It is the wedding night. He describes what she looks like to him in Chapter 4, verses 1-7
verse one
Behold! You are beautiful, my darling companion.
Behold you are beautiful. Your eyes are doves behind your veil.
Your hair is like a flock of goats moving briskly down Mount Gilead.
He says that she is beautiful, twice. This is a way of emphasizing that he really means it. Eyes like doves are eyes that are peaceful. She isn’t ‘shooting daggers’ from her eyes, she isn’t glaring at him, and she doesn’t have her eyes turned down where she isn’t looking at him. She is looking at him in an open state of mind. We might say she has long flowing hair. His description covers that, plus he raises goats and see them like we would see our bank account. They are worth money to him, and he is saying he looks at her hair as long and flowing and valuable. Notice the veil. They are expecting to have sex and they are alone together, but she isn’t laying naked on the bed.
verse two Your teeth are like a flock of newly shorn sheep which have come up from the washing. Each one bearing twins and bereaved of not one of them.
Sheep were like money to him, and when they bear twins that is like a big return on his investment. He is giving value to her teeth and admiring that they match and none of them are missing. It is a compliment that she has taken care of herself. They couldn’t run to the dentist to get a replacement tooth — lose one and it is gone.
verse three Like a scarlet ribbon are your lips, and your mouth is lovely. Like the sliced opening of a pomegranate are your parted lips behind your veil.
Still has the veil on. He refers to her mouth being lovely even when her lips are tightly closed — the scarlet ribbon part. Pomegranates are hard to open. They have a hard shell on the outside. Cutting an opening makes the fruit inside available. Closed lips show some apprehension, open lips come with a smile or a laugh or relaxing the mouth. This also ties into his previous comment about her teeth. He could be saying I’ve seen your teeth and they are beautiful. As she relaxes her lips are parted rather than being held close together.
verse four Like the tower of David is your neck, made for strength: a thousand shields hang upon it, all the shields of the mighty men.
When the nation was at peace, the warriors, the mighty men, would hand their shields on the tower. This was a sign that the land was at peace and that they were letting the king know that they were with him in peace and not going off and fighting for someone else. He is saying that she is strong and that all of the mighty men, the strong men are at peace with her. She hasn’t been leading various men. Her quality is such, that the important men all respect and honor her. Today you might hear guys say, she is a lady. They would defend her because she has strong character.
verse five Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle which graze among the lotus flowers.
Now he is getting a little more intimate. Calling them twins is confirming that there are two of them and that they match. The part about being like fawns and grazing among the lotus flowers describes something they all knew. When the fawns feed, their legs stay straight. They stand on the back legs and put the front leg out straight ahead of them. This leaves their rear end up in the air. It moves some side to side as they feed. They have a little short tail. That is what he is comparing to her breasts.
verse six Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.
I can’t tell from the ‘so called experts’ if he is referring only to her breasts, or if the mountain in the breasts and the hill is her private area below the waist and above the legs. Either way he is telling her what he is going to do.
verse seven You are completely beautiful my darling companion, and there is no blemish in you.
Again he complements her on her looks, her appearance. He is saying he likes everything about her. He has slowly been changing from talk to action. It will continue in the next verse.
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