Chapter 1
v. 1 This tells us that Solomon is the author.
v 2. This could be where we get the phrase "kisses sweeter than wine."
v 3. The beloved speaks of her lover as wearing perfumes. Could be scented oils. But yeah, wearing of cologne has apparently been around since Solomon's time and probably before.
v. 4 And the beloved says, let's go to your room!
(Friends) Where'd they come from?
They rejoice and delight in the lover. The 'you' is masculine singular. Must be really good love to be praised more than wine. At least one would hope so and not that the wine was of poor quality. :)
(Beloved)
Agrees with the friends. And why not? :)
v. 5 Black is beautiful. At least the beloved can see that.
v. 6 But others stare so she says that her skin was darkened by working out in the vineyards. Apparently they were not her own but her mother's sons'. Interesting that she doesn't say 'brothers.'
v. 7 So, where does her lover graze his sheep? "veiled woman beside the flocks of his friends." This calls to mind the story of Tamar and Judah and how Tamar dressed herself as a prostitute and waited by the side of the road for Judah to come by on his way to the sheep festival. The beloved doesn't want to be seen as a prostitute.
(Friends)
v. 8 So they offer some advice. Go follow the sheep tracks and graze your goats by the shepherd's tents.
(Lover) He speaks!
v. 9 And the first thing he can think of to tell his beloved is that she's like a horse! Like a mare harnessed to one of Pharaoh's chariots! He probably imagines that Pharaoh would keep only the best and most beautiful of horses. So she's highly prized by him. Hmmmph. I dunno how many women would like to be compared to a horse, but maybe that's just me.
vv. 10, 11 A little better. Cheeks beautiful with earrings. Cheeks? Not ears? Perhaps these were dangly earrings or earrings with hoops and they hung down to her cheeks. Who is this "we" in verse 11? Earrings of gold studded with silver. Now this I think is a little better. Who wouldn't want jewelry?
(to be continued)
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4 comments:
Well, maybe. I don't know if they had them back then, but you can get your cheeks pierced nowadays. They had nose rings back then, so I wouldn't exclude cheek piercings from the possibilities.
pierced cheeks? :o Oh my oh my.
No thanks. lol
Maybe she had a nose piercing and strung chain from her earring to her nose.
Heh, maybe. :)
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