Song 4.1-16 has Solomon (Yehovah/Messiah/the groom) talking about the beauty of his bride (Shulamite/Israel/kahal).
v 1…How beautiful you are, my darling (your deeds since you became mine), how beautiful you are! Your eyes (of understanding and faith) are doves (modest, humble) behind your veil (of kedusha, consecration, self-restraint on obeying Torah); your hair (her specific beauty is being praised now-hair comes from within a person so it alludes to an inner beauty) is like a flock of goats (black, flowing) that have descended (down) from Mount Gilead (good pasture, full of life).
v 2…Your teeth (sharp, even and alludes to a sharp mind in the Torah, to tear and cut falseness) are like a flock of shorn ewes (white and pure-Lam 4.7; 1 Pet 2.2; Gen 49.12) which have come up from their washing (and now clean); all of which bear twins (two rows of teeth, no miscarriage of action); and not one among them has lost her young (no teeth missing).
v 3…Your lips are like scarlet thread (her words speak salvation like Rahab) and your mouth is lovely (her speech edifies and is sincere); your temple (seat of the mind, heart, thoughts, desires, intellect, spirit, etc) are like a slice of pomegranate (red, full of precepts of the Torah) behind your veil (kedusha, consecration).
v 4…Your neck (where the yoke of Torah goes) is like a tower of David (a stronghold, fortification) built for an armory; a thousand shields (magen-to be used in warfare. The word for “thousand” is “alef” meaning “the teaching” in the Targum Onkelos and it means the Torah is like a shield that protects Israel and the kahal of believers in spiritual warfare), all the round shields of the mighty (warriors called “givorim”-Psa 127.4-5).
v 5…Your two breasts are like two fawns (the milk of the Word for nourishment-1 Cor 3.2; 1 Pet 2.2), twins of a gazelle (generally alike and alludes to harmony and the two tablets of the Law, Moses and Aaron, King and High Priest, Law and the Prophets, the Two Witnesses, etc), which feed among the lilies (of the field-Matt 6.28; Heb 5.12-to graze and be well fed, and teach their children and students the Word of God).
v 6…Until the cool of the day (alludes to the Olam Haba) when the shadows (of sin and ignorance) flee away (are dispersed by the increasing sun or Messiah); I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense (Mount Moriah where the Temple stood).
v 7…You are altogether beautiful, my darling (being justified by the blood, sanctified by the Ruach ha Kodesh) and there is no blemish in you (by faith).
v 8…Come with me from Lebanon my bride (first time she is mentioned as a bride), may you come with me from Lebanon (in the north where she was from, very hostile lands, but in another sense Lebanon also alluded to being exiled and also because Lebanon was also a term for the Temple-Zech 11.1-3. The root is “lavon” meaning “white” and the sins of Israel were made “white” there-Isa 1.18. The trees from Lebanon were used to make the Temple). Journey down (literally “look from the peak”) from the summit of Amana (a form of “emunah” meaning faith), from the peak of Senir (pointed) and Hermon (sacred mountain), from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards (meaning “come out from among your wicked oppressors”).
v 9…You have made my heart beat faster, my sister (in the sense of “brothers and sisters” in the faith), O bride (terms of endearment); you have made my heart beat faster (ravished) with a single glance with your eyes, with a single strand of your necklace (one virtue of your spiritual necklace, faith).
v 10…How beautiful is your love (pleasant), my sister (as adopted by Yehovah), my bride! How much better is your love than wine (the same thing she said about him in Song 1.2), and the fragrance of your oils (the fragrance is like fame and a fine reputation of Torah observance, it spreads and is a pleasing aroma to Yehovah/Messiah) than all kinds of spices (perfumes).
v 11…Your lips, my bride, drips honey; (like) honey and milk (the Torah) are under your tongue (her speech), and the fragrance of your garments (reputation is associated with the Torah and clothing, like Tzitzit, with the blue thread which alludes to heaven) is like the fragrance of Lebanon (with its cedars, symbolizing righteousness).
v 12…A garden locked is my sister, my bride (set apart only for him with a kedusha), a rock garden locked, a spring sealed up (a source of precious water only for the owner, and speaks of virginity and alludes to springs like the Gihon and Siloam, very valuable).
v 13…Your shoots (plants, believers-Isa 16.8) are an orchard (spread out) of pomegranates (full of the Torah precepts like seeds) with choice fruits (valuable-Isa 4.1-2), henna with nard plants (fragrant spices),
v 14…Nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all the trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, along with all the finest spices (these speak of the highest of virtues, a spreading reputation like a fragrance).
v 15…A garden spring, a well of living waters (teaching-Isa 12.3; John 7.38-39) and streams from Lebanon (clean water to the thirsty-John 4.14).
v 16…Awake, O north wind (direction of the intellect) and come from the south (direction of faith) and make my garden (bride) to breathe out (the Spirit, like the wind, coming to give life-Ezek 37.1-14; John 3.8). Let its spices be wafted abroad (flow out, the fragrance spreads). May my beloved (Yehovah/Messiah/groom) come to his garden (Israel/ kahal) and eat its choicest fruits (delight in his people and their true worship).
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