1 Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats, moving down the slopes of Gilead. 2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them is bereaved. 3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. 4 Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an arsenal, whereon hang a thousand bucklers, all of them shields of warriors. 5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies. 6 Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will hie me to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. 7 You are all fair, my love; there is no flaw in you. 8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the peak of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards. 9 You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride, you have ravished my heart with a glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. 10 How sweet is your love, my sister, my bride! how much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice! 11 Your lips distil nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the scent of your garments is like the scent of Lebanon. 12 A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a garden locked, a fountain sealed. 13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard, 14 nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices-- 15 a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon. 16 Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its fragrance be wafted abroad. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits.
Commentary on Song of Songs 4
4:1 Next the bride is praised by using the parable of a beautiful woman. By means of this parable, one should see the spiritual beauty of the bride, that is, the spiritual beauty of Israel during the Old Testament.(Nicholas of Lyra) Or all these descriptions are extended on account of the multiplicity of the Church. (glossa ordinaria) eyes: because God's people see things spiritually. (Theodoret of Cyrus) doves: because the Holy Spirit appeared as a dove. hairs like a flock of goats: these are the weaker of God's people who are present in large numbers. (St. Bede) Gilead: in Hebrew means 'testimony.' The people of God give witness to Him. see Mt 10:32 (glossa ordinaria)
4:2 teeth: just as the hairs symbolize the weaker members among God's people, the teeth signify the stronger ones. twins: that is because they pass on to others the great qualities that they have. (St. Bede)
4:4 tower of David: Whenever proper names are mentioned in Scripture, one takes account either of the meaning of the name, or the office to which the person is assigned, or of the significance of something the person has accomplished. Here David being king points to Christ the King. (Honorius of Autun) neck: God's people are tall and nicely uplifted, and in that way it is similar to a tower. (Nicholas of Lyra) thousand bucklers: for innumerable rational defenses have been bestowed upon the Church so that by their means she may defend herself against adversaries. (Honorius of Autun)
4:5 two breasts: these are preachers from two different peoples, Jews and Gentiles. They are called breasts because they give spiritual milk to the unlearned (St. Bede)
4:6 Until the day breathes: namely, the period of the New Testament about which the Apostle says in Romans 13:12 "The night is passed, and the day is at hand." Likewise, Luke 16:16 says, "The law and the prophets were until John," with whom the day of the New Testament dawned. shadows flee: because in the New Testament the figures cease when the Truth comes, whose shadows in a certain sense they were. (Nicholas of Lyra) |
4:7 there is no flaw in you: What can be fairer than a soul which is called the daughter of God! (St. Jerome)
4:8 Lebonon is a mountain in Phonenicia. (Haimo of Auxerre) Amana, Sanir, and Hermon are the names of mountains rising above the Jordan River from which one can see the land of Judea. (Nicholas of Lyra) This spouse Christ invites home to Himself through Solomon from the call of the Gentiles. He elegantly makes mention of Lebanon (the mountain, of course) because it stands for the name of frankincense with the Greeks; for it was from idolatry that He betrothed Himself the Church.(Tertullian) Amana means 'troubled.' Sanir means 'stench.' Hermon means' excommunication.' (St. Anselm) dens of lions are those who persecute; leopards are heretics. (St. Gregory the Great)
4:9 ravished my heart:...glance of your eye... The Divine Bridegroom makes us to know that He accepts not only the great works of devout people,but every poor and lowly offering too; (St. Francis of Sales) The sister is the Church, the Temple, or the soul in Christ; (St. Eucherius of Lyons)
4:12 garden: because it bears the seeds of spiritual works. (Alcuin)
4:13-14 all these fruits brought forth are the good works of the saints. (Alcuin)
4:15 fountain..living water: It is the Saviour Himself, (St. Cyril of Jerusalem) or the gifts of the Holy Spirit which quench thirst here, and in the future, concerning what Christ said in John 4:14 'the water which I give..' (Robert of Tombelaine)
4:16 wind: that is the winds of persecution. (Haimo of Auxerre) This is meant as God permitting, not commanding. (St. Bede) |
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