Behold, You are Fair - Song of Songs 4:1

In the book of Song of Songs, Solomon shared about the wedding and how the bride said, “Go forth, O you daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart”, and in chapter four and verse one of Song of Songs, Solomon shared how the groom said, “Behold, you are fair, my love; behold, you are fair” where we read,

Behold, you are fair, my love; behold, you are fair;

you have doves' eyes within your locks: your hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.

The verse begins, “Behold, you are fair, my love; behold, you are fair;” Solomon began with the words, “behold, you are fair” or “look, lo and consider, you, the bride, exist as beautiful, comely and pleasant”, “my love” which means “my, the groom's, greatly loved attendant and maid, the bride”; “behold, you are fair” or “look, lo and consider, you, the bride, exist as beautiful, comely and pleasant”. Solomon how the groom again proclaimed to his well loved bride that she was beautiful and pleasant. (See Song of Songs 1:15)

The verse continues, “you have doves' eyes within your locks: your hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.” Solomon added the words, “you have doves' eyes” or “you, the bride, possess the physical eyes similar to a dove bird” “within your locks” which means “behind your, the bride's, veil”: “your hair is as a flock of goats” or “your, the bride's, hair of the head exists similar and in likeness to a herd, arrangement or loitering group containing female goats or kids”, “that appear” which means “which sit up, recline or wind down” “from mount Gilead” or “the slopes of the mountain or hill known as Gilead whose name means and was a mountainous region bounded on the west by the Jordan, on the north by Bashan, on the east by the Arabian plateau, and on the south by Moab and Ammon” . Solomon once again referred to the inviting eyes of the bride which were behind her veil, and he said her “hair” was similar to the flowing arrangement of goats which were winding down the slopes of “mount Gilead”.

When we consider the words in this verse, we learn how through Solomon how the groom began to speak favorably of his bride once again. He repeated the phrases of how beautiful she was, and He noted her “dove” like inviting eyes. Although they were obscured by the veil she was wearing, He knew her eyes were lovely. He also spoke of her flowing hair which to him appeared like the blackened “goats” that were winding down “mount Gilead” as though flowing in the wind. If we use our imaginations we can picture the moving scene of the black goats traversing down the mountainside and how this is a wonderful description of the bride's flowing hair. This is intimacy, and intimacy is what God desires with us. He knows us, loves us and wants to be in a personal relationship with us. He sent His Son Jesus into the world to die on the cross for the sins of all mankind, and when we surrender our lives to Him as our “Savior and Lord”, He will forgive our sins, grant us everlasting life and put within us a beauty that shall last for all eternity. 

Next time Solomon shares how the groom tells the bride, “your teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn” so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

See more devotionals on the website "thewordfortodaywithray.com" or look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” and the new poetry book "Random Mushrooms Volumes I and II" and the new novel "Elizabeth County" in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore. All references are from "Strongs Concordance".