Matthew Poole and continuators on Song of Solomon 4:1

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 .

These and the following words are evidently spoken by the Bridegroom to, and concerning, his Spouse.

Not in thy self, but by my beauty, being cloathed with my Righteousness, and adorned with all the Graces of my Spirit, which I acknowledg to be in thee.

He repeats it both to confirm the Truth of his Assertion, and to shew the sincerity and fervency of his Affection to her.

Thou art harmless, chaste, &c. as appears by thine Eyes, which commonly discover the temper of the Mind or Person. See more of this Phrase Ch. 1. 15. And whereas the beauty of the Spouse is here described in her several parts, we need not labour much about the Application of each particular to some distinct Member or Grace of the Church, this being the chief design of this description of a Bride which is beautiful in all points, to shew that compleatness and absolute perfection which the Church hath in part received, and shall more fully receive from Christ in the future Life. Yet because the Church is a Body, consisting of divers Members, and enriched with variety of Gifts and Graces, I know no reason, but the several parts of this description may have a more special regard to one or other of them. And so her Eyes may here note either 1. Her Teachers, who are instead of Eyes to her, as the Phrase is, Num. 10. 31. whence they are called Seers and Guides, &c. Or 2. The disposition of her Mind or Heart, which is compared to the Eye, Mat. 6. 22, 23. and is oft discerned in the Eye.

Which being decently composed make the Eyes appear more amiable, withal this intimates the modesty of her Looks: her Eyes are not wanton, and wandring, or lofty, but sober, and humble, and confined within their proper bounds, looking directly upon her Husband, not looking asquint upon other Lovers, nor minding other Gods or Christs. If the Eyes signifie Teachers, the Locks may note the People assembled together to hear their Teachers, to whom they are a great Ornament when they thrive by his Teaching.

The Hair of thine Head, which is a great Ornament to the Female Sex, 1 Cor. 11. 15. This Hair may signifie either 1. The inward Thoughts and Meditations: Or rather 2. The outward Conversation, and visible fruits of Holiness, which do greatly adorn the Professors and Profession of Religion, as Hair doth the Head, as is implied 1 Tim. 2. 9, 10. 1 Pet. 3. 3, 4, 5.

Which are comely and orderly in going, Prov. 30. 29, 31. and afford a goodly prospect. Or rather, as the hair (which word is here to be understood, as appears both from the comparison itself, and from divers places where Goats are put for goats hair; as it is in the Hebrew Text, Exod. 25. 4. & 26. 7. & 35. 26.) of a flock of goats, which in these parts was of extraordinary length, and thickness, and softness, and comeliness, and much more like to the Hair of a Man or Woman than the Hair of our Goats is, as is evident both from Scripture, as Gen. 27. 16. 1 Sam. 19. 13. and from the Testimony of other ancient Writers, as Apuleius, Martial, &c.

That feeding there, or coming down thence, or going up thither, shew themselves evidently to those who stand below it, or near them. Or, as it is rendred in our margent, and by others, that eat, or graze of, or upon.

Which he mentions as a very fruitful place, and fit for the breeding of all sorts of cattle, as is manifest from Num. 32. 1. Ier. 50. 19. Mich. 7. 14. and especially of Goats, partly because it was an hilly and woody country, and partly because it abounded with rosinous, and oily, and gummy Trees, as appears from Gen. 37. 25. Ier. 8. 22. & 46. 11. wherewith the Goats are much delighted, as Dioscorides observes. And some affirm that the Hair of these Goats was commonly of a yellow colour, as may seem probable from 1 Sam. 19. 13, 16. compared with 1 Sam. 16. 12. and from Cant. 7. 5. which also was in ancient times esteemed a beauty in Men or Women, as the Learned know.

Marginal references: Ch. 1. 15. & 5. 12.; Ch. 6. 5, 6.; Or, that [illegible: 1 word] of, &c.