“I am black but lovely,” the bride of the Song insists to the daughters of Jerusalem. That judgment runs against the aesthetics of the time, according to which white, untarnished skin was a sign of beauty, as well as a sign of class distinction.
She is black because she was burned by the sun while working in the vineyard at the command of her brothers (1:6). Jenson rightly finds an allegory of exodus here. Yahweh punished Israel’s unfaithfulness in guarding her own vineyard by putting her to work in the hot sun (1:6). She turned dark as a result of her punishment. But she boasts that this very punishment has beautified her, and endeared her to her Lord.
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