Charles Spurgeon Commentary Song Of Solomon 1:5

"I am black, but comely, Oh ye daughters of Jerusalem, As the tents of Kedar, As the curtains of Solomon." — Song Of Solomon 1:5 (ASV)

Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.

The love of Christ shed abroad in our heart sometimes quite overpowers us. It is very possible to be so delighted, so full of joy with a sense of the love of Jesus, that one feels unable to bear any more of it. Oh, for more of this blessed sickness! "It is a strange thing," says one, "this love of Christ," –

"For, oh! when whole, it makes me sick,
When sick, it makes me whole."

I am black, but comely, O you daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon.

A strange contrast is a believer. He is black in himself, but he is comely in Christ. In himself he is foul as the smoke-dried tents of Kedar: but in his Lord he is as comely and rich as the curtains of Solomon.