Your lips are like a scarlet thread,
And your mouth is lovely.
Your temples are like a slice of a pomegranate
Behind your veil.
— Song of Songs 4:3
The fifth thing king Solomon praises about the Shulammite is her cheeks, when he says, “Your cheeks are like a piece of pomegranate behind your veil” (4:3). Originally, her cheeks were beautiful with plaits of ornaments (1:10). Now her cheeks are beautiful behind her veil. In the past, she tried to appear beautiful. Now her beauty is behind her veil, indicating that it is not for others to see.
Her cheeks are also like a piece of pomegranate. It is not a whole pomegranate, but a broken piece of one, full of seeds. Anyone who has eaten a pomegranate realizes that it is entirely full of seeds. This tells us that, at this stage, the seeker is full of the abundance of life. Her beauty comes from her being rich in life, yet it is something behind a veil. Her beauty is for God to appreciate, not men. Her beauty lies in her being rich in life supply.
Adapted from The Journey of Life, page 221.
Monday: “The Lord’s Praise” (10)