Song of Solomon
7:1
How beautiful are thy feet with shoes
It is no unusual thing to describe the comeliness of women by
their feet, and the ornaments of them; so Hebe is described by
Homer F4 as having beautiful feet, and Juno
by her golden shoes: particular care was taken of, and provision
made for, the shoes of queens and princesses in the eastern
countries; Herodotus F5 tells us, that the city of Anthylla
was given peculiarly to the wife of the king of Egypt, to provide
her with shoes; which custom, he says, obtained when Egypt became
subject to Persia; (See Gill on Esther
2:18). Shoes of a red, or scarlet, or purple colour, were
in esteem with the Jews; and so the Targum here is,
``purple shoes:''
the word used is thought by some
F6 to signify a colour between
scarlet and purple; see (
Ezekiel 16:10 ) ; and
also with the Tyrian virgins {g}; and so with the Romans
F8; and with whom likewise white shoes
F9 were much in use. That this is said of
the church, is plain from the appellation of her,
O Prince's
daughter!
the same with the King's daughter, (
Psalms 45:13 ) ; the
daughter of the King of kings; for, being espoused to Christ, his
Father is her Father, and his God her God: besides, she is born of
him who is the Prince of the kings of the earth, (
1 John 2:28 ) ; she is
both a Prince's wife and a Prince's daughter. It may be rendered,
"O noble", or "princely daughter"
F11! being of a free princely
spirit, in opposition to a servile one, (
Psalms 51:12 ) ; of a
bountiful and liberal spirit, as in, (
Isaiah
32:5-8 ) ; in distributing temporal things to the necessities
of the poor; and in communicating spiritual things to the comfort
and edification of others. Some take these to be the words of the
daughters of Jerusalem, wondering at the church's beauty, on
turning herself to them as they desired: but they are rather the
words of Christ; who, observing the church speak so meanly of
herself, in order to encourage her, gives a high commendation of
her in this and some following verses, and begins with her "feet";
not her ministers, who are "shod with the preparation of the Gospel
of peace", (
Ephesians
6:15 ) , and who appear beautiful in the eyes of those who have
any knowledge of the good things they publish and proclaim; for
they are set in the highest place in the church: but here the
lowest and meanest members of the church are meant; whose outward
walk, the feet are the instruments of, may be said to be "beautiful
with shoes", when they are ready to every good work; when their
conversation is ordered aright, is agreeably to the word of God,
and as becomes the Gospel of Christ; and which, like shoes, is a
fence against the briers and thorns, the reproaches and calumnies,
of the world; and when there is such a lustre upon it that it
cannot but be seen and observed by spectators, by which they are
excited to glorify God, it is so beautiful in the eyes of Christ,
that to such he shows the salvation of God;
the joints of thy
thighs [are] like jewels, the work of the hands of a
cunning workman;
a skilful artificer, a goldsmith or jeweller: the allusion seems to
be to some ornaments about the knees or legs, wore by women in
those times; see (
Isaiah 3:18 ) ; and this
may serve to set off the lustre and beauty of the church's
conversation. And since it seems not so decent to describe the
parts themselves mentioned, the words may rather design the
"femoralia", or garments, with which they were covered; and may
signify the garments of salvations and robe of Christ's
righteousness, whereby the church's members are covered, so that
their nakedness is not seen; but with them are as richly adorned
bridegroom and bride with their ornaments and which are not the
bungling work of a creature, but of one that is God as well as man,
and therefore called the righteousness of God. Some have thought
that the girdle about the loins is meant, the thighs being put for
the loins, (
Genesis 46:26 ) ; and
so may intend the girdle of truth, mentioned along with the
preparation of the Gospel of peace the feet are said to be shod
with, (
Ephesians
6:14 Ephesians
6:15 ) ; and the metaphor of girding is used when a Gospel
conversation is directed to, (
Luke 12:35 ) (
1 Peter 1:13 ) . But it
seems best by these "joints", or "turnings of the thighs"
F12, by which they move more orderly and
regularly, to understand the principles of the walk and
conversation of saints, as one observes
F13; without
which it cannot be ordered aright; for principles denominate
actions, good and bad; and the principles of grace, by which
believers move in their Christian walk, are as valuable and as
precious as jewels, such as faith and love, and a regard to the
glory of God; and which are curiously wrought by the finger of God,
by his Holy Spirit, who "works [in them] both to will and to do of
his good pleasure", (
Philippians
2:13 ) .