Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament
Song of Solomon 4
Song of Solomon 4: thou art all fair, a garden inclosed and a fountain sealed
General context
A voice addressing my love praises her from the eyes down: doves' eyes within her locks, hair like a flock of goats appearing from mount Gilead, teeth like shorn sheep come up from the washing, each bearing twins and none barren, lips like a thread of scarlet and comely speech, temples like a piece of pomegranate within her locks, a neck like the tower of David built for an armoury with a thousand bucklers and shields of mighty men, and two breasts like two young roes that are twins feeding among the lilies. Until the day break he will go to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. He says she is all fair, without spot. He calls her from Lebanon as my spouse, to look from the tops of Amana, Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens and the mountains of the leopards. She has ravished his heart, my sister, my spouse, with one of her eyes and one chain of her neck; her love is better than wine and her ointments than all spices; her lips drop as the honeycomb, honey and milk are under her tongue, and her garments smell like Lebanon. She is a garden inclosed, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed; her plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, camphire, spikenard, saffron, calamus, cinnamon, trees of frankincense, myrrh, aloes and all the chief spices; a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters and streams from Lebanon. The chapter ends with a call to the north and south winds to blow on my garden so that its spices flow out, and then, in the woman's words, let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits.
Cited passages: Song of Solomon 4:1, Song of Solomon 4:2, Song of Solomon 4:3, Song of Solomon 4:4, Song of Solomon 4:5, Song of Solomon 4:6, Song of Solomon 4:7, Song of Solomon 4:8, Song of Solomon 4:9, Song of Solomon 4:10, Song of Solomon 4:11, Song of Solomon 4:12, Song of Solomon 4:13, Song of Solomon 4:14, Song of Solomon 4:15, Song of Solomon 4:16
Song of Solomon 4 (KJV)
1Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.
2Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them.
3Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.
4Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.
5Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
6Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.
7Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.
8Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.
9Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.
10How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!
11Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.
12A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
13Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,
14Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices:
15A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.
16Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.
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Historical context
Almost the whole chapter is one voice addressing the woman as my love, my spouse and my sister, my spouse; the word spouse first appears here and is used in verses 8 to 12. The change of speaker comes inside the last verse: the call to the winds says my garden, and the next sentence says let my beloved come into his garden, using the woman's term for the man, so the text hands the garden from his description to her invitation. Sister is a form of address in this chapter, not a stated family relation; in chapter 8 the woman wishes the man were as her brother, which shows the wish rather than a kinship. Mount Gilead, the tower of David with its thousand bucklers, Lebanon, Amana, Shenir and Hermon, the lions' dens and the mountains of the leopards all appear as comparisons or as places to look from, and the text gives no further detail about any of them. The woman is not named, and no setting or occasion is given. The physical description names her eyes, hair, teeth, lips, temples, neck and two breasts in that order, with a comparison for each, and the text states these plainly. Her love, ointments, lips, tongue and garments are described by taste and smell, and the closing garden is described by its plants and waters.
Cited passages: Song of Solomon 4:8, Song of Solomon 4:9, Song of Solomon 4:16, Song of Solomon 8:1, Song of Solomon 4:1, Song of Solomon 4:4, Song of Solomon 4:5, Song of Solomon 4:11, Song of Solomon 4:15
Literary context
The praise runs downward through the body in a fixed pattern, a part named and then a comparison drawn from flocks, thread, fruit, a tower or young roes, and the catalogue closes with a summary line, thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee. The opening words, behold, thou art fair, and the doves' eyes repeat the man's praise from chapter 1. A second movement is an invitation, come with me from Lebanon, doubled within the verse, that lifts the scene to mountain tops and the dens of predators. The third repeats my sister, my spouse and turns to taste and smell: wine, spices, honeycomb, honey, milk, Lebanon. The garden passage moves from closure to flow: inclosed, shut up and sealed in verse 12 become, three verses later, a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters and streams. The last verse is an exchange completed in the next chapter, where the man answers, I am come into my garden. The breasts as twin roes return in chapter 7, and the whole descending catalogue is answered there by an ascending one.
Cited passages: Song of Solomon 4:2, Song of Solomon 4:3, Song of Solomon 4:7, Song of Solomon 4:1, Song of Solomon 1:15, Song of Solomon 4:8, Song of Solomon 4:10, Song of Solomon 4:12, Song of Solomon 4:15, Song of Solomon 4:16, Song of Solomon 5:1, Song of Solomon 7:3
Key moments
- Hair like a flock of goats (Song of Solomon 4:1). The praise begins with her doves' eyes and hair like goats on mount Gilead.
- A neck like the tower of David (Song of Solomon 4:4). Her neck is compared to a tower hung with a thousand shields.
- All fair, no spot (Song of Solomon 4:7). The descending praise closes with the summary that she is all fair.
- Come with me from Lebanon (Song of Solomon 4:8). She is called as my spouse from Lebanon and the mountain tops.
- Thou hast ravished my heart (Song of Solomon 4:9). He says one of her eyes and one chain of her neck have ravished his heart.
- A garden inclosed (Song of Solomon 4:12). She is called a garden inclosed, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
- Let my beloved come into his garden (Song of Solomon 4:16). After the winds are summoned, she invites her beloved into his garden.
For reflection
The woman is called a garden inclosed, a spring shut up and a fountain sealed, and three verses later a fountain of gardens and streams from Lebanon. What happens between the sealed spring and the flowing one, within the chapter's own words?
