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Exodus & Kingdom: Nation formed, law given, kingdom rises and falls

Solomon's Song

Chapter 6

The Beloved's Absence and Unique Excellence

The daughters of Jerusalem ask where the bride's beloved has gone so they may seek him with her. The bride answers that her beloved has gone down into his garden to feed among the lilies, and she belongs to him as he belongs to her. The daughters praise the bride's beauty as fair as Tirzah and comely as Jerusalem, but terrible as an army with banners. The bride acknowledges their beauty but emphasizes her beloved's uniqueness—he is her dove, undefiled, sole choice of her mother, and the daughters and queens bless and praise her. The daughters ask who she is that appears as the morning, fair as the moon and clear as the sun, and the bride relates she went down to a garden of nuts to see the fruits and vines budding.

Beloved's gardensMutual possessionUnique excellencePraise from daughtersShulamite identity

1Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with thee.

2My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

3I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: he feedeth among the lilies.

4Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.

5Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.

6Thy teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, whereof every one beareth twins, and there is not one barren among them.

7As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks.

8There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.

9My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

10Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?

11I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.

12Or ever I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.

13Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.

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