I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
The book is an Oriental love poem written in vivid, warm imagery and in the figurative language of the East, regarded as a parable picturing Christ and His church. The comparison to the tents of Kedar refers to a dark appearance, for those tents were black and made of goats' hair, a familiar feature of Bedouin life east of the Jordan. The speaker is the church addressing the daughters of Jerusalem, who represent nominal churches.
The verse presents Christ as the heavenly Bridegroom and the pure church as His bride, showing His wonderful love and their close and enduring union, with Solomon's experiences serving as types of Christ and the church. She is darkened in condition yet comely, and will come to a state of perfection and favor in God's sight. From Abraham to the present the church's answering love is often unfaithful and unsteady, so her countenance is at one time dark like the tents of Kedar and at another beautiful like the daughters of Jerusalem and fair like the curtains of Solomon, proving her variable as the wind and changeable as the weather, carried about by the slightest circumstances.
The verse also portrays the spiritual experience of a believing, loving soul, which grows comelier in Christ's sight as it draws nearer to communion with Him while appearing blacker, that is less attractive, to the world, so that favor with God may bring disfavor from worldly people and shining in God's sight matters more than worldly approval. Its blackness and beauty express a condition that can be transformed, with blackness becoming beauty, applied to the longing for Christ to make a person holy.
The book is an Oriental love poem written in vivid, warm imagery and in the figurative language of the East, regarded as a parable picturing Christ and His church. The comparison to the tents of Kedar refers to a dark appearance, for those tents were black and made of goats' hair, a familiar feature of Bedouin life east of the Jordan. The speaker is the church addressing the daughters of Jerusalem, who represent nominal churches.
The verse presents Christ as the heavenly Bridegroom and the pure church as His bride, showing His wonderful love and their close and enduring union, with Solomon's experiences serving as types of Christ and the church. She is darkened in condition yet comely, and will come to a state of perfection and favor in God's sight. From Abraham to the present the church's answering love is often unfaithful and unsteady, so her countenance is at one time dark like the tents of Kedar and at another beautiful like the daughters of Jerusalem and fair like the curtains of Solomon, proving her variable as the wind and changeable as the weather, carried about by the slightest circumstances.
The verse also portrays the spiritual experience of a believing, loving soul, which grows comelier in Christ's sight as it draws nearer to communion with Him while appearing blacker, that is less attractive, to the world, so that favor with God may bring disfavor from worldly people and shining in God's sight matters more than worldly approval. Its blackness and beauty express a condition that can be transformed, with blackness becoming beauty, applied to the longing for Christ to make a person holy.