The young woman, intoxicated with the delightful love of her young lover, describes herself in the presence of the other women of Jerusalem \u2014 who watch her love like a chorus surrounding the scene \u2014 with these words: The young woman, intoxicated with the delightful love of her young lover, describes herself in the presence of the other women of Jerusalem \u2014 who watch her love like a chorus surrounding the scene \u2014 with these words:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1756],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-love-and-marriage"],"yoast_head":"\n
\n5 Dark am I, yet lovely,
\nO daughters of Jerusalem,
\ndark like the tents of Kedar,
\nlike the tent curtains of Solomon.*
\n6 Do not stare at me because I am dark,
\nbecause I am darkened by the sun.
\nMy mother\u2019s sons were angry with me
\nand made me take care of the vineyards;
\nmy own vineyard I have neglected.
\n7 Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock
\nand where you rest your sheep at midday.
\nWhy should I lose my way among the flocks of your friends?<\/em>
\nThe woman is deeply tanned \u201cdark\u201d in color (the word does not mean \u201crace\u201d \u2014 see Exum) because she works in the vineyards and is exposed to the sun. She invites the women to gaze at her. She\u2019s not like city women whose skin is protected from the sun. Her beauty is natural. She knows her beauty. It is good to think you are beautiful even when the standard image might be otherwise.
\nHer self-consciousness of her own beauty emerges out of tough circumstances: her brothers were angry with her and forced her to take care of the vineyards. She turned that injustice into an opportunity to discover her beauty.
\nWith her deftly poetic \u201cmy own vineyard\u201d the young woman refers either to her chastity or to her self-esteem\/personhood or to her beauty. The first view is supported by 6:11 and 7:13, and the second is an option for those who think the image is general. The third by the previous line. I think she is referring to her beauty \u2014 she\u2019s not been able to look after her beauty as the city-ladies have, but she is nonetheless beautiful.
\nNow she turns to thinking about her young love (now a shepherd): Where will you be grazing your sheep? Is she evoking his sexuality or asking a question for information? The reader of the Song may not know. Poetry is like that.
\nWhen she speaks of wandering \u2026 and I\u2019ve edited the NIV here \u2026 she seems to be asking for precise information (where will you be?) so she won\u2019t get lost among his fellow shepherds or because she doesn\u2019t want to waste time searching for him. When I get to the camp, she is saying, which tent will you be in?
\nThe woman announces that she will come at midday to his tent \u2014 and that means she wants to find him, to lie with him, and to enjoy love with him.
\nA woman needs to know her beauty. A woman can assert her beauty. A woman has no need to be overwhelmed by the body-image of others. To love the other, one must know oneself. She does. And her circumstances don\u2019t stop her from finding that place of knowing her own beauty. So confident is she of her love and the delightfulness of that love that she will chase her lover down in the middle of the day. All she needs is directions.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"