Verse 10
"My beloved is white and ruddy,
The chiefest among ten thousand.
His head is as the most fine gold;
His locks are bushy, and black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves beside the water-brooks,
Washed with milk, and fitly set.
His cheeks are as a bed of spices,
As banks of sweet herbs: His lips are as lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
His hands are as rings of gold set with beryl:
His body is as ivory work overlaid with sapphires.
His legs are as pillars of marble, set with sockets of fine gold:
His aspect is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
His mouth is most sweet;
Yea, he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem."
There is another description of Christ the Holy One in Revelation 1:12-16 which resembles this one in many ways, in spite of their differences. There is absolutely nothing in either of the descriptions that may be applied to things sensual, vulgar or sexual. The glory of them both is that they declare the supreme value and eternity of the lover. The mention of the lover's being "white" suggests his purity and holiness, exactly the same as did "his hair white as snow" in the Revelation account. Another similarity occurs in the supreme emphasis of the lover's words (his teaching), appearing here in the mention of "lips" and "mouth," and in the Apocalypse as "the sharp sword" in his mouth.
Any attempt to find a line by line reference in this passage to any human being would tend to eroticism, "And would do an injustice to the text."[16] In their ultimate application, they cannot refer to a human being at all but to Him who has "Sat down upon the right hand of the Majesty on High."
The thought here is concluded in the first three verses of the following chapter.
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