Song of Solomon 1:4

The king, i.e. the bridegroom, has brought the bride into his house, and she, freed from any taint of envy, nay, with an ingenuous pride, mentions the love with which others 'rightly' (RV) regard him. Some scholars prefer to read, 'Bring me, O king,' etSong of Song of Solomon 5Song of Solomon 5. In speaking of herself as black and 'swarthy' (RV), she is acknowledging herself to be a country girl: in the current songs of Palestine town-girls are called 'the white'; those of the country 'the black.' For Kedar see Genesis 25:13; Isaiah 42:11; Isaiah 60:7; The Arab tents are often made of black goats' hair or black woven stuff. If our present text is correct the maiden claims a beauty of her own, comparable to that of the richly embroidered curtains in Solomon's palace. But possibly the reference may be to the Salamites, who followed the Kedarenes in occupying the territory S. of Palestine. Her face has been bronzed by the sun's 'looking upon her,' as the prince of Morocco, in the 'Merchant of Venice,' speaks of his complexion:

'The shadow'd livery of the burnish'd sun,
To whom I am a neighbour, and near bred.'