Song of Songs 6: Bride

Preliminary Comments: Please ensure you have read the notes in the Introduction. Very well, to begin with, the study which simply seeks to help the reader absorb the text more easily:

Possible breakdown:

• v.1 The chorus challenge about how much she knows about her love’s whereabouts
• v.2-3 She suggests he has gone to the gardens
• v.4-13 He describes her extensively [the second time] and chides the chorus

Friends

v.1 so OK, you ought to know, where did he go?

v.1  Where has your beloved gone,
    most beautiful of women?
Which way did your beloved turn,
    that we may look for him with you?

She

v.2 I think he’s gone into the palace garden

v.2  My beloved has gone down to his garden,
    to the beds of spices,
to browse in the gardens
    and to gather lilies.

v.3 there we’ve been together before and he enjoyed me

v.3  I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine;
    he browses among the lilies.

He

v.4 (Ah, here you are) my outstanding beautiful bride

v.4 You are as beautiful as Tirzah, my darling,
    as lovely as Jerusalem,
    as majestic as troops with banners.

v.5 look away for I am overwhelmed when you look at me

v.5 Turn your eyes from me;
    they overwhelm me.

v.5b your beautiful hair cascades down

 Your hair is like a flock of goats
    descending from Gilead.

v.6 again I say, your teeth as you smile are exquisite

v.6  Your teeth are like a flock of sheep
    coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin,
    not one of them is missing.

v.7 just above your veil your forehead tells me of your beauty

v.7  Your temples behind your veil
    are like the halves of a pomegranate.

v.8 There may be many queens or concubines…

v.8 Sixty queens there may be,
    and eighty concubines,
    and virgins beyond number;

v.9  …but you stand out uniquely

v.9 but my dove, my perfect one, is unique,
    the only daughter of her mother,
    the favourite of the one who bore her.
The young women saw her and called her blessed;
    the queens and concubines praised her.

Friends

v.10 So who do we see coming in such glory?

v.10 Who is this that appears like the dawn,
    fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
    majestic as the stars in procession?

He

v.11,12 I went about my business but before I knew it I was on my chariot

v.11  I went down to the grove of nut trees
    to look at the new growth in the valley,
to see if the vines had budded
    or the pomegranates were in bloom.

v.12 Before I realized it,
    my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people.

Friends

v.13 Beautiful woman stay so we can see your beauty

v.13 Come back, come back, O Shulammite;
    come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!

He

v.13b don’t you watchers demean my love

Why would you gaze on the Shulammite
    as on the dance of Mahanaim?

[Concluding Comment: For the first time there is a tenuous suggestion that he might be Solomon. See v.8 about queens etc. but this may be him saying, “Solomon may have all his queens and concubines, but I’ve got the best- you!” Verse 12 is also enigmatic about royal chariots but ‘my people’ may just mean ‘the Jews’. Again a chapter about locations and activities. Note in this chapter the second question, “Who is this?” 6:10, the answer of which is not clear – just the lover whoever he is. Twice in this chapter, in verse 13, she is called a Shulammite, an unknown name.]

For those who may wish to make a study of this chapter, to perhaps think some more about what you have been reading, use the link below: