Beauty in the Eye of the Beholder

The theme of the passage is the groom’s intense sense of attraction to his bride (4:1-7) and his love for her (4:8-15)—the picture that he paints in this descriptive song (4:1-7) is framed with the words “behold thou art fair…thou art all fair (Vs. 1 and 7). The metaphors that he uses from verses 1-5 might not mean much to us in a culture very different both in time and geography, but if we could give the sense of this first verse in modern English, he says; “look at you; you are beautiful.” These metaphors are simply intended to show attentiveness to beauty rather than human sensuality. Henry Law shows that these are intended instead to present a “portrait …[of] the charms” (p. 70) and a “general description … of beauty” (p. 75 see also p. 83).

1. Christ’s Sees Beauty In Us. The law looked at us and condemned us. Grace looked at us and pitied us in our depravity and inability. Christ looks at us and admires us in grace. Christ sees beauty in his people. How can this be? It is because beauty is in the eye of the Beholder. It is not what I am in myself, but what I am in His eyes that matters, in His grace, in His Covenant, and in His love. It is because he does not see me anymore as a covenant breaker but in Christ the Covenant-Keeper. In His eyes I am in the Covenant of Grace, in Christ—clothed in His robe of righteousness and covered by His grace. He sees me personally—“He loves especially me” (6:9)

2. Christ’s Confirms Us In Our Beauty. In the Book of the Song of Solomon it is significant that every time the groom speaks he is either describing his bribe’s beauty or he is directly telling her she is beautiful.