Charles Ellicott Commentary Song Of Solomon 1:9

"I have compared thee, O my love, To a steed in Pharaoh`s chariots." — Song Of Solomon 1:9 (ASV)

Company of horses. —So Vulgate, equitatus, but Heb. susah is more properly mare, as in Septuagint, Τῇ ἵππῳ μου. The ground of the comparison is variously understood. Some, offended at the comparison of female beauty to that of a horse, think the rich trappings of a royal equipage suggested it, while on the other hand, the mention of the caparisoned steed may have suggested the reference to the lady’s ornaments. But Anacreon (60) and Theocritus , and also Horace , have compared female with equine beauty; and an Arab chief would not hesitate to prefer the points of his horse to the charms of his beloved.

Chariots. —The plural shows that the image is general, and with no reference to any one particular equipage. Pharaoh’s teams are selected as pre-eminently fine by reputation. The supposition that there is a reference to some present from the Egyptian to the Israelite monarch is gratuitous. The kings of Israel bought their horses and chariots at a high price (1 Kings 10:29).