Troublesome TopicYOUR EYES ARE DOVES 1:15 & 5:12

Song of Solomon 1:15

Translation

THE PEACEFUL MAN TO THE PEACEFUL WOMAN

Look at you!

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You are beautiful, my Love!

I am amazed at how beautiful you are!  Your eyes

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are doves.

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Paraphrase

THE COMPLETE MAN TO THE COMPLETE WOMAN

I can’t stop focusing on how beautiful you are, my Love,

You amaze me because you are so beautiful. You know so much about me, but you are gentle; you don’t use it against me.

First he states that she is so beautiful to him, then he explains why he feels that way. The reason is that her “eyes are doves.” That’s how big an issue this is to the husband.

A wife knows her husband’s weaknesses and failures; therefore, she can either make him, or break him. She can encourage and enhance him, or she can destroy him. This is one reason why, behind every great man stands a wife who knows how to help him and does not tear him down. Wives, please listen to me, a husband usually knows when he has failed, you don’t need to tell him. A man is very sensitive to failure; in fact, failure is one of the things he fears the most. He has made himself vulnerable to you. Be a wife who supports and encourages, not one that cuts down and destroys. A woman who knows how to support and encourage her husband fulfills an important role and forms a great team with her husband.

Footnotes

1: “Look at you!”

Twice in one verse the text uses the word that the KJV translates as “behold.” These are used at the beginning of each statement about her beauty. This word has two basic meanings, one is to shine a spotlight on something, the other is to express surprise in a variety of contexts. Since the word is used twice here, I use each major emphasis once.

2

Eyes were a symbol for knowledge. Think of the times in Scripture when an object or a creature is covered with eyes all over (e.g., in Ezekiel or Revelation). What does it mean? How much can something covered with eyes see? It can see everything. If it can see everything then it also knows everything. Jesus talked about the eye being the “lamp of the body,” i.e., your source of knowledge (Mt 6:22).

3

Doves were known for being gentle, timid, and non-resisting. In the Song it appears that the idea of gentleness is the most prominent characteristic.