Song of Solomon 1 · a question people ask
"I am dark, but lovely" (1:5). What do these verses say about it?
She speaks to the daughters of Jerusalem: "I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains" (1:5). The next verse gives her own reason: "Don’t stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me" (1:6). Then she says, "My mother’s sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. I haven’t kept my own vineyard" (1:6). The verses don't say why her mother's sons were angry, or what she means by my own vineyard, and these notes don't guess. They say what the verses say and nothing more, and apply them to no one today.
The verses
“I am dark, but lovely, you daughters of Jerusalem, like Kedar’s tents, like Solomon’s curtains. Don’t stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has scorched me. My mother’s sons were angry with me. They made me keeper of the vineyards. I haven’t kept my own vineyard.”