"Thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear on Mount Gilead" (4:1).
This is the "hearing of faith" that obtains the promises; our "Amen" to His "Yea," for "how many soever be the promises of God, in Him is the Yea: wherefore also through Him [working in us] is the Amen, unto the glory of God through us" (2Corinthians 1:20).
"There shall be silence before Thee, and praise,
O God, In Zion" (Psalm 65:1). "Thou art fair, My love," is the language of the Risen Lord to His redeemed one, as He describes the characteristics of the new life in union with Himself. She is not fair in herself, but in Him, for she is a "new creature in Christ Jesus," though as yet far from the full stature of Christ. As she abides in her Lord she will grow continually to a more perfect knowledge of and likeness to her Creator (Colossians 3:10). The new life must "grow up in every part to the measure of His growth [i.e., to grow into Him is to grow to the standard of His growth]…even Christ" (Ephesians 4:15). The Lord only gives His betrothed the outline which in Him is "Yea"; her part is to "add all diligence" to say "Amen," so that the outline may be filled up with Himself – that at His appearing she may be found "perfect and entire, lacking in nothing" (James 1:4).
The New Creation in Christ
1. Her eyes as doves "Thine eyes are as doves behind thy veil" (4:1). The Holy Spirit appeared at Christ's baptism in the form of a dove. The Beloved beholds the presence of the same Spirit in His betrothed. He sees her as a temple of the Holy Spirit. She is also a "dove" to the Lord, because she has lost the resentful spirit of the old life; she prays for those who despitefully use her, and in her helplessness makes her nest only in the cleft of the Rock (Jeremiah 48:28). Once, in her captivity, she lay among the pots, but now she is to Him as having wings covered with silver and feathers with yellow gold (Psalm 68:13).
2. Her hair is compared to goats on Mount Gilead "Thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear on Mount Gilead" (4:1). The hair of goats in the East is like fine silk. The Nazarite's hair marked him as separated to God (Judges 16:17). Samson's separation to God was the secret of his marvelous strength; when he was shorn of the hair that typified his separation, he was as weak as any other man. So it is in the life of the soul