Song of Solomon 5:11

5:9-16 Even those who have little acquaintance with Christ, cannot but see amiable beauty in others who bear his image. There are hopes of those who begin to inquire concerning Christ and his perfections. Christians, who are well acquainted with Christ themselves, should do all they can to make others know something of him. Divine glory makes him truly lovely in the eyes of all who are enlightened to discern spiritual things. He is white in the spotless innocence of his life, ruddy in the bleeding sufferings he went through at his death. This description of the person of the Beloved, would form, in the figurative language of those times, a portrait of beauty of person and of grace of manners; but the aptness of some of the allusions may not appear to us. He shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all that believe. May his love constrain us to live to his glory.

His head is as the most fine gold; it shines like gold, not in respect of the hair, which is black, as it followeth, but by reason of his crown of pure gold upon his head, Revelation 14:14 ; whereby she implies that her Bridegroom was a King, which she declared above, Song of Solomon 5:11 . His locks; in which a part of man’s beauty consists. I shall not trouble my reader with a distinct application of this and the following particulars unto some special part or excellency of Christ, because such things are mere conjectures without any solid grounds, and the only design of this description seems to be this, to set forth the beauty of Christ under the notion of a most complete and amiable person, in whom there is no defect nor blemish, from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet. Black as a raven; which is mentioned, partly because this was esteemed a beauty, and partly because it was an evidence of his youth and rigour, as grey hairs are characters of age and infirmity, Hosea 7:9 .

11. head … gold—the Godhead of Jesus Christ, as distinguished from His heel, that is, His manhood, which was "bruised" by Satan; both together being one Christ (1Co 11:3). Also His sovereignty, as Nebuchadnezzar, the supreme king was "the head of gold" (Da 2:32-38; Col 1:18), the highest creature, compared with Him, is brass, iron, and clay. "Preciousness" (Greek, 1Pe 2:7). bushy—curled, token of Headship. In contrast with her flowing locks (So 4:1), the token of her subjection to Him (Ps 8:4-8; 1Co 11:3, 6-15). The Hebrew is (pendulous as) the branches of a palm, which, when in leaf, resemble waving plumes of feathers. black—implying youth; no "gray hairs" (Ps 102:27; 110:3, 4; Ho 7:9). Jesus Christ was crucified in the prime of vigor and manliness. In heaven, on the other hand, His hair is "white," He being the Ancient of days (Da 7:9). These contrasts often concur in Him (So 5:10), "white and ruddy"; here the "raven" (So 5:12), the "dove," as both with Noah in the ark (Ge 8:11); emblems of judgment and mercy.

11 . bushy ] Heb. taltallîm occurs in the O.T. only here, and is a derivative from tâlal or tal = ‘to hang loosely down,’ and then ‘to throw down,’ but its exact meaning is uncertain. The A.V. margin gives the translation ‘curled’ or ‘curling,’ but it probably represents the view that the word means ‘hills’ or ‘undulations,’ as some Rabbinical writers understand it. (Cp. Midrash Rabba on Levit. § 19, and Talmud, Tract. Nedarim , fol. 9 b .) In that case the meaning would be, that his locks were undulating . The LXX however translate ἐλάται = ‘palm buds,’ or the sheaths of the palm bud, which Schleusner says denotes “curls like those which the spathes of the palm form when they burst to let the fruit appear,” when they hang down in ringlets. Others get the same meaning by taking taltallîm for the pendant parts of the vine, the tendrils.

Verses 11-16. - His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks; washed with milk and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as banks of sweet herbs; his lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh. His hands are as rings of gold set with beryl; his body is as ivory work overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble set upon sockets of fine gold. His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. This description, which is complete in itself, is best regarded in its unbroken perfection. We must not expect to find a meaning for each separate part of it. There are ten corporeal excellences enumerated. We naturally recall the descriptions in Daniel and in the Apocalypse, which certainly have reference to this, and manifestly combine the attributes of greatness and beauty in the Son of man. Solomon, no doubt, as the son of Bathsheba, was distinguished by his personal attractions. Some of the details of description are differently rendered by different commentators. Delitzsch regards the description of the hair in ver. 11 as compared to a hill or hilly range" his locks hill upon hill," i.e. "his hair, seen from his neck upwards, forms in undulating lines hill upon hill." The black colour is no doubt mentioned as a contrast with the fair, white complexion.

The eyes are not only pure and clear, but with a glancing moistness in them which expresses feeling and devotion. So Plutarch has ὑρότης τῶν ὀμμάτῶν to denote a languishing look, and we find the same figure in the 'Gitagovinda ' and Hafiz, and in Ossian. So Luther, "Und stehen in der Falle." The pureness of the white of the eye is represented in the bathing or washing in milk. They are full and large, "fine in their setting," referring no doubt to the steady, strong look of fine eyes. "The cheeks" are compared to towers of plants; that is, there is a soft elevation in them. LXX., ψύουσαι μυρεψικά : Jerome, Sicut areolae aromatum consitae a pigmentariis. The Targum says, "Like the rows of a garden of aromatic plants, which produce deep, penetrating essences, even as a (magnificent) garden aromatic plants" - perhaps referring to the "flos juventae," the hair on the face, the growth of the beard. "The lips" are described as the organs of speech as well as inviting to embrace. They drop words like liquid fragrance. "The bands" may be differently described according as they are viewed. Delitzsch says, "His hands form cylinders, fitted in with stones of Tarshish." Gesenius thinks the comparison is of the closed hand and the stained nails, but that seems farfetched. Surely it is the outstretched hands that are meant. The form of the fingers is seen and admired; they are full, round, fleshy like bars of gold.

11 His head is precious fine gold, His locks hill upon hill, Black as the raven. The word-connection פּז כּתם, occurring only here, serves as a designation of the very finest pure gold; for כּתם (hiding, then that which is hidden), from כתם, R. כת (vid., concerning the words appertaining to this root, under Psalm 87:6), is the name of fine gold, which was guarded as a jewel (cf. Proverbs 25:12), and פּז (with long ā), is pure gold freed from inferior metals, from פּזז, to set free, and generally violently to free (cf. zahav muphaz, 1 Kings 10:18, with zahav tahor, 2 Chronicles 9:17). The Targ. to the Hagiog. translate פז by אובריזא (e.g., Psalm 119:127), or אובריזין (e.g., Psalm 19:11), ὄβρυζον, i.e., gold which has stood the fire-proof (obrussa) of the cupel or the crucible. Grammatically regarded, the word-connection kethem paz is not genit., like kethem ophir, but appositional, like narrah bethulah, Deuteronomy 22:28, zevahim shelamim, Exodus 24:5, etc. The point of comparison is the imposing nobility of the fine form and noble carriage of his head. In the description of the locks of his hair the lxx render תלתלים by ἐλάται, Jerome by sicut elatae palmarum, like the young twigs, the young shoots of the palm. Ewald regards it as a harder parall. form of זלזלּים, Isaiah 18:5, vine-branches; and Hitzig compares the Thousand and One Nights, iii. 180, where the loose hair of a maiden is likened to twisted clusters of grapes.