Song of Solomon 4:2

4:1-7 If each of these comparisons has a meaning applicable to the graces of the church, or of the faithful Christian, they are not clearly known; and great mistakes are made by fanciful guesses. The mountain of myrrh appears to mean the mountain Moriah, on which the temple was built, where the incense was burned, and the people worshipped the Lord. This was his residence till the shadows of the law given to Moses were dispersed by the breaking of the gospel day, and the rising of the Sun of righteousness. And though, in respect of his human nature, Christ is absent from his church on earth, and will continue to be so till the heavenly day break, yet he is spiritually present in his ordinances, and with his people. How fair and comely are believers, when justified in Christ's righteousness, and adorned with spiritual graces! when their thoughts, words, and deeds, though imperfect, are pure, manifesting a heart nourished by the gospel!

Song of Solomon 4:2-3 . Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep — Numerous, and placed in due order: that are even and shorn — Smooth and even, as also clean and white. Whereof every one bears twins — Which seems to denote the two rows of teeth: and none is barren among them — Not one tooth is lacking. Thy speech is comely — Which is added as another ingredient of an amiable person; and to explain the foregoing metaphor. The discourse of believers is edifying and comfortable, and acceptable to God, and to serious men. Thy temples — Under which he comprehends the cheeks; are like a piece of pomegranate — In which there is a lovely mixture of red and white.

(2) Thy teeth . . . — i.e., white as newly washed sheep. The word translated shorn is only used as a synonym for sheep, as we see by comparison with Song of Solomon 6:6 . The only other place where it is found is 2Kings 6:6 , where it is used of cutting wood. Bear twins.—The Hebrew word means “to make double.” But this may either be “to produce twins,” as in the text, or “to make pairs,” or “to occur in pairs,” a rendering which gives far better sense. The perfect and regular rows of teeth are exactly paired, upper to lower, like the sheep coming two and two from the washing, not one being bereaved of its fellow.

Thy teeth are like a flock, numerous, and placed in due order, of sheep; which is here fitly supplied out of Song of Solomon 6:6 , where it is expressed. Even shorn; smooth and even, as also clean and white, whereas unshorn sheep retain much filth in their wool, even after their washing. Every one bear twins; which seems to note the two rows of teeth, like twins, one directly answering to the other; which is a great part of the beauty or comeliness belonging to the teeth. Nor let any wonder to hear of sheep bearing. twins; for that there were many such in the Eastern countries is apparent, not only from Holy Scripture, but also from the express testimony of Aristotle, and other ancient writers. None is barren among them; not one tooth is lacking. By the teeth some understand the teachers, which may be compared to teeth, because they prepare, and as it were chew, spiritual food for the people, and to such teeth as are here described for their great number and excellent order, and for that purity and fruitfulness which is required of them. Others understand some gracious qualification or action of the faithful, either their faith, which is compared to eating, John 6:41 , &c., and elsewhere; which also purifies the heart and life, and produceth good works in abundance; or their meditation or study of God, and of his word, whereby, like the clean beasts under the law, they chew the cud; which also much promotes their purity and fertility.

But, as I said on the first verse, there is no need of a distinct application of every particular, as it is in parables, where many things are added for decency, which belong not to the main scope, and therefore are neglected in the interpretation of them. The scope of this place is only to set forth the church’s perfection and beauty by the resemblance of a beautiful woman, and one part of beauty consists in the colour and order of the teeth.

2. even shorn—the Hebrew is translated (1Ki 6:25), "of one size"; so the point of comparison to teeth is their symmetry of form; as in "came up from the washing," the spotless whiteness; and in "twins," the exact correspondence of the upper and lower teeth: and in "none barren," none wanting, none without its fellow. Faith is the tooth with which we eat the living bread (Joh 6:35, 54). Contrast the teeth of sinners (Ps 57:4; Pr 30:14); also their end (Ps 3:7; Mt 25:30). Faith leads the flock to the washing (Zec 13:1; 1Co 6:11; Tit 3:5). none … barren—(2Pe 1:8). He who is begotten of God begets instrumentally other sons of God.

2 . The A.V. has supplied a great deal in the first clause, and has diverted the comparison thereby from the whiteness to the evenness of the teeth. The comparison is really this, Thy teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep which have come up from the washing , i.e. they are white as a flock of sheep in their most spotlessly white condition. The smoothness of the teeth may also be referred to in the simile. whereof every one beareth twins, and none is barren among them ] There is a play on words here such as Orientals love. ‘All of whom’ is shekkullâm , and ‘a barren,’ or rather, ‘a childless one,’ is shakkûlâh . In the R.V. margin the clause is translated, which are all of them in pairs , and undoubtedly that is the idea meant to be conveyed. The teeth run accurately in pairs, the upper corresponding to the lower, and none of them is wanting. But the Hiph. participle math’îmôth can hardly mean anything, according to O.T. usage, but ‘producing twins.’ Cp. the word for ‘producing a firstborn’ in Jeremiah 4:31 . Consequently the leading commentators retain this meaning. It would also seem to be demanded by the use of the word shakkûlâh , ‘bereaved,’ for that too implies that the individual teeth are compared to mothers. The only thing in favour of the R.V. margin is that in the Talmud this same Hiph. is used in the meaning ‘to be twins.’ (Cp. Levy, Neuhebr. Wörterb .

IV. 622.) As the language of the Song has in some respects affinities with late Heb., the word may have the same signification here. Certainly, if that view be not taken, the last clause of the verse can be only a rhetorical expansion of the simile, to indicate that the sheep to which the teeth are compared are in full health.

Verse 2. - Thy teeth are like a flock of ewes that are newly shorn, which are come up from the washing; whereof every one hath twins, and none is bereaved among them. The simile is very apt and beautiful Thy teeth are perfectly smooth, regular, and white; the upper set corresponding exactly to the lower set, like twin births in which there is no break (cf. Song of Solomon 6:6 ). The moisture of the saliva dentium , heightening the glance of the teeth, is frequently mentioned in love songs. The whiteness of wool is often used as a comparison (see Isaiah 1:18 ; Daniel 7:9 ; Revelation 1:14 ; Book of Enoch 46:1). Some think that קְצוּבות . should not be rendered "newly shorn," but "periodically shorn" (see Ginsburg) - a poetical epithet for וְחֵלֵים . The newly shorn would be washed first, תָּאַם , "to be double,....to be pairs," in the hiph. is "to make double," "to make pairs," "to appear paired." Perhaps the reference is to the sheep being washed in pairs, and going up side by side from the water. This would seem almost more exact than the idea of twin lambs, because the difference in size between the ewe and the lamb would suggest irregularity. The word שַׁכֻּלָּת , "deprived," "bereaved" ( Jeremiah 18:21 ), may point merely to the loneliness of the single sheep going up by itself, suggesting one tooth without its fellow. Ginsburg says, "all of which are paired." Each keeps to its mate as they come up from the pool. This is a decided improvement on the Authorized Version.