---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Verse Song of Solomon 4:1. Thou hast doves"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/song-of-solomon/4"
---

Verse [Song of Solomon 4:1](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/4/1). ***Thou*****hast*****doves' eyes within thy locks*** — Perhaps this refers rather to a sort of veil worn by many of the Eastern women, but especially in Egypt. It is a species of black cloth made of the hair of some animal, probably the black goat; is suspended from the head by silken cords, one of which comes from the crown of the head, down the forehead, to the upper part of the nose, just under the eyes, at which place the veil begins; for the forehead and the eyes are uncovered, except the cord above mentioned, which is ornamented with gold, silver, and precious stones, according to the circumstances of the wearer. This partial veil not only covers all the face, the eyes and forehead excepted, but the neck also, and hangs loosely down over the bosom. One of them, lately brought from Egypt, now lies before me.
But the clause, *within thy locks*, מבעד למתך mibbaad *letsammathech*, is not well translated, either by ourselves or by the *versions*. *Jerome's* translation is an indication of the meaning: *Absque eo quod intrinsecus latet; without that*, or independently of that, *which lies hidden within*. The *Septuagint,* *Syriac*, and *Arabic* have, *besides thy silence*. *Calmet* contends that none of these gives the *true meaning*, and that the word *tsemath* has not the meaning of *hair* or *locks* wherever it occurs, and has quite a different meaning in [Isaiah 47:2](../../../kjv/isaiah/47/2). St. Jerome on this place expresses himself thus: *Nolentibus qui interpretati sunt* *transferre nomen quod in Sancta Scriptura sonat* turpitudinem.-Ergo *tsammathech, quod* Aquila *posuit*, verenda mulieris *appellanatur cujus etymologia apud eos sonat* sitiens tuus. Calmet translates: *Vous etes toute belle, won amie; vous etes* *toute belle: vos yeux sont des yeux de colombe; sans ce que la* *pudeur et la modestie tiennent cache*. I leave the translation of these to the learned reader. See another description under [Song of Solomon 4:7](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/4/7).
***As a flock of goats*** — Because it was black and sleek, as the hair of the goats of Arabia and Palestine is known to be; which, with its fine undulation, is supposed to bear some resemblance to the *curls* or *plaits* of a woman's tresses. The mountains of *Gilead* were beyond Jordan, on the frontiers of *Arabia Deserta*.

Verse [Song of Solomon 4:2](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/4/2). ***Thy teeth*****are*****like a flock*** — This comparison appears to be founded on the *evenness, neatness*, and *whiteness* of the *newly* *shorn* and newly *washed* sheep.

Verse [Song of Solomon 4:3](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/4/3). ***Thy lips*****are*****like a thread of scarlet*** — Both *lips* and *cheeks* were *ruddy; sicut fragmen mali punici*. - VULGATE. *Like the* *section of a pomegranate*, that side cut off on which is the *finest* *blush*. This is a good and apt *metaphor*. But the inside may be referred to, as it is finely streaked with red and white melting into each other. She had beautiful *hair*, beautiful *eyes*, beautiful *cheeks* and *lips*, and a most pleasing and dulcet *voice*.
***Within thy locks.*** — See on [Song of Solomon 4:1](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/4/1), and on [Song of Solomon 4:7](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/4/7).

Verse [Song of Solomon 4:4](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/4/4). ***Thy neck*****is*****like the tower of David*** — It is certain that *bucklers* were frequently hung about towers, both for their ornaments, and to have them at hand when their use was required; see [Ezekiel 27:10](../../../kjv/ezekiel/27/10). But the allusion here may be to those *pillars* which are often seen in armouries on which weapons of various kinds are hung, formed into a great variety of shapes and very splendid. Whoever has seen the *armoury* in the *tower* of London, or such like places, has most probably seen something very similar to that of which the poet speaks.

Verse [Song of Solomon 4:5](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/4/5). ***Thy two breasts*****are*****like two young roes*** — I have met with many attempts to support this *similitude*, or rather to show that there is a *similitude*; but I judge them unworthy of citation. The poet speaks the *language of nature*; and in a case of this kind, where the impassioned lover attempts to describe the different perfections of his bride, language often fails him, and his comparisons and similitudes are often without strict correctness. In love songs we have heard ladies' *necks* compared to that of the *swan*, not only for its *whiteness*, but also for its *length*! The description here shows more of *nature* than of *art*, which I consider a high recommendation.
***Feed among the lilies.*** — It may be the *nipples* especially, which the poet compares to the *two young roes*; and the *lilies* may refer to the *whiteness* of the *breasts* themselves.

Verse [Song of Solomon 4:6](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/4/6). ***Until the day break*** — Until the morning *breeze*. See [Song of Solomon 2:17](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/2/17).
***The shadows flee away*** — Till the *sun sets*.
***Mountain of myrrh*** — Probably the same as the mountains of *Bether*, [Song of Solomon 2:17](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/2/17). Mountains where the trees grew from which *myrrh* and *incense* were extracted.

Verse [Song of Solomon 4:7](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/4/7). ***Thou*****art*****all fair*****- there is*****no spot in thee.*** — "My beloved, every part of thee is beautiful; thou hast not a single defect."
The description given of the beauties of *Daphne*, by OVID, Metam. lib. i. ver. 497, has some similarity to the above verses: -
The same poet has a parallel thought to that in [Song of Solomon 4:5](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/4/5), "Thy two breasts," &c. The companions of *Radha* thus address her: "Ask those *two round hillocks* which receive pure dew drops from the garland playing on thy neck, and the *buds* on *whose tops* start aloft with the thought of thy beloved."

Verse [Song of Solomon 4:8](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/4/8). ***My spouse.*** — The כלה *callah* which we translate *spouse,* seems to have a peculiar meaning. Mr. Harmer thinks the *Jewish* *princess* is intended by it; and this seems to receive confirmation from the bridegroom calling her *sister*, [Song of Solomon 4:9](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/4/9), that is, one of the same stock and country; and thus different from the Egyptian bride.
Mr. Harmer's opinion is very probable, that TWO *queens* are mentioned in this song: one Pharaoh's daughter, the other a Jewess. See his *outlines*. But I contend for no system relative to this song.
***Look from the top of Amana, c.*** — Solomon, says *Calmet*, by an admirable poetic fiction, represents his beloved as a mountain nymph, wholly occupied in hunting the lion and the leopard on the mountains of Lebanon, Amana, Shenir, and Hermon. As a bold and undisciplined virgin, who is unwilling to leave her wild and rural retreats, he invites her to come from those hills and promises to deck her with a crown and to make her his bride. Thus the poets represent their goddess *Diana*, and even *Venus* herself: -
Per juga, per sylvas, dumosaque saxa vagatur
Nuda genu, vestem ritu succincta Dianae;
Hortaturque canes; tutaeque animalia praedae,
Aut pronos lepores, aut celsum in cornua cervum,
Aut agitat damas: at fortibus abstinet apris.
MET. lib. x., ver. 535.

Now buskin'd like the virgin huntress goes
Through woods, and pathless wilds, and mountain snows.
With her own tuneful voice she joys to cheer
The panting hounds that chase the flying deer.
She runs the labyrinth of the fearful hares,
But fearless beasts and dangerous prey forbears.

Mount *Libanus* separates Phoenicia from Syria. *Amanus* is between Syria and Silicia. *Shenir* and *Hermon* are beyond Jordan, to the south of Damascus and Mount Libanus, and northward of the mountains of Gilead. Hermon and Shenir are but different parts of the same chain of mountains which separates *Trachonitis*, or the country of *Manasses*, from Arabia Deserta. For these places, see [2 Kings 5:12](../../../kjv/2-kings/5/12), and [Deuteronomy 3:9](../../../kjv/deuteronomy/3/9), where they are probably meant.

Verse 9. ***Thou hast ravished my heart*** — לבבתני *libbabtini*, "Thou hast hearted me," i.e., taken away my heart; as we say, "He has barked the tree," i.e., he has stripped it of its bark; "He has fleeced the flock," i.e., deprived them of their wool.
***With one of thine eyes*** — באצד מעיניך *beachad meeynayich*. This has been thought a harsh expression, and various emendations have been sought. The *Masoretes* have put *beachath*, "at once," in the margin; and this is confirmed by *twenty* of *Kennicott's* MSS. but *De Rossi* does not notice it. It is scarcely necessary; the sense to me is clear and good without it. "Even one of thine eyes, or one glance of thine eyes, has been sufficient to deprive me of all power; it has completely overcome me;" for *glance* may be understood, and such forms of speech are common in all languages, when speaking on such subjects. If even taken *literally*, the sense is good; for the poet may refer to a *side glance*, shot in *passing* *by* or *turning away*, where only *one eye* could be seen. I think this a better sense than that which is obtained from the Masoretic emendation.
***With one chain of thy neck*** — Probably referring to the play of the *cervical muscles*, rather than to *necklaces*, or *ringlets of* *hair*.

Verse 10. ***How much better is thy love*** — דדיך *dodayich; Hebrew*. μαστοισου; *Septuagint*. *Ubera tua; Vulgate*. "Thy breasts." And so all the *versions*, except the *Chaldee*.
***Smell of thine ointments*** — Perfumes.

Verse 11. ***Thy lips - drop*****as*****the honey-comb*** — Thy words are as delicious to my heart as the first droppings of the honey-comb are to the palate.
***Honey and milk*****are*****under thy tongue*** — Eloquence and persuasive speech were compared among the ancients to *honey* and *milk*.
Thus Homer, Iliad, lib. i., ver. 247: -

Τοισι δε Νεστωρ
Ηδυεπης ανορουσε, λιγυς Πυλιων αγορητης.
Του και απο γλωσσης μελιτος γλυκιων ῥεεν αυδη.

Experienced Nestor, in *persuasion* skill'd,
*Words sweet as honey from his lips distill'd*.

But the figure is common to all writers and languages. A similar expression will be seen in the *Gitagovinda*.

Verse 12. ***A garden enclosed - a spring shut up, a fountain**********sealed.*** — Different expressions to point out the *fidelity* of the bride, or of the Jewish queen. See the *outlines*. She is *unsullied*, a chaste, pure *virgin*. None has ever *entered* into this *garden*; none has yet *tasted* of this *spring*; the *seal* of this *fountain* has never been *broken*. Among the Athenians, the interior part of the house, called the women's apartment, was not only locked but sealed; so Aristophan., Thesmoph. ver. 422: -
Ειτα δια τουτον ταις γυναικωνιτισιν
Σφραγιδας εμβαλλουσιν ηδη και μοχλους.

And on this account, to the women's apartment
They place seals as well as bolts.

And *seal*, as applicable to chaste conduct, is a phrase well known to the Greeks. AEschylus, in the Agamemnon, praises a woman, σημαντη ριον ουδεν διαφψειρασαν, who had not violated her seal of conjugal faith. But Nonnus, lib. ii., uses the form of speech exactly as Solomon does with reference to a pure virgin; he says, Αψαυστον ἑης σφρηγιδα κορειης; "She had preserved *the seal of* *her virginity untouched*." All this is plain; but how many will make *metaphors* out of *metaphors*!

Verse 13. ***Thy plants*****are*****an orchard of pomegranates*** — This seems to refer to the *fecundity* of the bride or Jewish queen; to the former it would be a *prediction*; to the latter, a *statement* of *what had already taken place*. The word פרדס *pardes*, which we translate an *orchard*, is the same which has given birth to our *paradise*, a *garden of pleasure*. The other expressions, in this and the following verse, seem to refer wholly to matters of a connubial nature.

Verse 15. ***A fountain of gardens*** — Perhaps גנים *gannim*, "gardens," was originally ציים *chaiyim*, "lives," a *living* *fountain*, a *continual spring*. See *Houbigant*. But this is expressed afterwards; though there would be nothing improper in saying, "a living fountain, a well of living waters, and streams from Mount Lebanon." A fountain of gardens may mean one so abundant as to be sufficient to supply many gardens, to water many plots of ground, an exuberant fountain. This is the allusion; the reference is plain enough.

Verse [Song of Solomon 4:16](../../../kjv/song-of-solomon/4/16). ***Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south*** — It is granted that the *south wind* in Palestine, in the summer, is *extremely hot and troublesome*; therefore, another interpretation of this passage has been proposed by Mr. *Harmer*; who thinks בואי *boi*, which we render *come*, signifies *enter into thy* *repositories*; and, therefore, supposes the true interpretation of the words to be as follows: "Arise, thou north wind, (and retire, thou south,) blow upon my garden; let the spices thereof flow forth, that my beloved may come into his garden, invited by the coolness and fragrancy of the air, and may eat his pleasant fruits; for, if the *south wind* blow, the *excessive heat* will forbid his taking the air, and oblige him to shut close the doors and windows of his apartments." Others think that he wishes the *winds* from *all directions* to carry throughout the land the *fume* of his spices, virtue, and perfections.
***Let my beloved come into his garden*** — This is the invitation of the *bride*: and if we look not for far-fetched meanings, the sense is sufficiently evident. But commentators on this song sometimes take a *literal* sense where the *metaphor* is evident; at other times they build an *allegory* upon a *metaphor*. The *Gitagovinda* has an elegant passage similar to this. See the place, Part VII., beginning with *Enter, sweet Radha*.
The whole of this chapter is considered to be unconnected with any particular time of the marriage ceremonies.

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