Song of Solomon 6:5

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

⁴You are beautiful, my darling, as Tirzah, lovely as Jerusalem, majestic as an army with banners. ⁵Turn your eyes away from me, for they have overcome me. Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead.⁶Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing; each has its twin, and not one is lost. ⁷Your brow behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate. ⁸There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number, ⁹but my dove, my perfect one, is unique, the favorite of the mother who bore her. The maidens see her and call her blessed; the queens and concubines sing her praises. ¹⁰Who is this who shines like the dawn, as fair as the moon, as bright as the sun, as majestic as the stars in procession?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

away: Genesis 32:26-28, Exodus 32:10, Jeremiah 15:1, Matthew 15:27, Matthew 15:28

overcome me: or, puffed me up, Song of Solomon 4:1-3

Reciprocal: Song of Solomon 4:9 - with one of Song of Solomon 7:4 - thine eyes Jeremiah 50:19 - Gilead

Cross-References

Genesis 6:1
Now when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them,

Genesis 6:3
So the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years."

Genesis 6:4
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and afterward as well, when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men. And they bore them children who became the mighty men of old, men of renown.

Genesis 6:9
This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God.

Genesis 6:19
And you are to bring two of every living thing into the ark-male and female-to keep them alive with you.

Genesis 6:20
Two of every kind of bird and animal and crawling creature will come to you to be kept alive.

Genesis 6:21
You are also to take for yourself every kind of food that is eaten and gather it as food for yourselves and for the animals."

Genesis 8:21
When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.

Genesis 13:13
But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.

Deuteronomy 29:19
because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, 'I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.' This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Turn away thine eyes from me,.... Her eyes of faith and love; not through dislike of them, but as ravished with them; his passions were so struck by them, and his heart pierced with them, that he could stand it out no longer against her; see Song of Solomon 4:9. Some render the words, "turn about thine eyes over against me" b; this being the first time of meeting, after her ungrateful treatment of him, she might be filled with shame and confusion for it, and therefore hung down her head, or looked on one side; wherefore he encourages her to look him full in the face, with a holy confidence; for such looks of faith are very agreeable to Christ; see Song of Solomon 2:14;

for they have overcome me; that is, her eyes, they had made a conquest of his heart; which does not imply weakness in Christ, but condescending grace, that he should suffer himself, as it were, to be overpowered by the faith and love of his people, who has conquered them and all their enemies. This clause is very differently rendered: by some, "they have strengthened me" c; his desire towards his church, and the enjoyment of her company: by others, the reverse, "are stronger than me", or "have taken away my strength" d; so that he was spiritless, and as one dead, or in an ecstasy: by others, "they have made me fly away" e; that is, out of himself; so that he was not master of himself, could not bear the force and brightness of her eyes: by others, "they have lifted me up" f; revived, cheered, and comforted him, through sympathy with her, in virtue of their near union: by others, "they have made me proud", or "prouder" g; see Isaiah 3:5. Christ has a kind of pride as well as pleasure in his church; he is proud of the beauty he has put upon her, of the graces he has wrought in her; and especially of her faith, when in exercise; see Matthew 8:10; and by others, "they have made me fiercer" h; not with anger and indignation, but with love; there is a force, a fierceness in love, as well as in wrath: "love [is] strong as death, [and] jealousy [is] cruel as the grave", Song of Solomon 8:6; it is so in the church, much more in Christ. All which shows the power of faith, to which mighty things are ascribed, Hebrews 11:1; and here the conquest of Christ himself;

thy hair [is] as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead; from Mount Gilead, Hebrews 11:1- :.

b מנגדי απεναντιον μου, Sept. "ex adverso mei"; Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Marckius so Montanus and Ainsworth. c הרהיבני "corroborant me", Marckius; so Kimchi, and Ben Melech. d "Fortiores fuerunt me", Pagninus; so Aben Ezra. e So the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions. f Mercerus, Ainsworth. g Tigurine version, Piscator; so Jarchi. h Montanus, Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The section might be entitled, “Renewed declaration of love after brief estrangement.”

Song of Solomon 6:4

Tirzah ... Jerusalem - Named together as the then two fairest cities of the land. For Jerusalem compare Psalms 48:2. “Tirzah” (i. e., “Grace” or “Beauty “)was an old Canaanite royal city Joshua 12:24. It became again a royal residence during the reigns of Baasha and his three successors in the kingdom of the ten tribes, and may well therefore have been famed for its beauty in the time of Solomon.

Terrible as ... - Awe-inspiring as the bannered (hosts). The warlike image, like others in the Song, serves to enhance the charm of its assured peace.

Song of Solomon 6:5

Even for the king the gentle eyes of the bride have an awe-striking majesty. Such is the condescension of love. Now follows Song of Solomon 6:5-7 the longest of the repetitions which abound in the Song, marking the continuance of the king’s affection as when first solemnly proclaimed Song of Solomon 4:1-6. The two descriptions belong, according to some (Christian) expositors, to the Church of different periods, e. g. to the primitive Church in the splendor of her first vocation, and to the Church under Constantine; other (Jewish) expositors apply them to “the congregation of Israel” under the first and second temples respectively.

Song of Solomon 6:9

The king contrasts the bride with the other claimants for her royal estate or favor Song of Solomon 6:8. She not only outshines them all for him, but herself has received from them disinterested blessing and praise.

This passage is invaluable as a divine witness to the principle of monogamy under the Old Testament and in the luxurious age of Solomon.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Song of Solomon 6:5. Turn away thine eyes — As the sight of so many fires after night was extremely dazzling, and the eye could not bear the sight, so the look of the bride was such as pierced the heart, and quite overwhelmed the person who met it. Hence the bridegroom naturally cries out, "Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me."

Thy hair is as a flock of goats — See on Song of Solomon 4:1.