Charles Ellicott Commentary Song Of Solomon 1:6

"Look not upon me, because I am swarthy, Because the sun hath scorched me. My mother`s sons were incensed against me; They made me keeper of the vineyards; [But] mine own vineyard have I not kept." — Song Of Solomon 1:6 (ASV)

Look not ...—that is, with disdain, as in Job 41:34 (verse 26 in the Hebrew text).

Black.— Literally, blackish.

The sun ...—The word translated looked upon occurs only twice elsewhere (Job 20:9; Job 28:7). The “all-seeing sun” is a common poetic image, but here with the sense of scorching. The heroine goes on to explain the cause of her exposure to the sun. Her dark complexion is accidental, and therefore cannot be used as an argument that she was an Egyptian princess whose nuptials with Solomon are celebrated in the poem.

Mother’s children—that is, brothers, not necessarily step-brothers, as Ewald and others. (Psalms 69:8.) The reference to the mother rather than the father is natural in a country where polygamy was practiced.

My own vineyard ...—The general sense is plain. While engaged in the duties imposed by her brothers, she had been compelled to neglect something—but what?

Some think her beloved, and others her reputation; Ginsburg, literally, her own special vineyard.

But the obvious interpretation connects the words immediately with the context. Her personal appearance had been sacrificed to her brothers’ severity. While tending their vines she had neglected her own complexion.