פירוש על שיר השירים 5:12

His eyes are like doves upon brooks of water. His eyes by brooks of water are as beautiful as doves’ eyes. Brooks of water are pleasant to behold, and the young men go there to swim. And so the poet praises the eyes of “my beloved,” when he gazes upon the brooks of water, they resemble the beauty of the eyes of doves.

His eyes are like doves: “For the eyes of the Lord set about the whole earth” [II Chron. 16:9].

Bathed. [I.e.,] the eyes of my beloved in milk.

Bathed in milk: And they are as pure as milk.

Well set in their fullness. All this is an expression of beauty. They neither protrude excessively nor are they sunken, but they are well set מִלֵּאת in their socket. (Other editions: the eye according to the socket.) The literal meaning parallels the allegorical meaning. It מִלֵּאת is a term used for anything made to fill a socket which is made for it as a setting, as in, “stones for setting מִלֻּאִים,”⁴³Shemos 25:7. [and as in,] “And you shall set וּמִלֵּאתָ into it settings מִלֻּאַת of stone.”⁴⁴Ibid. 28:17.

Set by a brimming pool: Situated by the dwelling places of perfection and beauty.