Song 1:5 | KingComments | STEP | After the bride was brought into the king’s chambers in the previous verse, she says something about herself. The sense of this privileged place does not make her proud, but humble. In what she says here, she addresses the “daughters of Jerusalem”. We will hear about them more often. We will see that the daughters of Jerusalem also include believers who love Christ but do not have as burning a love for Him as the bride has. They are also unable to understand the relationship the bride has, precisely because they do not have that burning love and do not know that intimate relationship. It is as if the bride justifies herself to them about her relationship with the groom and explains who she is to him. She says that she is “black” (cf. ). She says that she realizes who she is by nature. This is an important aspect of our relationship with the Lord Jesus. When we speak of the relationship of love in which we stand to the Lord Jesus, we also have to be deeply aware that we are “black” in ourselves, which is sinful. Sin is still in us. “If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us” ( ). This does not make us depressed or discouraged, but the acknowledgment of this will turn our eye to the Lord Jesus, Who through His work on the cross has destroyed the power of sin for all who believe ( ). The bride immediately hereafter says that she is “lovely”. This is what she is in the eye of the groom. She knows that, despite the fact that she is looking for confirmation. We may know that through repentance and confession we have forgiveness of our sins. But beyond that, we may also know that God “has made us acceptable [as it also can be rendered] in the Beloved” ( ). Yet we may have moments or sometimes periods in our lives when this awareness is not so alive, that our feelings of gratitude have faded. Not that we have lost the assurance of our faith. That is not the case, but the danger is present, that our assurance makes us somewhat indifferent. We know it so well, that it doesn’t amaze us anymore and that we don’t wonder anymore about what the Lord Jesus did to and for us and how God sees us now. The first fire of love for the Lord Jesus is extinguished. When the bride says “I am black”, it expresses a deep conviction that each child of God must have. The words that immediately follow, “but lovely”, do not take away this conviction, but only increase the wonder of being lovely. This means for us the awareness that God looks at us in His Son and that we are children of God. If we understand both sides with our heart, we will remain fervent in our love for the Lord Jesus. If we forget one of both sides or place a disproportionate emphasis on one of both sides, our faith life loses its stability. We will, also depending on our character, fall into legalism on the one hand or carnal freedom and even liberality on the other hand. Then the bride uses two comparisons, which are an illustration of what she has just said about herself. She is “like the tents of Kedar” and also “like the curtains of Solomon”. Kedar is an area outside of Israel. It points to a place outside the blessing of God. The remnant that in the future, during the great tribulation, will have been driven out of the land and fled abroad, complains: “Woe is me, ... for I dwell among the tents of Kedar!” ( ). Kedar’s tents are black. So we also live on earth, in a world that lies in evil, where it is black with sin. This includes the black of our sinful nature. But through faith we may know that sin within us has been judged by the judgment that Christ underwent on the cross. As a result, we are clothed with the righteousness of God in Christ. We see that in the second comparison, that of “the curtains of Solomon”. We can think of the radiant white curtains in the palace of Solomon. We may know that we have put on Christ and that we have been made pleasant in Him before God. When we think about what we were and what we have become now, we will say with the Psalmist: “Who remembered us in our low estate, for His lovingkindness is everlasting” ( ). We owe it all to His lovingkindness. We will then be like Mary, who sang, when she was told that she would become the mother of the Lord Jesus: “My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave” ( ). Just as the insignificant girl from Shulam, the shepherdess, became the object of the love of the great king Solomon, so it went with us. We were by nature corrupt, lost, unworthy, rebellious creatures, but we are now connected in the most intimate way with the almighty God, the eternal Son. We are the objects of His love and share in the consequences of His work. We share in His place in heaven, and we share in His reign over heaven and earth. Doesn’t it become, the longer we think about it and the better we get to know ourselves, an ever greater wonder? There is another practical comment to be made about the fact that there is a relationship of love between a countryside girl and a powerful king. There is a huge difference between Solomon and the bride in education, wisdom and wealth. Yet they are attracted to each other and long for each other. Similarly, two young people may today be brought together by the Lord, although there are great social and intellectual differences between them. The question is whether there is real love, because real love transcends and bridges such differences. A feeling of love, infatuation, is not a basis. It is about Divine love, because only Divine love can refrain from things that would be an obstacle in all other cases.

‏ Song of Solomon 1:5

Black but Lovely

After the bride was brought into the king’s chambers in the previous verse, she says something about herself. The sense of this privileged place does not make her proud, but humble. In what she says here, she addresses the “daughters of Jerusalem”. We will hear about them more often. We will see that the daughters of Jerusalem also include believers who love Christ but do not have as burning a love for Him as the bride has. They are also unable to understand the relationship the bride has, precisely because they do not have that burning love and do not know that intimate relationship. It is as if the bride justifies herself to them about her relationship with the groom and explains who she is to him.

She says that she is “black” (cf. Lam 4:7-8). She says that she realizes who she is by nature. This is an important aspect of our relationship with the Lord Jesus. When we speak of the relationship of love in which we stand to the Lord Jesus, we also have to be deeply aware that we are “black” in ourselves, which is sinful. Sin is still in us. “If we say we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us” (1Jn 1:8). This does not make us depressed or discouraged, but the acknowledgment of this will turn our eye to the Lord Jesus, Who through His work on the cross has destroyed the power of sin for all who believe (Rom 6:6).

The bride immediately hereafter says that she is “lovely”. This is what she is in the eye of the groom. She knows that, despite the fact that she is looking for confirmation. We may know that through repentance and confession we have forgiveness of our sins. But beyond that, we may also know that God “has made us acceptable [as it also can be rendered] in the Beloved” (Eph 1:6).

Yet we may have moments or sometimes periods in our lives when this awareness is not so alive, that our feelings of gratitude have faded. Not that we have lost the assurance of our faith. That is not the case, but the danger is present, that our assurance makes us somewhat indifferent. We know it so well, that it doesn’t amaze us anymore and that we don’t wonder anymore about what the Lord Jesus did to and for us and how God sees us now. The first fire of love for the Lord Jesus is extinguished.

When the bride says “I am black”, it expresses a deep conviction that each child of God must have. The words that immediately follow, “but lovely”, do not take away this conviction, but only increase the wonder of being lovely. This means for us the awareness that God looks at us in His Son and that we are children of God.

If we understand both sides with our heart, we will remain fervent in our love for the Lord Jesus. If we forget one of both sides or place a disproportionate emphasis on one of both sides, our faith life loses its stability. We will, also depending on our character, fall into legalism on the one hand or carnal freedom and even liberality on the other hand.

Then the bride uses two comparisons, which are an illustration of what she has just said about herself. She is “like the tents of Kedar” and also “like the curtains of Solomon”. Kedar is an area outside of Israel. It points to a place outside the blessing of God. The remnant that in the future, during the great tribulation, will have been driven out of the land and fled abroad, complains: “Woe is me, ... for I dwell among the tents of Kedar!” (Psa 120:5). Kedar’s tents are black. So we also live on earth, in a world that lies in evil, where it is black with sin. This includes the black of our sinful nature. But through faith we may know that sin within us has been judged by the judgment that Christ underwent on the cross.

As a result, we are clothed with the righteousness of God in Christ. We see that in the second comparison, that of “the curtains of Solomon”. We can think of the radiant white curtains in the palace of Solomon. We may know that we have put on Christ and that we have been made pleasant in Him before God.

When we think about what we were and what we have become now, we will say with the Psalmist: “Who remembered us in our low estate, for His lovingkindness is everlasting” (Psa 136:23). We owe it all to His lovingkindness. We will then be like Mary, who sang, when she was told that she would become the mother of the Lord Jesus: “My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave” (Lk 1:46-48).

Just as the insignificant girl from Shulam, the shepherdess, became the object of the love of the great king Solomon, so it went with us. We were by nature corrupt, lost, unworthy, rebellious creatures, but we are now connected in the most intimate way with the almighty God, the eternal Son. We are the objects of His love and share in the consequences of His work. We share in His place in heaven, and we share in His reign over heaven and earth. Doesn’t it become, the longer we think about it and the better we get to know ourselves, an ever greater wonder?

There is another practical comment to be made about the fact that there is a relationship of love between a countryside girl and a powerful king. There is a huge difference between Solomon and the bride in education, wisdom and wealth. Yet they are attracted to each other and long for each other. Similarly, two young people may today be brought together by the Lord, although there are great social and intellectual differences between them. The question is whether there is real love, because real love transcends and bridges such differences. A feeling of love, infatuation, is not a basis. It is about Divine love, because only Divine love can refrain from things that would be an obstacle in all other cases.