Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Do not stare because I am dark, for the sun has gazed upon me.

“She feels as if her blackness was so great as to be gazed at by all. mother's children-- (Mt 10:36). She is to forget "her own people and her father's house," that is, the worldly connections of her unregenerate state (Ps 45:10); they had maltreated…”

Tell me, O one I love, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest them at midday?

“Re 14:4). feedest--tendest thy flock (Isa 40:11; No single type expresses all the office of Jesus Christ; hence arises the variety of diverse images used to portray the manifold aspects of Him: these would be quite incongruous, if the Song referred to the earthly Solomon.”

If you do not know, O fairest of women, follow the tracks of the flock, and graze your young goats near the tents of the shepherds.

“It was thus, literally, that Zipporah found her bridegroom (Ex 2:16). The bride unhesitatingly asks the watchmen afterwards (So 3:3). kids-- (Joh 21:15). Christ is to be found in active ministrations, as well as in prayer (Pr 11:25). shepherds' tents--ministers in the sanctuary (Ps 84:1).”

I compare you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.

“The ardor and beauty of the bride are the point of comparison; (So 1:5) "comely." Also, like Pharaoh's horses, she forms a great company (Re 19:7, 14).”

We will make you ornaments of gold, studded with beads of silver.

“"The Jews acknowledged God as king, and Messiah as king, in interpreting the Song, but did not know that these two are one" [LEIGHTON]. make--not merely give (Eph 2:10).”

While the king was at his table, my perfume spread its fragrance.

“What grace that a table should be prepared for us, while still militant (Ps 23:5)! my spikenard--not boasting, but owning the Lord's grace to and in her. The spikenard is a lowly herb, the emblem of humility.”

The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are fragrant firs.

“In this verse there is an incidental allusion, in So 1:15, to the offering (Lu 2:24). So the "cedar and fir" ceiling refers to the temple (1Ki 5:6-10; 6:15-18); type of the heavenly temple (Re 21:22).”

He has brought me to the house of wine, and his banner over me is love.

“Spiritually, the bride or beloved is led (So 2:4) first into the King's chambers, thence is drawn after Him in answer to her prayer; is next received on a grassy couch under a cedar kiosk; and at last in a "banqueting hall," such as, JOSEPHUS…”

His left hand is under my head, and his right arm embraces me.

“They really go together, though sometimes they seem divided; here both are felt at once. THEODORET takes the left hand, equivalent to judgment and wrath; the right, equivalent to honor and love.”

O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

“It is thought a gross rudeness in the East to awaken one sleeping, especially a person of rank. my love--in Hebrew, feminine for masculine, the abstract for concrete, Jesus Christ being the embodiment of love itself (So 3:5; 8:7), where, as here, the context requires…”

Listen! My beloved approaches. Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills.

“So Margin, title of Jesus Christ (Ps 22:1), "Hind of the morning" (type of His resurrection). Historically, the coming of the kingdom of heaven (the gospel dispensation), announced by John Baptist, is meant; it primarily is the garden or vineyard; the bride is called so…”

The flowers have appeared in the countryside; the season of singing has come, and the cooing of turtledoves is heard in our land.

“"The summoned bride is welcome," say some fathers, "to weave from them garlands of beauty, wherewith she may adorn herself to meet the King."”

Before the day breaks and shadows flee, turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of Bether.

“2:25, 38); at His rising, the shadows of the law (Col 2:16, 17; Heb 10:1) were to "flee away." So we wait for the second coming, when means of grace, so precious now, shall be superseded by the Sun of righteousness (1Co 13:10, 12; The…”

O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you by the gazelles and does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until the time is right.

“So So 2:7; but there it was for the non-interruption of her own fellowship with Jesus Christ that she was anxious; here it is for the not grieving of the Holy Ghost, on the part of the daughters of Jerusalem.”

Who is this coming up from the wilderness like a column of smoke, scented with myrrh and frankincense from all the spices of the merchant?

“Image from Israel and the tabernacle (answering to "bed," So 3:7) marching through the desert with the pillar of smoke by day and fire by night (Ex 14:20), and the pillars of smoke ascending from the altars of incense and of atonement; so Jesus Christ's…”

Behold, it is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty of the mightiest men of Israel.

“In So 3:6 the wilderness character of the Church is portrayed; in So 3:7, 8, its militant aspect. In So 3:9, 10, Jesus Christ is seen dwelling in believers, who are His "chariot" and "body." In So 3:11, the consummation in glory. bed--palanquin.”

He has made its posts of silver, its base of gold, its seat of purple fabric. Its interior is inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.

“Pillars with silver sockets supported the veil that enclosed the holy of holies; emblem of Jesus Christ's strength (1Ki 7:21), Margin, "silver," emblem of His purity (Ps 12:6); so the saints hereafter (Re 3:12).”

Come out, O daughters of Zion, and gaze at King Solomon, wearing the crown his mother bestowed on the day of his wedding— the day of his heart’s rejoicing.

“Zec 9:9). crown--nuptial (Eze 16:8-12), (the Hebrews wore costly crowns or chaplets at weddings), and kingly (Ps 2:6; The crown of thorns was once His nuptial chaplet, His blood the wedding wine cup (Joh 19:5).”

Your neck is like the tower of David, built with rows of stones; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors.

“He was a man of war, preparatory to the reign of Solomon, the king of peace. So warfare in the case of Jesus Christ and His saints precedes the coming rest.”

Your breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.

“The breastplate of the high priest was made of "two" pieces, folded one on the other, in which were the Urim and Thummim (lights and perfection).”

Your lips, my bride, drip sweetness like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the aroma of Lebanon.

“Contrast Mt 27:44 with Lu 23:39, &c. It was literally with "one" eye, a sidelong glance of love "better than wine," that he refreshed Jesus Christ (So 4:9, 10).”

My sister, my bride, you are a garden locked up, a spring enclosed, a fountain sealed.

“Spiritually the garden is the gospel kingdom of heaven. Here all is ripe; previously (So 2:13) it was "the tender grape." The garden is His, though He calls the plants hers (So 4:13) by His gift (Isa 61:3, end). spring . . .”

Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind. Breathe on my garden and spread the fragrance of its spices.

“These, therefore, are not wanted; but first the north wind clearing the air (Job 37:22; Pr 25:23), and then the warm south wind (Job 37:17); so the Holy Ghost first clearing away mists of gloom, error, unbelief, sin, which intercept the light of Jesus Christ…”

O daughters of Jerusalem, I adjure you, if you find my beloved, tell him I am sick with love.

“Historically, His secret friends in the night of His withdrawal (Lu 23:27, 28). Inquirers may find ("if ye find") Jesus Christ before she who has grieved His Spirit finds Him again. tell--in prayer (Jas 5:16).”

His arms are rods of gold set with beryl. His body is an ivory panel bedecked with sapphires.

“"To the pure all things are pure." As in statuary to the artist the partly undraped figure is suggestive only of beauty, free from indelicacy, so to the saint the personal excellencies of Jesus Christ, typified under the ideal of the noblest human form.”