When Love Honors What Is Pure – Beauty, Devotion, and Covenant Delight.

Song of Solomon 4 presents the bridegroom’s delight in the beauty of his bride, but it does so in a way that honors purity, exclusiveness, and covenant love rather than shallow desire. The chapter speaks with rich imagery, showing that true love sees deeply, values the whole person, and rejoices in what is set apart and undefiled. The repeated emphasis on the bride as a “garden enclosed” highlights guardedness, faithfulness, and the preciousness of love that is not common or careless. The bridegroom’s words also show that love, rightly ordered, does not devour or dishonor, but cherishes, praises, and receives with joy. The chapter’s message is that covenant love is beautiful because it is pure, devoted, fruitful, and protected within its proper place.

Song of Solomon 4:1 – 4:16

  1 Behold, thou [art] fair, my love; behold, thou [art] fair; thou [hast] doves’ eyes within thy locks: thy hair [is] as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.
  2 Thy teeth [are] like a flock [of sheep that are even] shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none [is] barren among them.
  3 Thy lips [are] like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech [is] comely: thy temples [are] like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks.
  4 Thy neck [is] like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men.
  5 Thy two breasts [are] like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
  6 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.
  7 Thou [art] all fair, my love; [there is] no spot in thee.
  8 Come with me from Lebanon, [my] spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.
  9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, [my] spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.
  10 How fair is thy love, my sister, [my] spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!
  11 Thy lips, O [my] spouse, drop [as] the honeycomb: honey and milk [are] under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments [is] like the smell of Lebanon.
  12 A garden inclosed [is] my sister, [my] spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
  13 Thy plants [are] an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, 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, thou south; blow upon my garden, [that] the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.