Song of Solomon 1:9
I compare you, my darling, to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
BSB
ASV
I have compared thee, O my love, To a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots.
KJV
I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots.
This and the next Cant. 1:15–2:7 sections are regarded by ancient commentators (Jewish and Christian) as expressing “the love of espousals” Jer 2:2 between the Holy One and His Church, first in the wilderness of the Exodus, and then in the wilderness of the world Eze 20:35-36. Son 1:9 Or, to a mare of mine in the chariots of Pharaoh I liken thee, O my friend. (The last word is the feminine form of that rendered “friend” at Son 5:16.)
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). As Jesus Christ is both Shepherd and Conqueror, so believers are not only His sheep, but also, as a Church militant now, His chariots and horses (So 6:4).
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Song of Solomon 4:7You are altogether beautiful, my darling; in you there is no flaw.
leads to
How beautiful you are, my darling! Oh, how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves.
How beautiful you are, my darling—how very beautiful! Your eyes are like doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.
Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her
But now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy, unblemished, and blameless in His presence—
Through
Song of Solomon 2:10My beloved calls to me, “Arise, my darling. Come away with me, my beautiful one.
leads to
The fig tree ripens its figs; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come away, my darling; come away with me, my beautiful one.”
You are altogether beautiful, my darling; in you there is no flaw.
Through
Song of Solomon 2:2Like a lily among the thorns is my darling among the maidens.
leads to
Conduct yourselves with such honor among the Gentiles that, though they slander you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day He visits us.
