Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Song of Solomon 4:5
Thy two breasts [are] like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
5. two young roes, &c.] two fawns that are twins of a gazelle.
which feed among the lilies ] pasturing among the lilies. Probably the comparison is meant to be limited merely to the twin fawns, and the feeding among the lilies is simply a familiar and somewhat conventional background (cp. Son 2:16 and Son 6:2-3), intended to complete the picture of the fawns in their native haunts.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 5. Thy two breasts are like two young roes] I have met with many attempts to support this similitude, or rather to show that there is a similitude; but I judge them unworthy of citation. The poet speaks the language of nature; and in a case of this kind, where the impassioned lover attempts to describe the different perfections of his bride, language often fails him, and his comparisons and similitudes are often without strict correctness. In love songs we have heard ladies’ necks compared to that of the swan, not only for its whiteness, but also for its length! The description here shows more of nature than of art, which I consider a high recommendation.
Feed among the lilies.] It may be the nipples especially, which the poet compares to the two young roes; and the lilies may refer to the whiteness of the breasts themselves.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thy two breasts; another part in which beauty consists, Eze 16:7. By which some understand the two testaments, or the two sacraments; but these are rather Christs than the churchs breasts. Others, the churchs fervent love to Christ, and to all the saints, for the breasts signify love, Pro 5:9; Son 1:13. Others, her fruitfulness, both in good works, and in bringing up children unto Christ, like a nurse with her breasts. But the following similitude seemeth not to respect the use of the breasts, or the love which is signified or manifested by them, but their comeliness. And therefore this is generally to be understood of the churchs beauty in all parts, as hath been said.
Among the lilies, i.e. in the fields where lilies grew, as is evident, both from Mat 6:28, where they are called the lilies of the field, and from other scriptures, and from the testimony of other writers. The lilies being white and swelling, and the roes of a reddish colour, and their bodies being hid from sight by the lilies, their heads only appearing above them, bear some resemblance to the red nipples appearing in the top of the lily white breasts. But we must remember that this book is a sacred pastoral, and the Bridegroom is represented as a shepherd, and the bride as a country maid; and therefore such similitudes are used as are agreeable to persons of that quality, and such are usual in profane writers of this kind, as the learned have observed. They are compared to
roes for their loveliness, of which see Pro 5:19; to young ones for their smallness, which in breasts is a beauty; to twins for their exact likeness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. breastsThe bust is leftopen in Eastern dress. The breastplate of the high priest was made of”two” pieces, folded one on the other, in which were theUrim and Thummim (lights and perfection). “Faithand love” are the double breastplate (1Th5:8), answering to “hearing the word” and “keepingit,” in a similar connection with breasts (Luk 12:27;Luk 12:28).
roesHe reciprocatesher praise (So 2:9). Emblem oflove and satisfaction (Pr5:19).
feed (Ps23:2).
among the liliesshrinkingfrom thorns of strife, worldliness, and ungodliness (2Sa 23:6;Mat 13:7). Roes feed among,not on the lilies: where these grow, there is moistureproducing green pasturage. The lilies represent her white dress(Psa 45:14; Rev 19:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thy two breasts [are] like two young roes that are twins,…. Or, “two fawns, the twins of a doe”: Providence, as Plutarch observes p, has given to women two breasts, that, should they have twins, both might have a fountain of nourishment; and are fitly compared to twins of the doe. The hind, for the most part, brings but one roe at a time; but there are some, the philosopher says q, bring twins; by which the beauty of the breasts is expressed: “young roes” may point at the smallness of them, large breasts are not accounted handsome; and “twins”, at their equal size and shape, not one larger nor higher than the other, that would be a deformity; twins are generally alike;
which feed among the lilies; and are fat and plump: the allusion may be to the putting of lilies in the bosom, between the breasts, as other flowers; lilies are reckoned among the decorations of women, in the Apocryha:
“And pulled off the sackcloth which she had on, and put off the garments of her widowhood, and washed her body all over with water, and anointed herself with precious ointment, and braided the hair of her head, and put on a tire upon it, and put on her garments of gladness, wherewith she was clad during the life of Manasses her husband.” (Judith 10:3)
or rather to the creatures mentioned, the roes and hinds, which feed among lilies, in fields where lilies grow; for these grow in fields as well as in gardens, and are called the “lilies of the field”, Mt 6:28; and we read r sometimes of harts and hinds among lilies. By “breasts” may be meant, either the ministers of the word, who impart “the sincere milk of the word”, and who deliver out the nourishing doctrines of grace, like milk out of the breast, 1Co 3:2; and may be like to “roes” for their affection to those who are under their ministry; and pleasant to them, to whom they are made useful; and for their sharp sightedness and penetration into the mysteries of grace; and for their quick dispatch in doing their work, though through many difficulties, which, like young roes, they leap and skip over: and “two” of them show a sufficient number of them Christ provides for his church; and being “twins” express their equal authority, and harmony of doctrine; and feeding “among lilies” is where Christ himself feeds, So 2:16; where Christ feeds they feed, and where they feed Christ feeds, even among his saints, comparable to lilies, So 2:2; or these “breasts” may design the two Testaments, the Old and New, which contain the whole sincere milk of the word; are like “young roes”, pleasant and delightful to believers; and, as “twins”, are alike, agree in their doctrines concerning Christ, and the blessings of grace through him; the types, figures, prophecies, and promises of the one, have their completion in the other; and both abound with the lilies of Gospel doctrines and promises: though rather these “breasts” may point at the two ordinances of the Gospel, baptism, and the Lord’s supper; which are breasts of consolation to believers, out of which they suck, and are satisfied; and through feeding on Christ in both, they receive much nourishment and strength; and are very amiable and lovely to the saints, when they enjoy the presence of Christ in them, and have the discoveries of his love to them; and may be said to be “twins”, being both instituted by Christ, and both lead unto him, and require the same subjects; and are received and submitted to by saints, comparable to lilies, as before.
p De Liberis Educand. vol. 2. p. 3. q Aristot. de Animal. l. 6. c. 29. r “En aspicis ilium, candida qui medius cubat inter lilia, cervum?” Calphurnius apud Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 24. col. 924.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5 Thy two breasts are like two fawns,
Twins of a gazelle,
Which feed among lilies.
The dual, originating in the inner differ. of the plur., which denotes in Heb. not two things of any sort, but two paired by nature or by art, exists only in the principal form; , as soon as inflected, is unrecognisable, therefore here, where the pair as such is praised, the word is used. The breasts are compared to a twin pair of young gazelles in respect of their equality and youthful freshness, and the bosom on which they raise themselves is compared to a meadow covered with lilies, on which the twin-pair of young gazelles feed. With this tender lovely image the praise of the attractions of the chosen one is interrupted.
If one counts the lips and the mouth as a part of the body, which they surely are, there are seven things here praised, as Hengst. rightly counts (the eyes, the hair, teeth, mouth, temples, neck, breasts); and Hahn speaks with right of the sevenfold beauty of the bride.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
5. Roes which feed The red kids feeding upon the white lilies, which, springing up in profusion, carpet their pasture-ground, form a true and natural comparison, given in the style of warm oriental poetry.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Son 4:5 Thy two breasts [are] like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
Ver. 5. Thy two breasts are like two young roes, &c. ] From the neck he descendeth to the breasts, and by these descriptions of beauty in all parts (for the rest are to be understood, though not here specified) is signified, that the spirit of regeneration worketh upon the whole man in all manner of virtue. Holiness in the heart, as the candle in the lantern, appears in the body, and every member thereof. Spirit, soul, and body are sanctified throughout, 1Th 5:23 like as the most holy place, the sanctuary, and the outer court of Solomon’s temple, were filled with the cloud. The Church’s breasts here are said to be fair, full, and equally matched. Hereby some understand the two testaments, those “breasts of consolation,” Isa 66:11 fair and full, strutting with “sincere milk,” that her children may all suck and be satisfied – viz., batten, grow up, and increase with the increase of God, to a full stature in Christ. 1Pe 2:2 These breasts are also suitable and equal, as twins. The two testaments are so in sundry respects; for, as the Old Testament hath four sorts of books – viz., legal, historic, wisdom, prophetic, so hath the New in a due proportion. Answerable to the legal are the evangelical; to the historical are the Acts of the Apostles; to the wisdom or dogmatic are the epistles – wherein, as St Paul principally presseth faith, so St Peter hope, and St John charity – and to the prophetical, Apocalyps, ut sic mira sit conformitas, saith Bonaventure, non solum in continentia sensuum, sed in quadriformitate partium, so that there is a wondrous conformity of one testament to another, not only in the similarity of sense, but in the quadriformity also of parts. And this was mystically set forth, saith he, by Ezekiel in his vision of the wheel with four faces, and this wheel within a wheel, implying the Old Testament in the New, and the New Testament in the Old.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
two breasts: Son 1:13, Son 7:3, Son 7:7, Son 8:1, Son 8:10, Pro 5:19, Isa 66:10-12, 1Pe 2:2
feed: Son 2:16, Son 6:3
Reciprocal: Son 8:8 – she hath Eze 16:7 – whereas Hos 14:5 – he shall
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:5 Thy two {c} breasts [are] like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
(c) In which are knowledge and zeal two precious jewels.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fawns are soft and lovable. The "mountain" and "hill" are also metaphors for the girl’s breasts. Myrrh and frankincense were expensive perfumes, so Solomon may have meant his wife’s breasts were precious to him as well as attractive.