She I am very dark, but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
like the curtains of Solomon.
Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has looked upon me.
My mother's sons were angry with me;
they made me keeper of the vineyards,
but my own vineyard I have not kept!
Truth: Unconditional love can overcome self-doubt and self-deprecation.
The Song of Solomon is either a love song written by Solomon or a love song written about Solomon and his lover and eventual bride. Whichever the case, the above verse indicates that his future bride is experiencing some interchange with the world around her in regard to her skin color. Before we get to far into an application, here is what one commentary stated about this section:
(Word Biblical Commentary) Also, this description of the woman's appearance is strikingly similar to what we read of the young David's appearance: "he was reddish [deeply tanned?] with beautiful eyes and good looks" (1 Sam 16:12). Even the reason for David's reddened skin is similar: "he is looking after the sheep" (1 Sam 16:11). Perhaps the woman's keeping of the vineyard is to be regarded as the feminine counterpart to David's watching of the sheep. It is difficult to know what to make of this parallel; is it coincidental or deliberate on the part of the Song? If the latter, perhaps the point is to endow the woman with the same youthful vigor and heroic stature that the attentive reader associates with David.
She therefore demands that the girls not look at her with disdain for her dark skin (1D-E). Her concern here is with standards of beauty in her society and with class identification, not with race. Her words are a cultural code for "Do not regard me as a plain, unimportant peasant girl."
Apparently the woman is feeling a little put out by the "looks" she is getting. The "daughters of Jerusalem" seem to notice her and she as them not to "gaze" on her because she is "dark." She does a play on words and tells them the reason she is dark is because the sun has "looked" upon her. The entire section here is about societies evaluation of beauty. In the society we live in, the country spends a fortune on getting our skin dark. In Japan, whiter skin is more attractive. The point of the text is that the woman feels self-conscious about her looks in front of other women. This is something most of us can relate to, as this happens repeatedly in our society. It should be noted, however, that after she experiences Solomon's love, note what she says:
Song of Songs 1:15 & 2:1 (ESV Strong's)
He: Behold, you are beautiful, my love;
behold, you are beautiful;
your eyes are doves.
She:I am a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
Solomon's unconditional love of the woman overcomes the inferior or consciousness of her differences to other women. Solomon loves her without prejudice and his expression of her beauty to him changes her view point of herself. Just as God loves us the way we are can change the view point of we have of ourselves, so true and unconditional love can do the same for the one God gives us to love.
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