Song of Solomon 4

Song of Solomon 4:1

The Beautiful Woman behind the Veil An EasyEnglish Bible Version and Commentary (1200 word vocabulary) on the Song of Songs www.easyenglish.info Sarah Ruth This commentary has been through Advanced Checking.

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Chapter 4 The man and his wife are now alone together. The writer continues to speak about things that people find in country places. But the man and his wife are not outside. The writer is using these words to describe the two people.

In this chapter, the man speaks more than in any other part of the book. The man sees how beautiful his wife is. He describes her in a song without music. He speaks first about her head and then about her body. This is like other love songs from the East. Man v1 How beautiful you are!

 My best friend that I love, you are certainly very beautiful!

 Your eyes behind your *veil are like *doves.

Your hair is like a group of goats.

 It is like goats that are coming down *Mount Gilead.

Mount Gilead is a mountain in the country where Solomon was king.

The man likes to look at his wife. The woman’s hair moves when she turns. It seems like a group of goats that are following each other down the mountain. Man v2 Your teeth are white like a group of sheep.

 They are like sheep after someone has cut off their dirty *wool.

 They are like sheep that are coming out of the pool of water.

  Each tooth is one of a pair. Not one of them is alone.

v3 Your lips are bright red.

 They are bright red like a *ribbon.

 Your mouth is lovely.

The sides of your face are round like the halves of a *pomegranate.

 Your *veil hides them.

The man can see his wife’s teeth. So perhaps she smiles a lot. Her teeth are white and clean. The mouth here means the voice. The woman is not only pretty but she speaks well too.

The woman may be wearing a *veil. This may show that she has just married the man. But the word *veil may mean only that her husband does not know her very well yet.

The man wants to know her better. He wants to find out about her body. He wants to find out about her as a person. The man and his wife are alone together. They can tell each other about themselves. This is like someone who is taking off a *veil. Man v4 Your neck is like the beautiful, important *tower that King David built.

 The *shields of 1000 soldiers hang from the stones round it.

King David was Solomon’s father.

The woman’s neck is long. It has many valuable rings round it. From them hang little plates. They make her even more beautiful.

Maybe the woman’s neck holds her head up high. This shows that she feels good. She feels important. When she is with her husband, she feels very important. Man v5 Your breasts are like two young *gazelles that were born to their mother on the same day.

 They walk slowly among the *lilies and they eat the grass.

The writer explains the man’s thoughts to us. The writer seems to be describing a lovely, happy picture in a country place. The animals are eating and they are not in a hurry. It is quiet.

But the writer is really describing the man and his wife together. The woman may be very young. Her breasts are small and soft. The man is kissing her. And he is enjoying that because she is very beautiful.

What is happening is new for her. The man knows that. Already he has helped her because he has spoken to her about her beautiful body. And now he is kind and he does not hurry.

The woman had covered the other parts of her body. Man v6 Until the dawn, I will go to the mountain of *myrrh.

 Until the shadows go, I will go to the hill with the lovely smell.

The mountain of *myrrh and the hill with the lovely smell mean the woman’s lower body.

v7 You are my best friend and I love you.

 I find that every part of you is beautiful.

 There is no part of you that is not lovely.

v8 Come with me from Lebanon.

 You are my new wife.

Come with me from Lebanon.

 Come down from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir.

 Come down from the highest part of Hermon.

 Come away from the *lions’ homes

  and from the places in the mountains where there are *leopards.

Lebanon, Amana, Senir and Hermon are all places that are a long way away. But the woman is not in any of those places. Her husband is saying that she seems difficult to reach. He wants to draw her to him. Her body is already near to him. But he asks her to come to him. He thinks that her *spirit is still not near to him. That is how he feels. So he asks her to come to him.

*Lions and *leopards are wild and dangerous animals. He wants to keep her from danger. The man is saying that she will be safe with him. There is no reason to be afraid. Man v9 I love you so much that I never want to leave you.

 You are my sister and my new wife.

 After one glance of your eyes, I knew that I wanted you more than anyone else.

I see one of the valuable stones that hang round your neck.

 And then I know that you are the most valuable person to me.

The man says the word ‘sister’ because now he is part of her *family. Man v10 Your love to me is certainly very good, my sister, my new wife.

 It gives to me more pleasure than when I drink *wine.

You have a smell that is lovelier than any *spice!

v11 Your lips taste sweet, my new wife.

They taste like *honey that falls from the *honeycomb.

 Milk and *honey are under your *tongue.

The smell of your clothes is like the smell of Lebanon.

The way that the woman touches her husband is better than a drink of the best *wine. The words in verse 11 show that he enjoys her kisses even more now. The man now really wants to enjoy sex. Quickly his body is changing ready for this.

The woman’s clothes here are those that she wears at night. Or, they are the clothes that she wears next to her body. The man holds his wife very near to him. Man v12 You are like a garden that you have locked up, my sister, and my new wife.

 You are like a *spring that someone has covered.

 You are like a *fountain that nobody has opened.

 Water cannot rise from it.

The woman has never enjoyed sex before. She has waited for the right man for her. So she has ‘locked her garden’.

God has made her the woman that she is. God has made her body, her nature and her *spirit. But she may not have had a special man friend before. A man has not yet completely seen what she is like.

The man does not know how she will show her love to him. The woman loves her husband. There may be ways that she would like him to touch her. But this is a new event for her.

If he touches her in these ways, she will feel her love for him in her body. Then, when she is ready, she will find more love inside her. She will be able to give a lot of pleasure to her husband. Man v13 Your garden is full of *pomegranate trees with their sweet fruit.

 There are fruits that many people like.

There are *henna and *nard.

 v14 There are *nard, *saffron, *calamus and *cinnamon.

There are many different plants that have lovely smells.

 There are *myrrh and *aloes.

  All the best *spices are there.

Henna, nard, saffron, calamus, cinnamon, myrrh and aloes are all things that people get from plants. They have bright colours or they taste lovely. They may have nice smells.

The man certainly wants very much to come into the garden that is his wife’s body. He can already enjoy it. His wife is nearly ready to enjoy sex completely. Now the ‘garden’ is open. Man v15 You are like a *fountain in a garden.

 You are like a well that is full of water.

  The water now comes quickly down from Lebanon. Woman v16 Awake, north wind! Come, south wind!

 Blow on my garden so that its lovely smell will move all over the place.

I really want the man that I love to come into his garden.

 Let him taste the best fruits.

The woman asks her husband into her ‘garden’. She says ‘Come into it.’ Then she calls her body ‘his’ garden.

Now the time is right. The man and his wife show their love to each other. They give to each other even more pleasure than before. They have never before known love like this!

© 1997-2012, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is written in EasyEnglish Level A (1200 words).

March 2012

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