Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Song of Solomon · About this commentary
A Steed in Pharaoh's Chariots
Song of Solomon 1:9-14
9 I have compared you, my love, to a steed in Pharaoh’s chariots. · WEB
The first exchange of praise trades in the costliest things each of their worlds offers, and it ends at an oasis.
His first compliment reaches for the most magnificent creature his world could point to: a horse in Pharaoh's chariotry. The finest bloodstock of the age — groomed, arrayed, impossible not to watch. The comparison is to splendor in motion. The next line dresses it: cheeks between ornaments, a neck hung with jewels. Then a plural voice — we will make you earrings of gold with silver studs — as though the admiration recruits craftsmen on the spot.
Her answer moves the scene from display to nearness. Every image in it is scent. While the king reclines, her perfume speaks for her. He is a sachet of myrrh lying all night between her breasts. He is a cluster of henna from the vineyards of En-gedi — the spring-fed oasis where green things grow on the Dead Sea's dead shore. Sweetness exactly where the land promises none.
The difference between the two praises is the book in miniature. He reaches for what money and empires parade. She reaches for what lies close in the dark and is known by breathing. The poem honors both registers and keeps them talking to each other — but it is her images the Song returns to, and his that fall away.
settled What this mark means