Charles Ellicott Commentary Song Of Solomon 4:1

"Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; Thine eyes are [as] doves behind thy veil. Thy hair is as a flock of goats, That lie along the side of mount Gilead." — Song Of Solomon 4:1 (ASV)

Locks. —Hebrew, tsammah, found elsewhere only in Song of Solomon 6:7 and Isaiah 47:2. The derivation, and the existence of cognate Arabic words, leave no doubt that it means veil. So, in Isaiah 47:2, the Septuagint understood it, though here they have given the strange and meaningless translation, “out of your silence,” which the Vulgate has still further mystified into “from that which lies hid within,” a rendering which has been a fruitful source of moral allusion to the more hidden beauties of the soul. If the veil was worn in ancient times in Palestine, as by Eastern ladies now, covering the lower part of the face, but allowing the eyes to be seen, the description is very appropriate.

That appear. —Marginal reading, that eat of; Hebrew, galash: only here and in the corresponding passage, Song of Solomon 6:5. The word has had a variety of most contradictory interpretations. The Authorised Version follows the Septuagint, and has the support of Ewald’s great authority. The marginal eat of rests only on the existence of cognates in Syriac and Arabic = obtained, collected (see Lee’s Hebrew Dictionary), which would rather point to such a rendering as, “which they obtain from mount Gilead.” The Vulgate, quae ascenderunt, is followed by some commentators, though the bulk give the exactly opposite: “come down,” or “run down,” or “hang down from.” In such a difficulty only the context can decide, and any translation suggesting the dark hair flowing in masses round the shoulders is allowable.

At the same time, from a tendency of the author to accumulate, and sometimes to confuse, his figures (Song of Solomon 4:12; Song of Solomon 4:15; Song of Solomon 5:12–13), probably here it is the long, soft, delicate, generally black hair of the Oriental goat which is compared to that of the lady, as well as the general appearance presented by the whole flock suspended on the mountain side.