We have this intimate wordplay in Song of Solomon where the bride and the Groom engage in their beautiful Love-Game pursuit.
The whole book is just one ultimate love-declaration!
They describe each other's features and make comparisons with doves.
He says to her in Son 5:2:
"I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying,
Open to me, my sister,
my love,
my dove,
my undefiled:
for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night."
When she first hears and recognizes His voice and perceives His hand in the opening of the door my bowels were moved for him.
I rose up to open to my beloved;
and my hands dropped with myrrh,
and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh,
upon the handles of the lock. Son 5:4-5.
She is lovesick when she is without Him and tries to find Him saying to others: "I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, That you tell him I am lovesick!" in verse 8. The mere thought of the Beloved makes us weak with love. The mere thought of ever being without Him makes us lovesick!
When asked to describe her Beloved she proceeds in poem-language fashion:
[She said] My beloved is fair and ruddy, the chief among ten thousand!
His head is [as precious as] the finest gold; his locks are curly and bushy and black as a raven.
His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks, bathed in milk and fitly set.
His cheeks are like a bed of spices or balsam, like banks of sweet herbs yielding fragrance. His lips are like bloodred anemones or lilies distilling liquid [sweet-scented] myrrh.
His hands are like rods of gold set with [nails of] beryl or topaz. His body is a figure of bright ivory overlaid with [veins of] sapphires.
His legs are like strong and steady pillars of marble set upon bases of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent, stately, and majestic as the cedars.
His voice and speech are exceedingly sweet; yes, he is altogether lovely [the whole of him delights and is precious]. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!" Son 5:10-16 AMP
Oh, there is so much meaning captured inside of these words of passion and eloquence. But allow me to touch on the dove-metaphor.
The picture of a dove?
Why?
When the Holy Spirit descends upon Yah'shua (Jesus), He (the Holy Spirit) is pictured as a dove Mat 3:16, Luk 3:22 & Mar 1:10.
So, lets look at the Hebrew pictograph.
The Hebrew word for dove is יוֹנָה or yônâh referring to ... Yes you guessed it! A dove! The pictograph, however, is so marvelously describing what Jesus said in John 14 and 17. He was describing how it was to our benefit that He goes to the Father because He was sending Someone, 100% exactly like Him. The Paraklētos, His wonderful abiding Spirit, Who would teach us all things concerning Him and remind us of the love of Jesus!
Get the pictograph for יוֹנָה:
י - The Hand [talking about Christ - the Hand of God, YHVH]
נָ - continue
ה- Grace
The Hand that continues in Grace!
What a perfect picture of the beautiful abiding Spirit of Christ!
What is the significance of describing the features of one another and comparing with a dove?
You see, when the bride looks and behold the loving eyes of the Groom, Jesus, her inner most parts go into motion - much like the fetus of John the Baptist jumping for joy being in the presence of Jesus when their mothers, Elizabeth and Mary, meet for the first time during their pregnancies. The bride is overwhelmed, seeing and experiencing in Him the fullness of the Holy Spirit of love and He becomes the focus of her attention.
Likewise, when the Groom looks at the bride, He sees the Holy Spirit within and can not help but liberally describe the Spirit of Love. He sees her as undefiled (תָּם tâm: complete and perfect, without spot or blemish ... and get the pictograph: covenant [picture of the cross] by blood).
It is done!
The marriage covenant is in place!
The bride has become the righteousness of God, undefiled, holy, sanctified, ready for the consummation ...
Oh, my Jesus! He is the fairest among ten thousands!
He is my Dove!
Altogether lovely!
Altogether wonderful!
My Beloved!
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