Song of Solomon 1:5

I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) As the tents of Kedar—i.e., Dark as the Kedareen tents of black goats’ hair, beautiful as the royal pavilions with their rich hangings. For a similar style of parallelism, comp. Isaiah 15:3 : “On her housetops, and to her open streets, every one howleth, descendeth with weeping.” For Kedar, see Genesis 25:13.

As the poet puts this description of the lady’s complexion into her own mouth, we must understand it as a little playful raillery, which is immediately redeemed by a compliment. It also prepares the way for the reminiscence of an interesting passage in her early life. See next verse.

Benson Commentary

Song of Solomon 1:5. I am black — I confess, as to myself, I am contemptible and deformed. She alludes to the complexion of Pharaoh’s daughter; but comely — Yet I am glorious within, Psalm 45:13; and comely, through the beauty which my husband hath put upon me, by his graces conferred upon me, in justification and sanctification. O ye daughters — By which she understands particular believers, whose mother Jerusalem is called, Galatians 4:26. As the tents of Kedar — Of the wild Arabians, the posterity of Kedar, (Genesis 25:13,) who dwelt in tents, which were black and uncomely. As the curtains of Solomon — As the hangings wherewith Solomon’s house was furnished, which none can doubt were most beautiful and glorious. So these two last clauses answer to the two first, and that in the same order in which they lie.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:2-6 The church, or rather the believer, speaks here in the character of the spouse of the King, the Messiah. The kisses of his mouth mean those assurances of pardon with which believers are favoured, filling them with peace and joy in believing, and causing them to abound in hope by the power of the Holy Ghost. Gracious souls take most pleasure in loving Christ, and being loved of him. Christ's love is more valuable and desirable than the best this world can give. The name of Christ is not now like ointment sealed up, but like ointment poured forth; which denotes the freeness and fulness of the setting forth of his grace by the gospel. Those whom he has redeemed and sanctified, are here the virgins that love Jesus Christ, and follow him whithersoever he goes, Re 14:4. They entreat him to draw them by the quickening influences of his Spirit. The more clearly we discern Christ's glory, the more sensible shall we be that we are unable to follow him suitably, and at the same time be more desirous of doing it. Observe the speedy answer given to this prayer. Those who wait at Wisdom's gate, shall be led into truth and comfort. And being brought into this chamber, our griefs will vanish. We have no joy but in Christ, and for this we are indebted to him. We will remember to give thanks for thy love; it shall make more lasting impressions upon us than any thing in this world. Nor is any love acceptable to Christ but love in sincerity, Eph 6:24. The daughters of Jerusalem may mean professors not yet established in the faith. The spouse was black as the tents of the wandering Arabs, but comely as the magnificent curtains in the palaces of Solomon. The believer is black, as being defiled and sinful by nature, but comely, as renewed by Divine grace to the holy image of God. He is still deformed with remains of sin, but comely as accepted in Christ. He is often base and contemptible in the esteem of men, but excellent in the sight of God. The blackness was owing to the hard usage that had been suffered. The children of the church, her mother, but not of God, her Father, were angry with her. They had made her suffer hardships, which caused her to neglect the care of her soul. Thus, under the emblem of a poor female, made the chosen partner of a prince, we are led to consider the circumstances in which the love of Christ is accustomed to find its objects. They were wretched slaves of sin, in toil, or in sorrow, weary and heavy laden, but how great the change when the love of Christ is manifested to their souls!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

This section is made by the Targumist and other Jewish interpreters to adumbrate the condition of Israel in the wilderness; by some Christian expositors, that of the Gentile Church on her first conversion.

Songs 1:5

I am black ... - Dark-hued, as the tents of Kedar with their black goats' hair coverings, rough and weather-stained, "but comely (beautiful) as the rich hangings which adorn the pavilion of Solomon. Kedar was the name of an Arab tribe Genesis 25:13; Psalm 120:5. The word itself signifies "dark" or "black." Possibly "tents of Kedar" stand here poetically for shepherds' tents in general Isaiah 60:7.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. black—namely, "as the tents of Kedar," equivalent to blackness (Ps 120:5). She draws the image from the black goatskins with which the Scenite Arabs ("Kedar" was in Arabia-Petræa) cover their tents (contrasted with the splendid state tent in which the King was awaiting His bride according to Eastern custom); typifying the darkness of man's natural state. To feel this, and yet also feel one's self in Jesus Christ "comely as the curtains of Solomon," marks the believer (Ro 7:18, &c.; 8:1); 1Ti 1:15, "I am chief"; so she says not merely, "I was," but "I am"; still black in herself, but comely through His comeliness put upon her (Eze 16:14).

curtains—first, the hangings and veil in the temple of Solomon (Eze 16:10); then, also, the "fine linen which is the righteousness of saints" (Re 19:8), the white wedding garment provided by Jesus Christ (Isa 61:10; Mt 22:11; 1Co 1:30; Col 1:28; 2:10; Re 7:14). Historically, the dark tents of Kedar represent the Gentile Church (Isa 60:3-7, &c.). As the vineyard at the close is transferred from the Jews, who had not kept their own, to the Gentiles, so the Gentiles are introduced at the commencement of the Song; for they were among the earliest enquirers after Jesus Christ (Mt 2:1-12): the wise men from the East (Arabia, or Kedar).

daughters of Jerusalem—professors, not the bride, or "the virgins," yet not enemies; invited to gospel blessings (So 3:10, 11); so near to Jesus Christ as not to be unlikely to find Him (So 5:8); desirous to seek Him with her (So 6:1; compare So 6:13; 7:1, 5, 8). In So 7:8, 9, the bride's Beloved becomes their Beloved; not, however, of all of them (So 8:4; compare Lu 23:27, 28).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I am black. It might be objected, Who art thou, that thou shouldst have or pretend to such a royal Bridegroom, and such honours and favours? To this the church answers, I confess, as to myself and outward appearance in the eyes of the world, I have not that pomp and beauty which men admire, but am black, contemptible and deformed, both for my own infirmities and disorders, and for the scandals of some of my own members, and for the reproaches and persecutions of worldly men. She alludes to the complexion of Pharaoh’s daughter, who was black.

But comely; yet I am glorious within, Psalm 45:13, and comely, through the beauty which my Husband hath put upon me, by his graces and blessings conferred upon me, such as justification and sanctification, &c.

Daughters of Jerusalem; by which she understands particular believers, whose mother Jerusalem is called, Galatians 4:26, who had joined themselves to her, especially young converts and weak Christians, who were startled and offended at the contemplation of her blackness.

Of Kedar, i.e. of the wild Arabians, the posterity of Kedar, Genesis 25:13, who dwelt in tents, which were black and uncomely, both in themselves, and by the injuries of the weather, to which they were constantly exposed.

As the curtains of Solomon; as the hangings wherewith Solomon’s house was furnished, which none can doubt that they were most beautiful and glorious. So these two last clauses answer to the two first, and that in the same order in which they lie.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem,.... The church having obtained of Christ, what she wanted, turns to the daughters of Jerusalem, the same perhaps with the virgins her companions; they seem to be young converts, it may be not yet members of the visible church, but had a great respect for the church, and she for them; and who, though they had but a small knowledge of Christ her beloved, yet were desirous of knowing more of him, and seeking him with her; see Sol 3:9; to these she gives this character of herself, that she was "black" in herself (x), through original sin and actual transgression; in her own eyes, through indwelling sin, and many infirmities, spots, and blemishes in life; and in the eyes of the world, through afflictions, persecutions, and reproaches, she was attended with, and so with them the offscouring of all things: "but comely" in the eyes of Christ, called by him his "fair one", the "fairest among women", and even "all fair", Sol 1:8; through his comeliness put upon her, the imputation of his righteousness to her; through the beauties of holiness upon her; through, the sanctifying influences of his Spirit; and, being in a church state, walking in Gospel order, attending to the commands and ordinances of Christ; and so beautiful as Tirzah, and comely as Jerusalem, Sol 6:4; and upon all accounts "desirable" (y) to Christ, and to his people, as the word may be rendered;

as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon: each of which are thought by some to refer to both parts of her character; and suppose that the tents of Kedar, though they might look poor on the outside, were full of wealth and riches within; and Solomon's curtains, or hangings, might have an outward covering not so rich and beautiful as they were on the inside; but rather the blackness of the church is designed by the one, and her comeliness by the other. With respect to her blackness, she compares herself to the tents of Kedar, to the inhabitants of those tents, who were of a black or swarthy complexion; Kedar signifies the name of a man whose posterity these were, that dwelt in tents, even of Kedar the second son of Ishmael, and who inhabited some part of Arabia; and, their employment being to feed cattle, moved from place to place for the sake of pasturage, and so dwelt in tents, which they could easily remove, and hence were called Scenites; and the tents they dwelt in being made of hair cloth, and continually exposed to the sun and rain, were very black, and yet a number of them made a fine appearance, as Dr. Shaw relates (z); though black, yet were beautiful to behold; he says,

"the Bedouin Arabs at this day live in tents called "hhymes", from the shelter which they afford the inhabitants; and "beet el shaar", that is, "houses of hair", from the materials or webs of goats' hair whereof they were made; and are such hair cloth as our coal sacks are made of; the colour of them is beautifully alluded to, Sol 1:5; for nothing certainly can afford (says he) a more delightful prospect than a large extensive plain, whether in its verdure, or even scorched up by the sunbeams, than, these movable habitations pitched in circles upon them; of which (he says) he has seen from three to three hundred.''

And for her comeliness the church compares herself either to the curtains of Solomon, about his bed, or to the rich hangings of tapestry in the several apartments of his palace, which no doubt were very costly and magnificent.

(x) "Nigra per naturam, formosa per gratiam", Aug. de Tempore, serm. 201. p. 354. tom. 10. "Fusca per culpam, decora per gratiam", Ambros. in Psal. cxviii. octon. 2. col. 881. tom. 2.((y) "optabilis", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Mercerus; so Aben Ezra. (z) Travels, p. 220. edit. 2. See Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28. Solin. Polyhist. c. 46.

Geneva Study Bible

I am {f} black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of {g} Kedar, as the {h} curtains of Solomon.

(f) The Church confesses her spots and sin, but has confidence in the favour of Christ.

(g) Kedar was Ishmael's son, of whom came the Arabians that dwelt in tents.

(h) Which within were all set with precious stones and jewels.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. Here the Shulammite, under the inquisitive glances of the court ladies, who probably desire to see whether they have in any degree accomplished their purpose of rousing her admiration for the king, remembers her rustic appearance, and explains that the swarthy colour which is so different from theirs, is not natural or permanent, and asserts her equality in beauty.

I am black] Better, swart. The word denotes here, not blackness as of a or of a horse (cp. Zechariah 6:2; Zechariah 6:6), but the ruddy or brown hue of sunburning; though with poetic exaggeration the speaker compares herself to the Bedouin tents of camel’s hair, for blackness, and to the brilliantly coloured curtains of Solomon’s tent, for beauty.

Kedar] i.e. black, was the name of a tribe of nomads whose eponymous ancestor was (Genesis 25:13) a son of Ishmael. They wandered in the Arabian desert towards Babylonia, and are called Kidru in the cuneiform inscriptions.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. The word "black" (שְׁחורָה) does not necessarily mean that the skin is black, but rather sunburnt, dark brown, as in Lamentations 4:8, where the same word signifies the livid or swarthy appearance of one who has suffered long from famine and wretchedness. There is certainly no reason to take the word as an argument for the bride being Pharaoh's daughter; but it points to what is confirmed by the rest of the poem - the rustic birth and northern blood of the bride. She has been living in the fields, and is browned with the ruddy health of a country life. The best explanation of the words is that they are drawn out by the fact that the bride is surrounded by her ladies. Some think that they look askance at her, or with indignation at the boldness of her words; but that is quite unnecessary, and would be inconsistent with the dignity of the bride. The country maiden feels the greatness of the honour, that she is chosen of the king, and with simple modesty, in the presence of courtly ladies around her, sets forth her claim. The simile is not uncommon in poetry, as in Theocritus and Virgil. Comely; i.e. attractive, agreeable. Kedar (whether from the Arabic, meaning "powerful," or from the Hebrew, "black") designates the tribes of the North Arabian descendants of Ishmael (Genesis 25:13; Isaiah 21:17), Kedareens, referred to by Pliny, and remaining in Arabia until the time of the Mohammedans. The Bedouin still calls his tent his "hair house;" it is covered with goat's-hair cloth, mostly black or grey. Whether the reference is to the colour of the goat's hair or to the tents being browned or blackened by the heat of the sun, we cannot doubt that the allusion is to the complexion, and the rest of the simile would then be applicable to the lovely shape and features of the maiden, the curtains of Solomon being the curtains of a pavilion, or pleasure tent, spread out like "a shining butterfly," i.e. the beautiful cloth or tapestry which formed the sides of the tent or the tent coverings, the clothing of the framework, or tent hangings (see Isaiah 54:2; Exodus 26:36; 2 Samuel 7; 1 Chronicles 17:1, etc.). Egyptian hangings were particularly prized. The custom prevailed among Eastern monarchs of sojourning once in the year in some lovely rural district, and at such times their tents would be very magnificent. The LXX. has, ὡς δεῥῤείς Σολομὼν, "as the skins of Solomon;" but this is a mistake. The word is derived from a root "to tremble," i.e. "to glitter in the sun." Those who desire to find an allegorical interpretation think there is an evident allusion here to the sojourn of Israel in the wilderness, or the admission of the Gentiles into the covenant; but there is no reason for any such strain upon the meaning. The simile is merely poetical. The soul realizes its own acceptance before God, but ascribes that acceptance to his grace. "The bride, the Lamb's wife," sees the beauty of the Lord reflected in herself, and rejoices in her own attractions for his sake. There is no immodesty in the consciousness of merit so long as that merit is ascribed to him from whom it comes. There is often more pride in the assumption of humility than in the claim to be acknowledged. The same apostle who declared himself less than the least of all saints also maintained that he was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. Song of Solomon 1:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

After this choral song, Shulamith, who has listened to the singers not without being examined by their inquisitive glances as a strange guest not of equal rank with them, now speaks:

5 Black am I, yet comely, ye daughters of Jerusalem,

   As the tents of Kedar, as the hangings of Solomon.

From this, that she addresses the ladies of the palace as "daughters of Jerusalem" (Kerı̂ ירושׁלים, a du. fractus; like עפרין for עפרון, 2 Chronicles 13:19), it is to be concluded that she, although now in Jerusalem, came from a different place. She is, as will afterwards appear, from Lower Galilee; - and it may be remarked, in the interest of the mystical interpretation, that the church, and particularly her first congregations, according to the prophecy, was also Galilean, for Nazareth and Capernaum are their original seats; - and if Shulamith is a poetico-mystical Mashal or emblem, then she represents the synagogue one day to enter into the fellowship of Solomon - i.e., of the son of David, and the daughters of Jerusalem, i.e., the congregation already believing on the Messiah. Yet we confine ourselves to the nearest sense, in which Solomon relates a self-experience. Shulamith, the lightly esteemed, cannot boast that she is so ruddy and fair of countenance as they who have just sung how pleasant it is to be beloved by this king; but yet she is not so devoid of beauty as not to venture to love and hope to be loved: "Black am I, yet comely." These words express humility without abjectness. She calls herself "black," although she is not so dark and unchangeably black as an "Ethiopian" (Jeremiah 13:23). The verb שׁחר has the general primary idea of growing dark, and signifies not necessarily soot-blackness (modern Arab. shuhwar, soot), but blackness more or less deep, as שׁחר, the name of the morning twilight, or rather the morning grey, shows; for (Arab.) saḥar

(Note: After an improbable etymology of the Arab., from saḥar, to turn, to depart, "the departure of the night" (Lane). Magic appears also to be called sihar, as nigromantia (Mediaev. from nekromantia), the black art.)

denotes the latter, as distinguished from (Arab.) fajr, the morning twilight (vid., under Isaiah 14:12; Isaiah 47:11). She speaks of herself as a Beduin who appears to herself as (Arab.) sawda, black, and calls

(Note: The houri (damsel of paradise) is thus called ḥawaryyt, adj. relat. from ḥawra, from the black pupil of the eye in the centre of the white eyeball.)

the inhabitants of the town (Arab.) ḥawaryyat (cute candidas). The Vav we have translated "yet" ("yet comely"); it connects the opposite, which exists along with the blackness. נאוה is the fem. of the adj. נאוה equals נאוה equals נאוי, which is also formed by means of the doubling of the third stem-letter of נאה equals נאו, נאי (to bend forward, to aim; to be corresponding to the aim, conformable, becoming, beautiful), e.g., like רענן, to be full of sap, green. Both comparisons run parallel to nigra et bella; she compares on the one hand the tents of Kedar, and on the other the tapestry of Solomon. אהל signifies originally, in general, the dwelling-place, as בּית the place where one spends the night; these two words interchange: ohel is the house of the nomad, and baith is the tent of him who is settled. קדר (with the Tsere, probably from (Arab.) ḳadar, to have ability, be powerful, though of after the Heb. manner, as Theodoret explains and Symm. also translates: σκοτασμός, from (Heb.) Kadar, atrum esse) is the name of a tribe of North. Arab. Ishmaelites (Genesis 25:13) whom Pliny speaks of (Cedraei in his Hist. Nat. Sol 5:11), but which disappeared at the era of the rise of Islam; the Karaite Jefeth uses for it the word (Arab.) Ḳarysh, for he substitutes the powerful Arab tribe from which Muhammed sprung, and rightly remarks: "She compares the colour of her skin to the blackness of the hair tents of the Koreishites," - even to the present day the Beduin calls his tent his "hair-house" (bêt wabar, or, according to a more modern expression, bêt sa'r, שׂער בּית); for the tents are covered with cloth made of the hair of goats, which are there mostly black-coloured or grey. On the one hand, dark-coloured as the tents of the Kedarenes, she may yet, on the other hand, compare herself to the beautiful appearance of the יריעות of Solomon. By this word we will have to think of a pleasure-tent or pavilion for the king; pavillon (softened from Lat. papilio) is a pleasure-tent spread out like the flying butterfly. This Heb. word could certainly also mean curtains for separating a chamber; but in the tabernacle and the temple the curtains separating the Most Holy from the Holy Place were not so designated, but are called פּרכת and מסך; and as with the tabernacle, so always elsewhere, יריעות (from ירע, to tremble, to move hither and thither) is the name of the cloths or tapestry which formed the sides of the tent (Isaiah 54:2); of the tent coverings, which were named in parall. with the tents themselves as the clothing of their framework (Habakkuk 3:7; Jeremiah 4:20; Jeremiah 10:20; Jeremiah 49:29). Such tent hangings will thus also be here meant; precious, as those described Exodus 26 and 36, and as those which formed the tabernacle on Zion (2 Samuel 7; cf. 1 Chronicles 17:1) before the erection of the temple. Those made in Egypt

(Note: Vid., Wetzstein's Isaiah (1869), p. 698.)

were particularly prized in ancient times.