Troublesome Topic: The Curves of Your Thighs Are Like Jewels

Song of Solomon 7:1

Translation

THE PEACEFUL MAN TO THE PEACEFUL WOMAN

¹ How beautiful your sandaled

feet,

O prince’s

daughter!

The curves

of your thighs

are like jewels, the work of the hands of a master craftsman.

Paraphrase

THE COMPLETE MAN TO THE COMPLETE WOMAN

Your guarded

movements are beautiful, O product of royalty.

You are fully capable of getting pregnant; that ability has been elegantly demonstrated, showing the wisdom and skill of the one who created you.

In the case of the Shulammite, if my theory is correct, she did not have a problem getting pregnant; the danger lay in delivering the child without loss of life to the child or to herself. The ability to get pregnant was hugely important to women of ancient times because their whole existence centered on bearing and raising children. We see various cases in Scripture of women who were extremely distraught because they were barren, e.g. Samuel’s mother, Jacob’s wife Rachel, and Abraham’s wife Saria. Barrenness was seen as a major defect, and was usually considered a curse from God. Solomon is saying this about the Shulammite in order to console her; he is pointing out that there is nothing wrong with her when it comes to getting pregnant. If he did not want her to get pregnant again, it had nothing to do with barrenness, and everything to do with a “close call” in the delivery of their two daughters.

This is a good example of how a man should be encouraging of his wife. He needs to see where she is struggling and address the issue with compassion and honest encouragement. He needs to help his wife keep her eyes on the positive things not the negative, on God’s guiding hand, not the problems she faces. He cannot allow her to wallow in self-pity, but should lift her out of that dark hole with a constant stream of encouragement. He must counter her negative self-talk with truth, not nice-sounding, made-up, feel-good clichés, but honest, biblical truth, spoken with care and compassion.

The next lesson is: A List of Traits of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

Footnotes

1

A carry-over from the last chapter. In the latter part of chapter six we saw how intrigued Solomon was with the Shulammite. We heard the Shulammite ask him why he was so intrigued by her. He started to answer in 6:13, but here we get the rest of the answer to that question. He explains what sets this woman apart from all other women. Notice that most of what follows (7:1–9), is about her character, her inner beauty, not her physical beauty, even though he is using imagery from her physical body to communicate that inner beauty. Also notice that the phrases that seem most sexually charged to our ears were not sexual at all.

2: "Sandals"

The simple meaning is that they were a source of protection for the feet, and that is what fits best here. There are other ways in which sandals, or the taking off of a sandal, had significance, but that does not apply here. The fact that a segment of the population would have gone barefoot does not affect this word picture.

3: “prince’s daughter”

She was not really the daughter of a prince for she had no royal blood in her. She was a common girl from the working class, yet he ascribed to her the qualities of one who was of royal status, for it is about character not blood-lines. His statement indicates that she acted like those in the nobility should act. She must have carried herself with dignity, been gracious to others, handled difficulties or controversy with wisdom and grace, and been a good example to others.

4

This word means “curves, or roundness.” We don’t think of the thigh as having “curves,” but that is what it says. Some translate this word here as “joints,” but the word means “curves, or roundness.”

Re: the imagery: Roundness would imply fullness and thus show health.

In many parts of the world being skinny is not desirable for it shows poverty. In those countries if you are over-weight, or “full,” it means that you have plenty to eat and are therefore the envy of many of your countrymen. In Honduras and Nicaragua, where I grew up, being called “gordo” (fat) as a nickname was not derogatory at all. However, as the American influence grows in many places around the world and as it influences people’s diets, there are more and more heavy-set people everywhere.

5

This word means “thigh” and comes from a root word that means “soft.” Some have translated it as “hip,” but that does not fit well with the basic idea of “soft.” The specific part of the body being described is where the thigh and the buttocks meet.

Re: the imagery of the thigh: The thigh was often associated with procreation. For instance, when Abraham had his chief servant make an oath to him, (Gen 24:2) Abraham had this servant place his hand under his (Abraham’s) thigh in order to make the oath binding. Why the thigh? The hand was placed under the part of the thigh closest to the hip so that the tips of the fingers would be close to the genitals, which was fitting since this was an oath pertaining to getting Isaac a wife. You may have also noticed in scripture that the way the curse of barrenness for a woman is expressed is that her thigh would waist away (literally “rot”), thus we see the idea of the thigh was closely associated with procreation.

This had nothing to do with how thick her thighs were, but it had everything to do with her ability to get pregnant and carry the child to term. (Birthing that child without complications was another matter.)

6

The work of a Craftsman shows skill, care, wisdom and much experience.