A Vineyard Not Kept

Reflecting on Song of Songs 1:5-7

[To catch up in our series on the Song of Songs, go here, here, and here.]

Starting in Song of Songs 1:5–7, there is a flashback to the wife’s pre-married days, when she worked in her family’s vineyards. These three verses are all from her. She said:

⁵ I am very dark, but lovely,
    O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
    like the curtains of Solomon.
⁶ Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
    because the sun has looked upon me.
My mother's sons were angry with me;
    they made me keeper of the vineyards,
    but my own vineyard I have not kept!
⁷ Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
    where you pasture your flock,
    where you make it lie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who veils herself
    beside the flocks of your companions?

In 1:5 she observes her darkened skin, in 1:6 she explains why it’s so dark, and in 1:7 she asks her beloved where he is. In verses 5–6 she’s speaking to the “daughters of Jerusalem” (v. 5), and in verse 7 she’s addressing her beloved (“you whom my soul loves”).