Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.
Head upon thee - the head-dress "upon" her.
Carmel - signifying a well-cultivated field (Isaiah 35:2). In Song of Solomon 5:15 He is compared to majestic Lebanon; she here, to fruitful Carmel. On her head-dress or crown. Compare 2 Timothy 4:8; 1 Peter 5:4. Also the souls won by her-her "crown of rejoicing" (1 Thessalonians 2:19-20) at Christ's coming, a token of her fruitfulness.
Hair ... purple - royalty (Revelation 1:6). As applied to hair, it expresses the glossy splendour of black hair (Hebrew, dalat (H1803); literature, pendulous hair), so much admired in the East (Song of Solomon 4:1). While the King compares her hair to the flowing hair of goats (the token of her subjection), the daughters of Jerusalem compare it to royal purple.
The king - Hebrew, melek, without the article here, as in Psalms 45:1.
Is held in the galleries - so Song of Solomon 1:17, margin; Revelation 21:3, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them," etc. Just as the bride's hair is held bound by fillets, so "the King," in seeing her beautiful locks, "is held bound in the galleries," which pass from chamber to chamber, and in which He sees her. The "galleries" are the ordinances and means of grace, in which Christ and believers meet and walk together. But Maurer translates х rªhaaTiym (H7298)] here, 'flowing ring-lets;' with these, as with thongs (so Lee, from the Arabic, translates it), "the King is held" bound (Song of Solomon 6:5). Contrast the snares in which the adulteress binds her victims (Ecclesiastes 7:26). Her purple crown of martyrdom especially captivated the King, appearing from His galleries (Acts 7:55-56). As Samson's strength was in His locks of consecration. Here first the daughters see the King themselves.