite is contrasted with this vast seraglio as My dove, my undefiled, who is but onethe only one of her mother. Who is speaking here? If this is a continuation of Solomon's speech, as the flow of the verses would suggest, it must mean that the king would set his newest acquisition quite apart from all the ladies of the harem, as his choices and treasured bride. Those who regard Solomon as the lover, think they see here what they call his conversion, that is to say his turning away from polygamy to monogamy. History knows of no such conversion; and it is hardly likely that a poet of the northern kingdom would go out of his way to whitewash the matrimonial reputation of a sovereign from whom the house of Judah was descended. Besides, the occurrence here represented bears a very dubious character when we consider that all the existing denizens of the harem were to be put aside in favour of a new beauty. It would have been more like a genuine conversion if Solomon had gone back to the love of his youth, and confined his affections to his neglected first wife. (ibid. pp. 533-34)

From a reading of several commentaries we are well aware that the above quotation will not be met with unanimous approval. We only offer what seems to us a consistent position. We believe the interpretation we have suggested compliments the teachings of the rest of the scriptures. We are asking this inspired poem which has in itself no certain interpretation to agree with the plain teaching of the rest of the word and not visa versa.

Marriage Song of Solomon 6:1-10

Dear God, I want to be that pure man! I trust your heart has responded to the concept presented here as has mine. There is a beauty, a wonder, something awesome, and genuine in holiness. There is a motivation for living, suffering, working, yea, and dying in keeping myself for one woman.

There is nothing weak or unworthy about this look at marriage. It will not do to apply this to our wife and ask her if she is like the Shulammiteof course, we hope she is. But she will respond far more readily to our example of purity. If we are so in love with her that the offers of Satan do not tempt us then purity and oneness becomes a possibility. Let's look very closely at Solomon's descriptionit will help us much. (1) He does not mention the lips or speech of the maiden. She had said nothing that pleased him, indeed, she could have spoken against him. It is more important that the conversation of our wife please us than her physical person. (2) Her penetrating gaze profoundly disturbed himit was because her gaze was pure or unadulterated. Contrast the response of the shepherd to her lookit repulsed Solomon and encouraged the shepherd. (Song of Solomon 4:9) (3) Even Solomon hesitated in pressing his attention on one whose virtuous behavior gave him no encouragement. The demeanor of our wives speaks far more eloquently than their lips. We need to separate selfishness from virtue. There is nothing virtuous about refusing the attentions of our wife or husband because such attention (particularly in the sexual realm) is not convenient. (Cf. 1 Corinthians 7:1 ff)

Communion Song of Solomon 6:1-10

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other such blemish, but holy and blameless Ephesians 5:25-27. We are so very delighted and humbled to consider the fact that this is how our bridegroom looks at us, His Bride. But in the text before us we want to know how the worldor Solomon looks at us. Is the world non-plused by our transparent sincerity? A genuine consistent life is as imposing as troops marching with their banners. When Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for lying the result was as follows: And great fear came upon the whole church, and upon all that heard these things. But of the rest durst no man join himself to them: howbeit the people magnified them; and believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women; (Acts 5:11; Acts 5:13-14). It was the consistent lives of the Apostles and other Christians that led in this conquest. Have you ever been avoided because you were a Christian? Has someone refused to look you in the eye? We shouldn-'t be surprised. If such persons could voice their reaction it could be in the words of our textTurn away thine eyes from me, for they are taking me by storm. Paul obtained this response from the governor Felix and his female companion, Drusilla. And as he reasoned of righteousness, and self-control, and judgment to come, Felix was terrified, and -answered, Go thy way for this time; and when I have a convenient season, I will call thee unto me (Acts 24:25). The Christian should indeed be attractive as a personbut pure and undefiled in character and this is a shock to many people.

FACT QUESTIONS 6:1-10

200.

The shepherd really never left the maidhow account for his apparent leaving?

201.

The shepherd was not only feeding the flocks but also thinking of his beloved. How did he express his thoughts?

202.

There are two refrains running through the Song. What are they?

203.

There is a marked change in the manner of Solomon. What is it?

204.

There is something awful in the simple peasant girl. What is it?

205.

Solomon has not become a seared profligate. How do we know? Discuss.

206.

This text seems to support the shepherd hypothesis. Explain.

207.

Do you think Solomon underwent a conversion at this point and left all his other wives and became loyal to only the Shulammite? Discuss.

208.

Discuss the three points of comparison under the section of Marriage as they relate to marriage today.

209.

Discuss the possible influence a pure consistent life can have on our world.