Thy Strong Word — Song of Solomon 4:1-16: Eyes Like Doves and Breasts Like Fawns

The bridegroom stands in front of his bride on their wedding night and starts recounting her features. Her eyes, her hair, her teeth, her lips, even the way she holds her head. He goes on like that for six verses, smitten, and then he pronounces something she knows is not true: there is no flaw in you. The Hebrew word underneath “flaw” is the word Leviticus uses for the defect that keeps a priest away from the altar and keeps an animal off it. Solomon said to his bride, Jesus says it about His Church.

The Rev. Steven Theiss, serving St. John Lutheran Church (AALC) in Pocahontas, MO, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Song of Solomon 4:1-16.

The Song of Solomon is a book of love poetry, a bride and her bridegroom singing to each other across eight chapters. God’s people have sung it since Solomon’s day, and Jewish congregations still read it at Passover. The Church has heard in it the voice of Christ and His bride, and Luther quoted the Song in The Freedom of a Christian to describe what happens when Christ takes a sinner as His own. Paul was working the same ground in Ephesians five, where he set marriage beside Christ and the Church and called it a great mystery.

This series works through the whole book verse by verse, from the kiss in chapter one to the seal on the heart in chapter eight. We hear what it says about the body, about desire, and about the marriage God instituted in the garden. We also ask where Christ is in it, since the Church has long heard in these songs the voice of the Bridegroom who gave His life for His bride.

Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God’s Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

Thy Strong Word is graciously underwritten by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation. Through the mission gifts of people like you, LHF translates, publishes, distributes and introduces books that are Bible-based, Christ-centered and Reformation-driven. Learn more at lhfmissions.org.

Song of Solomon 4:1-16

Solomon Admires His Bride’s Beauty

[1] Behold, you are beautiful, my love,

behold, you are beautiful!

Your eyes are doves

behind your veil.

Your hair is like a flock of goats

leaping down the slopes of Gilead.

[2] Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes

that have come up from the washing,

all of which bear twins,

and not one among them has lost its young.

[3] Your lips are like a scarlet thread,

and your mouth is lovely.

Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate

behind your veil.

[4] Your neck is like the tower of David,

built in rows of stone;

on it hang a thousand shields,

all of them shields of warriors.

[5] Your two breasts are like two fawns,

twins of a gazelle,

that graze among the lilies.

[6] Until the day breathes

and the shadows flee,

I will go away to the mountain of myrrh

and the hill of frankincense.

[7] You are altogether beautiful, my love;

there is no flaw in you.

[8] Come with me from Lebanon, my bride;

come with me from Lebanon.

Depart from the peak of Amana,

from the peak of Senir and Hermon,

from the dens of lions,

from the mountains of leopards.

[9] You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride;

you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes,

with one jewel of your necklace.

[10] How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!

How much better is your love than wine,

and the fragrance of your oils than any spice!

[11] Your lips drip nectar, my bride;

honey and milk are under your tongue;

the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

[12] A garden locked is my sister, my bride,

a spring locked, a fountain sealed.

[13] Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates

with all choicest fruits,

henna with nard,

[14] nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,

with all trees of frankincense,

myrrh and aloes,

with all choice spices—

[15] a garden fountain, a well of living water,

and flowing streams from Lebanon.

[16] Awake, O north wind,

and come, O south wind!

Blow upon my garden,

let its spices flow.

Together in the Garden of Love

She

Let my beloved come to his garden,

and eat its choicest fruits.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated in whole or in part into any other language. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Rev. Dr. Phil Booe

Native North Carolinian Rev. Dr. Phil Booe serves pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, and host of Thy Strong Word on KFUO Radio. His parishioners probably think he can’t teach Bible study without a mug of coffee in his hand, and he’ll always be happy to eat a plate of sushi. When he’s not shepherding his flock or teaching on the radio, you might find him watching bad movies from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and especially binging RiffTrax and MST3K episodes. Some day he’d love to travel to the Lutheran homeland in Germany, but for now he spends time in Minnesota with his wife, son, daughter, and cat, and looks forward to Holy Week every year.