Song of Solomon 4:16

Solomon’s words are wonderful. But the young woman’s reply is also wonderful. She is pleased with Solomon’s words. She wants him to share her life. So she pretends to invite Solomon into her garden. And she tells him to enjoy the fruit.

But the young woman is not selfish. She wants everyone to be happy because of their love. She did not think that a beautiful garden should be secret. She wants everyone to smell the beautiful smells.

Solomon is pleased because of her reply. Her attitudes are the same as his. He is the king. And he believes that he should work hard. Then all the people will benefit. And she is starting to have the same ideas.

December 2005

dear ~ someone that you love in a special way.
veil ~ a piece of cloth; a woman wears it over her face; it is possible to see through it.
dove ~ a bird.
twin ~ one of a pair - both come from one mother in one birth.
pomegranate ~ a fruit which is the size of an orange.
shield ~ a piece of metal that a soldier uses to protect himself.
gazelle ~ an animal.
myrrh ~ something that comes from trees; people use it in incense.
incense ~ a spice that produces a sweet smell.
spice ~ a special plant that has a strong smell and taste. People use spices to make incense and perfume.
perfume ~ a sweet smell.
incense ~ a spice that produces a sweet smell.
spice ~ a special plant that has a strong smell and taste. People use spices to make incense and perfume.
perfume ~ a sweet smell.
leopard ~ a dangerous animal.
jewel ~ a precious stone.
perfume ~ a sweet smell.
spice ~ a special plant that has a strong smell and taste. People use spices to make incense and perfume.
incense ~ a spice that produces a sweet smell.
perfume ~ a sweet smell.

The Beautiful Woman behind the Veil

Song of Songs

Sarah Ruth

Chapter 4

The man and his wife are now alone together. The writer continues to speak about things that people find in country places. But the man and his wife are not outside. The writer is using these words to describe the two people.

In this chapter, the man speaks more than in any other part of the book. The man sees how beautiful his wife is. He describes her in a song without music. He speaks first about her head and then about her body. This is like other love songs from the East.

Man

v1 How beautiful you are!

My best friend that I love, you are certainly very beautiful!

Your eyes behind your *veil are like *doves.

Your hair is like a group of goats.

It is like goats that are coming down *Mount Gilead.

Mount Gilead is a mountain in the country where Solomon was king.

The man likes to look at his wife. The woman’s hair moves when she turns. It seems like a group of goats that are following each other down the mountain.

Man

v2 Your teeth are white like a group of sheep.

They are like sheep after someone has cut off their dirty *wool.

They are like sheep that are coming out of the pool of water.

Each tooth is one of a pair. Not one of them is alone.

v3 Your lips are bright red.

They are bright red like a *ribbon.

Your mouth is lovely.

The sides of your face are round like the halves of a *pomegranate.

Your *veil hides them.

The man can see his wife’s teeth. So perhaps she smiles a lot. Her teeth are white and clean. The mouth here means the voice. The woman is not only pretty but she speaks well too.

The woman may be wearing a *veil. This may show that she has just married the man. But the word *veil may mean only that her husband does not know her very well yet.

The man wants to know her better. He wants to find out about her body. He wants to find out about her as a person. The man and his wife are alone together. They can tell each other about themselves. This is like someone who is taking off a *veil.

Man

v4 Your neck is like the beautiful, important *tower that King David built.

The *shields of 1000 soldiers hang from the stones round it.

King David was Solomon’s father.

The woman’s neck is long. It has many valuable rings round it. From them hang little plates. They make her even more beautiful.

Maybe the woman’s neck holds her head up high. This shows that she feels good. She feels important. When she is with her husband, she feels very important.

Man

v5 Your breasts are like two young *gazelles that were born to their mother on the same day.

They walk slowly among the *lilies and they eat the grass.

The writer explains the man’s thoughts to us. The writer seems to be describing a lovely, happy picture in a country place. The animals are eating and they are not in a hurry. It is quiet.

But the writer is really describing the man and his wife together. The woman may be very young. Her breasts are small and soft. The man is kissing her. And he is enjoying that because she is very beautiful.

What is happening is new for her. The man knows that. Already he has helped her because he has spoken to her about her beautiful body. And now he is kind and he does not hurry.

The woman had covered the other parts of her body.

Man

v6 Until the dawn, I will go to the mountain of *myrrh.

Until the shadows go, I will go to the hill with the lovely smell.

The mountain of *myrrh and the hill with the lovely smell mean the woman’s lower body.

v7 You are my best friend and I love you.

I find that every part of you is beautiful.

There is no part of you that is not lovely.

v8 Come with me from Lebanon.

You are my new wife.

Come with me from Lebanon.

Come down from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir.

Come down from the highest part of Hermon.

Come away from the *lions’ homes

and from the places in the mountains where there are *leopards.

Lebanon, Amana, Senir and Hermon are all places that are a long way away. But the woman is not in any of those places. Her husband is saying that she seems difficult to reach. He wants to draw her to him. Her body is already near to him. But he asks her to come to him. He thinks that her *spirit is still not near to him. That is how he feels. So he asks her to come to him.

*Lions and *leopards are wild and dangerous animals. He wants to keep her from danger. The man is saying that she will be safe with him. There is no reason to be afraid.

Man

v9 I love you so much that I never want to leave you.

You are my sister and my new wife.

After one glance of your eyes, I knew that I wanted you more than anyone else.

I see one of the valuable stones that hang round your neck.

And then I know that you are the most valuable person to me.

The man says the word ‘sister’ because now he is part of her *family.

Man

v10 Your love to me is certainly very good, my sister, my new wife.

It gives to me more pleasure than when I drink *wine.

You have a smell that is lovelier than any *spice!

v11 Your lips taste sweet, my new wife.

They taste like *honey that falls from the *honeycomb.

Milk and *honey are under your *tongue.

The smell of your clothes is like the smell of Lebanon.

The way that the woman touches her husband is better than a drink of the best *wine. The words in verse 11 show that he enjoys her kisses even more now. The man now really wants to enjoy sex. Quickly his body is changing ready for this.

The woman’s clothes here are those that she wears at night. Or, they are the clothes that she wears next to her body. The man holds his wife very near to him.

Man

v12 You are like a garden that you have locked up, my sister, and my new wife.

You are like a *spring that someone has covered.

You are like a *fountain that nobody has opened.

Water cannot rise from it.

The woman has never enjoyed sex before. She has waited for the right man for her. So she has ‘locked her garden’.

God has made her the woman that she is. God has made her body, her nature and her *spirit. But she may not have had a special man friend before. A man has not yet completely seen what she is like.

The man does not know how she will show her love to him. The woman loves her husband. There may be ways that she would like him to touch her. But this is a new event for her.

If he touches her in these ways, she will feel her love for him in her body. Then, when she is ready, she will find more love inside her. She will be able to give a lot of pleasure to her husband.

Man

v13 Your garden is full of *pomegranate trees with their sweet fruit.

There are fruits that many people like.

There are *henna and *nard.

v14 There are *nard, *saffron, *calamus and *cinnamon.

There are many different plants that have lovely smells.

There are *myrrh and *aloes.

All the best *spices are there.

Henna, nard, saffron, calamus, cinnamon, myrrh and aloes are all things that people get from plants. They have bright colours or they taste lovely. They may have nice smells.

The man certainly wants very much to come into the garden that is his wife’s body. He can already enjoy it. His wife is nearly ready to enjoy sex completely. Now the ‘garden’ is open.

Man

v15 You are like a *fountain in a garden.

You are like a well that is full of water.

The water now comes quickly down from Lebanon.

Woman

v16 Awake, north wind! Come, south wind!

Blow on my garden so that its lovely smell will move all over the place.

I really want the man that I love to come into his garden.

Let him taste the best fruits.

The woman asks her husband into her ‘garden’. She says ‘Come into it.’ Then she calls her body ‘his’ garden.

Now the time is right. The man and his wife show their love to each other. They give to each other even more pleasure than before. They have never before known love like this!

veil ~ a piece of thin cloth that covers the face. The person who is wearing it can see through it. Or it may not cover the eyes.
doves ~ small, beautiful birds. They move their wings quickly when they fly.
wings ~ parts of a bird. The bird uses them to fly.'Mount Gilead ~ a mountain in the country where Solomon was king.
wool ~ the thick, soft hair that a sheep has over its body.
ribbon ~ a long thin piece of cloth. It can tied things together.
pomegranate ~ a tree that grows in hot countries; also, pomegranates are its round fruit.
tower ~ a tall, narrow building or part of a building. Someone builds a tower so that people at the top of it can see a long way.
shield ~ a flat piece of metal that soldiers wear on their arms. They hold it in front of their bodies. It keeps their bodies safe from people who attack them.
gazelle ~ a wild animal like a deer. It moves quickly.
deer ~ a wild animal. It is the size of a small cow. But it is more beautiful and it moves more quickly.
lily ~ a pretty flower.
myrrh ~ something that has a lovely strong smell. People get it from a plant. They use it to make incense or perfume.
incense ~ something that makes a lovely smell when it burns.
perfume ~ something that has a very nice smell; people put it on their bodies.
lion ~ a large cat; a wild and dangerous animal. It has long, thick hair round its neck.
leopard ~ a large cat; a wild and dangerous animal. It has many round, black marks over the hair on its body.
spirit ~ the part of us that lives when our body dies. It is the person himself, his nature.
lion ~ a large cat; a wild and dangerous animal. It has long, thick hair round its neck.
family ~ family means a father, a mother and their children; but sometimes it includes grandfathers and their children or those that they were born from.
wine ~ a drink that has alcohol in it. People make it from grapes.
grape ~ a small soft fruit.
spices ~ people get these from plants. When someone puts them into food, the food tastes stronger and better than before.
honey ~ some insects make this from flowers’ sugar. It is thick when someone pours it.
honeycomb ~ the insects make honey in this.
honey ~ some insects make this from flowers’ sugar. It is thick when someone pours it.
tongue ~ the part of the mouth that a person uses to taste and to speak.
spring ~ someone may find a spring in a country place. It has water that pushes slowly through a small hole in a rock or from the ground.
fountain ~ something that people make so that water pushes up through a small hole.
henna ~ a plant that has a lovely smell. People can use it to change the colour of their hair, for example.
nard ~ nard, saffron, calamus, cinnamon and aloes are all things that people get from plants. They have bright colours or they taste lovely. They may have nice smells.
saffron ~ saffron, nard, calamus, cinnamon and aloes are all things that people get from plants. They have bright colours or they taste lovely. They may have nice smells.
calamus ~ calamus, nard, saffron, cinnamon and aloes are all things that people get from plants. They have bright colours or they taste lovely. They may have nice smells.
cinnamon ~ cinnamon, nard, saffron, calamus and aloes are all things that people get from plants. They have bright colours or they taste lovely. They may have nice smells.
aloes ~ aloes, nard, saffron, calamus and cinnamon are all things that people get from plants. They have bright colours or they taste lovely. They may have nice smells.