Song of Solomon 4 · a question people ask
Why is she called "my sister"?
The chapter doesn't say. This chapter never has my sister alone: it is always "my sister, my bride" (4:9, 4:10, 4:12), and chapter 5 has it twice more, "my sister, my bride" (5:1) and "my sister, my love, my dove" (5:2). Brown-Driver-Briggs gives achot as "sister", and lists among its senses "= beloved" and "fig. of intimate connection". Proverbs uses the same word of wisdom: "Tell wisdom, “You are my sister.”" (Proverbs 7:4). The Song gives no reason or custom behind the name, and these notes don't supply one from outside the Bible.
The verses
“You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck. How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, the fragrance of your perfumes than all kinds of spices! Your lips, my bride, drip like the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under your tongue. The smell of your garments is like the smell of Lebanon. My sister, my bride, is a locked up garden; a locked up spring, a sealed fountain.”
“I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk. Friends Eat, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved. I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night.””
“Tell wisdom, “You are my sister.” Call understanding your relative,”