Song of Solomon 4:7

Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:1-7 If each of these comparisons has a meaning applicable to the graces of the church, or of the faithful Christian, they are not clearly known; and great mistakes are made by fanciful guesses. The mountain of myrrh appears to mean the mountain Moriah, on which the temple was built, where the incense was burned, and the people worshipped the Lord. This was his residence till the shadows of the law given to Moses were dispersed by the breaking of the gospel day, and the rising of the Sun of righteousness. And though, in respect of his human nature, Christ is absent from his church on earth, and will continue to be so till the heavenly day break, yet he is spiritually present in his ordinances, and with his people. How fair and comely are believers, when justified in Christ's righteousness, and adorned with spiritual graces! when their thoughts, words, and deeds, though imperfect, are pure, manifesting a heart nourished by the gospel!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Section Songs 4:7-5:1: The king meeting the bride in the evening of the same day, expresses once more his love and admiration in the sweetest and tenderest terms and figures. He calls her now "bride" (spouse, Sol 4:8) for the first time, to mark it as the hour of their espousals, and "sister-bride" (spouse, Sol 4:9-10, Sol 4:12; Sol 5:1), to express the likeness of thought and disposition which henceforth unites them. At the same time he invites her to leave for his sake her birthplace and its mountain neighborhood, and live henceforth for him alone.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. Assurance that He is going from her in love, not in displeasure (Joh 16:6, 7).

all fair—still stronger than So 1:15; So 4:1.

no spot—our privilege (Eph 5:27; Col 2:10); our duty (2Co 6:17; Jude 23; Jas 1:27).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thou art all fair; it is needless to mention the several beauties of all thy parts, for, in one word, thou art wholly beautiful; and it may be said more truly of thee than it was of Absalom, 2 Samuel 14:25, that from the sole of thy foot to the crown of thy head there is no blemish in thee.

There is no spot in thee; which is not to be understood simply and absolutely, as if the people of God were really perfect, and free from all sin; but either,

1. Comparatively, no such spot or blemish as is in wicked men, or as is inconsistent with true grace, of which Moses speaks, Deu 32:5. Or,

2. In regard of God’s gracious acceptation, in which respect he is said not to behold iniquity in Jacob, Numbers 23:21. God doth not look upon them with a severe eye, as they are in themselves, but in and through Christ, in whom he accepts them as if they were perfect, partly because it is their chief design, desire, and endeavour to be so, and partly because Christ hath undertaken to make them so, Ephesians 5:25,27, and they shall one day be such.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thou art all fair, my love,.... Being justified by the righteousness of Christ, washed in his blood, and sanctified by his Spirit; of the title, my "love", see Sol 1:9. The church is often said by Christ to be "fair", his "fair one", and the "fairest among women", Sol 1:8; but here "all fair", being a perfection of beauty, and perfectly comely through his comeliness: this is said to show her completeness in Christ, as to justification; and that, with respect to sanctification, she had a perfection of parts, though not of degrees; and to observe, that the church and "all" the true members of it were so, the meanest and weakest believer, as well as the greatest and strongest. It is added,

there is no spot in thee; not that the saints have no sin in them; nor any committed by them; nor that their sins are not sins; nor that they have no spots in them, with respect to sanctification, which is imperfect; but with respect to their justification, as having the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, and covered with that spotless robe, they are considered as having no spot in them; God sees no sin in them, so as to reckon it to them, and condemn them for it; and they stand unblamable and unreproveable in his sight; and will be presented by Christ, both to himself and to his father, and in the view of men and angels, "not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing", Ephesians 5:27, upon them.

Geneva Study Bible

Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - Thou art all fair, my love; and there is no spot in thee. The bridegroom speaks. The sweet humility and modesty of the bride kindles his love afresh. He praised the loveliness of her bodily form, and she by her response showed the exceeding loveliness of her soul. It must not be forgotten that, whether borrowed from this book or not, such language is undoubtedly employed in Scripture of the Church, the bride, the Lamb's wife, who is described as "not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing" (Ephesians 5:27). It should be noticed that the king immediately addresses his love as "bride," and "sister-bride," to show that there is more than admiration of her person in his thoughts. She is his by assimilation and by eternal union, and he invites her to enter fully into the new life which he has prepared for her, as in Psalm 45, "forgetting her own people, and her father's house." It is not enough that feeling should be stirred, or even that it should take possession of the soul, if it be only feeling; it is required of us that our inner life of emotion should become practical devotedness, "counting all things but loss" for the sake of him we love. Song of Solomon 4:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

This childlike modest disposition makes her yet more lovely in the eyes of the king. He breaks out in these words:

7 Thou art altogether fair, my love,

   And no blemish in thee.

Certainly he means, no blemish either of soul or body. In Sol 4:1-5 he has praised her external beauty; but in Sol 4:6 her soul has disclosed itself: the fame of her spotless beauty is there extended to her would no less than to her external appearance. And as to her longing after freedom from the tumult and bustle of court life, he thus promises to her: