Black But Beautiful

From the rural and rugged life the young woman is brought into the palace of Solomon. Here she sees the “daughters of Jerusalem,” the most beautiful women in the nation. In these circumstances she feels her unattractiveness and is filled with insecurity and self-doubt. She makes a contrast between her rugged weather beaten appearance and the beauty of the groomed and manicured women of the court (See Esther 2:12).

She finds hope however in the One whom her soul loves (Vs. 8) and discovers that although unattractive in the eyes of some she is beautiful in the eyes of One—He sees her as the “fairest among women” (1:8) and one in whom there is “no blemish” (4:7). We may bare the scars of the past and be marred with the ugliness of sin, but there is One in whom we can find beauty and security.