The Unveiling Series

5Song of Solomon 4: 1 – 16

The Unveiling

1 Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats, going down from Mount Gilead. 2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep which have come up from the washing, every one of which bears twins, and none is barren among them. 3 Your lips are like a strand of scarlet, and your mouth is lovely. Your temples behind your veil are like a piece of pomegranate. 4 Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an armory, on which hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men. 5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, which feed among the lilies. 6 Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away, I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense. 7 You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you. 8 Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon. Look from the top of Amana, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards. 9 You have ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; You have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes, with one link of your necklace. 10 How fair is your love, my sister, my spouse! How much better than wine is your love, and the scent of your perfumes than all spices! 11 Your lips, O my spouse, drip as the honeycomb; Honey and milk are under your tongue; And the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. 12 A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. 13 Your plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, fragrant henna with spikenard, 14 Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices— 15 A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. 16 Awake, O north wind, and come, O south! Blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out. Let my beloved come to his garden and eat its pleasant fruits.

We now come to the wedding night – the Honeymoon. The bride and groom have now retired to the bridal chamber to consummate their vows. The honeymoon is the unveiling of the two to each other. The groom is moved by his wife’s beauty and complements her. We will note that his words of complement not only speak of her physical beauty which we will see in verses 1 through 5, but we will note that he also sees in his partner her emotional beauty [verse 6] and her spiritual beauty [ verse 7 ]

1 Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair! You have dove’s eyes behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats, going down from Mount Gilead.

A key benefit to understanding the following verses is to recognize that Solomon was a Shepherd king. He was very familiar with the natural conditions and surroundings throughout the land of Israel.

The first thing that Solomon said to encourage his wife was about her total overwhelming beauty, ‘Behold, you are fair, my love! Behold, you are fair!’ He is not saying that on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest that his wife is about a 5. No, the word ‘fair’ means beautiful. When you repeat something twice you do it for emphasis. So, when he says twice to his wife that she is beautiful, he really wanted her to know how much he was moved by her total being.

Solomon makes an interesting statement now, ’You have dove’s eyes behind your veil.’

Now it is possible that they had just entered the bridal chamber after their ceremony and the wife still had on her veil. Have you ever wondered why we today do certain things at a wedding? Why do brides have a veil? When is it appropriate to remove her veil? We find the reason for this in the bible in the book of Genesis Chapter 29, ‘1 So Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the East. 2 And he looked, and saw a well in the field; and behold, there were three flocks of sheep lying by it; for out of that well they watered the flocks. A large stone was on the well’s mouth. 3 Now all the flocks would be gathered there; and they would roll the stone from the well’s mouth, water the sheep, and put the stone back in its place on the well’s mouth. 4 And Jacob said to them, “My brethren, where are you from?” And they said, “We are from Haran.” 5 Then he said to them, “Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?” And they said, “We know him.” 6 So he said to them, “Is he well?” And they said, “He is well. And look, his daughter Rachel is coming with the sheep.” 7 Then he said, “Look, it is still high day; it is not time for the cattle to be gathered together. Water the sheep, and go and feed them.” 8 But they said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together, and they have rolled the stone from the well’s mouth; then we water the sheep.”