1. Song of Solomon 1:6 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Why does she not want people to gaze on her darkness?

Song of Solomon 1:6 (ESV)

6 Do not gaze at me because I am dark, because the sun has looked upon me. My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept!

There is a clever play on words in this verse. The woman asks people not to gaze (Hebrew raa) at her because the sun has looked (Hebrew sazap) upon her.1 She is expressing again her insecurity, due mainly to the perception that she is of a lower class because of her sun-kissed skin.