Song of Solomon 5:10

My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
beloved	דּוֹדִ֥י do.Di	H1730	(figuratively) to love · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
white	צַח֙ tzach	H6703	dazzling · adjective, masculine singular absolute
ruddy	וְאָד֔וֹם ve.'a.Dom	H122	rosy · conjunction + adjective, masculine singular absolute
chiefest	דָּג֖וּל da.Gul	H1713	to flaunt · verb, qal passive participle, masculine singular absolute
thousand	מֵרְבָבָֽה me.re.va.Vah	H7233	abundance (in number) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Psalms 45:2 Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.
Psalms 45:17 I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.
Song of Solomon 2:1 I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.
Philippians 2:9-11 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Deuteronomy 32:31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
1 Samuel 16:12 And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the LORD said, Arise, a…
Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preemine…
Hebrews 2:10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salva…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

John Gill on Song of Solomon 5:10

My beloved is white and ruddy,.... This, and the following verses, contain the church's answer to the question of the daughters; she first gives a general description of her beloved, and then descends to particulars: the description of him in general is, that he is "white and ruddy"; having the whiteness of the lily, and the redness of the rose, Sol 2:1; which make a perfect beauty. Some understand this of the two natures in Christ, divine and human; with respect to his divine nature, "white", expressive of his simplicity, purity and holiness; which colour, Cicero says (r), is chiefly becoming God, it being simple, and having no mixture and composition in it: with respect to his human nature…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Song of Solomon 5:10-16

This extended portrayal of the lover in the Song emphasizes his worth to the woman. 5:10 dark and dazzling: He is radiantly healthy and deeply tanned. This description is not meant as an allusion to race; it likely reflects radiant health and exposure to the sun.

Rashi on Song of Solomon 5:10

My beloved is pure white. White, as in, “they were whiter צַחוּ than milk.”37Eichah 4:1. And ruddy. I will first explain the entire section according to its simple meaning, as the praise of the handsomeness of a young man, when he is white and his face is ruddy. Surrounded by myriads. He is surrounded by many armies; His armies are many. Many myriads are called ‘רְבָבָה’, as it is stated, “Myriads רְבָבָה like the vegetation of the field have I made you.”38Yechezkeil 16:7.

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

"My beloved is white and ruddy": white in virginity, ruddy in martyrdom. And because he is white and ruddy, therefore it is immediately added, "His mouth is most sweet, yea, he is altogether lovely."
— Jerome, Against Jovinianus 1.31

"My beloved is white and ruddy." It is fitting, O virgin, that you should fully know him whom you love, and should recognize in him all the mystery of his divine nature and the body which he has assumed. He is white fittingly, for he is the brightness of the Father; and ruddy, for he was born of a Virgin. The color of each nature shines and glows in him.
— Ambrose of Milan, Concerning Virginity 1.9.46

He is white because he is the light of the world, the Sun of righteousness "who enlightens everyone entering the world," according to John the Evangelist and the preaching of the prophets. He is red because he would walk on earth in the fleshly clothing derived from the Virgin Mary, a miracle to be offered through angels by rising to heaven, as was said through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah to those who asked him, "Why is your apparel red?"
— Aponius, EXPOSITION OF SONG OF SONGS 8:34

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Colour — The subject of colours holds an important place in the Scriptures. White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words. It is applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa. 1:18),…
Excellency And Glory Of Christ, The · Is incomparable — Is incomparable
Love To Christ · His personal excellence is deserving of — His personal excellence is deserving of
Preciousness Of Christ · To Saints — To Saints

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).