Song of Solomon 4:3

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!

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet,.... To a "thread" for thinness, to "scarlet" for colour; thin red lips being beautiful, as well as white teeth; so the beautiful Aspasia had red lips (b), and teeth whiter than snow; hence we read of red and purple lips (c). Now as lips are the instruments of speech, the words of the church, and of all true believers, may be designed; what is said by them in their prayers, which are filled, not with great swelling words of vanity, exalting themselves, and magnifying their works, like the Pharisee; but with humble confessions of sin, and acknowledgments of their unworthiness of mercy; and they are constant, like one continued thread, they go on praying all their days: and the scarlet colour may denote the fervency of them, whereby they become available with God; and the acceptableness of them to God, through the mediation of Christ, whose blood, and not any worthiness of theirs, is pleaded in them: their words of praise also may be signified hereby; which are not filled with big swollen encomiums of themselves, and of what they have done; but with expressions of the goodness and grace of God to them; and with thankfulness for all mercies, both temporal and spiritual, bestowed upon them; and these are hearty and sincere, coming from a heart inflamed with the love of God, which make such lips look like scarlet; and that being in great esteem may intimate the acceptableness of them to God, through the blood and sacrifice of Christ.

(3) Speech. —Rather, mouth, as the parallelism shows. Thy temples . . .—Rather, like a piece of pomegranate thy cheeks behind thy veil. (See Note to Song of Solomon 4:1.) “The pomegranate brings to my mind the blushes of my beloved, when her cheeks are covered with a modest resentment” (Persian Ode, quoted by Ginsburg from Sir Wm. Jones). For the pomegranate see Exodus 28:34. It naturally supplied to the Eastern poet the image for which the Western poet goes to the apple. “Her cheeks like apples which the sun hath rudded” (Spenser).

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet; fine, and smooth, and soft, and round, and red, in which the beauty of the lips consisteth. Thy speech is comely ; which is added, partly as another ingredient of an amiable person, and partly to explain the foregoing metaphor. The communication or discourse of believers is edifying, and comfortable, and acceptable to God and to serious men. Compare Psalm 45:2 Colossians 4:6 . Thy temples ; under which doubtless he comprehends the cheeks, which are joined to them, and in which a great part of beauty lies, which therefore would not have been omitted in this description. Like a piece of a pomegranate; in which there is a lovely mixture of red and white. This may note both the church’s beauty and her modesty, which showeth itself by blushes in those parts when she hath fallen into any sin, as the highest believers in this world sometimes do. Within thy locks; a further evidence both of beauty and modesty. See on Song of Solomon 4:1 .

3. thread—like a delicate fillet. Not thick and white as the leper's lips (type of sin), which were therefore to be "covered," as "unclean" (Le 13:45). scarlet—The blood of Jesus Christ (Isa 6:5-9) cleanses the leprosy, and unseals the lips (Isa 57:19; Ho 14:2; Heb 13:15). Rahab's scarlet thread was a type of it (Jos 2:18). speech—not a separate feature from the lips (Zep 3:9; Col 4:6). Contrast "uncircumcised lips" (Ex 6:12). Maurer and Burrowes translate, "thy mouth." temples—rather, the upper part of the cheek next the temples: the seat of shamefacedness; so, "within thy locks," no display (1Co 11:5, 6, 15). Mark of true penitence (Ezr 9:6; Eze 16:63). Contrast Jer 3:3; Eze 3:7. pomegranate—When cut, it displays in rows seeds pellucid, like crystal, tinged with red. Her modesty is not on the surface, but within, which Jesus Christ can see into.

3 . like a thread of scarlet ] i.e. she has thin red lips. The word for ‘red’ here is shânî =‘cochineal.’ In Arabic its name is qirmiz , hence our word ‘crimson.’ thy speech ] thy mouth . The word used here, midhbâr , is an unusual one in this sense. thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks ] Better, thy cheeks are like the rift of a pomegranate behind thy veil . Properly raqqâh means the thin part of the skull, from râqaq =‘to be thin,’ i.e. the temple; but, as in other languages, both cheeks and temple may be included in the one term. The meaning here is either that the temples strictly so called gleam through the slit of the veil, as the mingled white and red of the inside of a pomegranate gleam through the cracks of the rind, or if pelach means ‘a piece,’ the comparison is of the cheeks to the rounded form and ruddy colour of a section of this fruit.

Verse 3. - Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy mouth is comely; thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate behind thy veil. Scarlet ; that is, shining, glistening red colour. Thy mouth ( מִדְבָּרֵך ). Thy mouth as speaking. So the LXX., Jerome, and Venetian, "thy speech," eloquium , conversation. But this is questioned, as it should then be דְּבוּרֵך . The word midhbar undoubtedly means "the mouth," from davar , "to speak," with the מ preformative, as the name of the instrument. It is the preterite for פִיך , but perhaps as referring specially to speech. Thy temples ; Latin tempora , from the adjective רַק , "weak," meaning the thin, piece of skull on each side of the eyes, like the German schlafe , from schlaff , "slack." The inside of the pomegranate is of a red colour mixed and tempered with the ruby colour. Ginsburg, however, thinks that the cheeks are intended, and that the comparison is with the outside of the pomegranate, in which the vermilion colour is mingled with brown, and resembles the round cheek; but then why say, " piece of a pomegranate"? פֶלַת , from the root "to cut fruit" (see 1 Kings 4 :39), certainly must refer to the cut fruit and the appearance of the inside. The meaning may be a segment, that is, so as to represent the roundness of the cheek. Possibly the reference may be to blushes on the bride's cheek, or to ornaments which appeared through the veil. We can scarcely expect to make out every particular in an Eastern description.

The mouth is next praised: 3a Like a thread of crimson thy lips, And thy mouth is lovely, As distinguished from red-purple, ארגּמן, שׁני (properly, shining, glistening; for this form has an active signification, like נקי, as well as a passive, like עני) - fully, שׁני תּולעת - signifies the kermes or worm-colour; the karmese, the red juice of the cochineal. מדבּרך (מדבּריך) is translated by the lxx "thy speech;" Jerome, eloquium; and the Venet. "thy dialogue;" but that would be expressed, though by a ἁπ. λεγ., by מדבּר דבּוּרך is here the name of the mouth, the naming of which one expects; the preform. is the mem instrumenti: the mouth, as the instrument of speech, as the organ by which the soul expresses itself in word and in manner of speech. The poet needed for פּיך a fuller, more select word; just as in Syria the nose is not called anf, but minchâr (from nachara, to blow, to breathe hard). Praise of her temples. 3b Like a piece of pomegranate thy temples Behind thy veil. רקּה is the thin piece of the skull on both sides of the eyes; Lat., mostly in the plur., tempora; German, schlfe, from schlaff, loose, slack, i.e., weak equals רק. The figure points to that soft mixing of colours which makes the colouring of the so-called carnation one of the most difficult accomplishments in the art of painting.

The half of a cut pomegranate (Jer. fragmen mali punici) is not meant after its outer side, as Zckler supposes, for he gives to the noun rǎkkā, contrary to Judges 4:21; Judges 5:26, the meaning of cheek, a meaning which it has not, but after its inner side, which presents (Note: The interior of a pomegranate is divided by tough, leather-like white or yellow skins, and the divisions are filled with little berries, in form and size like those of the grape, in the juicy inside of which little, properly, seed-corns, are found. The berries are dark red, or also pale red. The above comparison points to the mixing of these two colours.) a red mixed and tempered with the ruby colour, - a figure so much the more appropriate, since the ground-colour of Shulamith's countenance is a subdued white. (Note: The Moslem erotic poets compare the division of the lips to the dividing cleft into a pomegranate.) Up to this point the figures are borrowed from the circle of vision of a shepherdess. Now the king derives them from the sphere of his own experience as the ruler of a kingdom. She who has eyes like doves is in form like a born queen.