“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.