Sermon 28 on the Song of Songs — Bernard of Clairvaux
On the Blackness and Beauty of the Bridegroom, and How Hearing Rather Than Sight Avails in Matters of Faith and for the Knowledge of Truth
1. You remember, I believe, to which and to whose curtains of Solomon I judged the beauty of the bride to be compared, if indeed the likeness given from these is to be referred to the commendation and display of beauty. But if it should be thought rather to refer to blackness, as also that concerning the tents of Kedar: nothing indeed occurs to me concerning curtains of Solomon of this kind, except those which the king was perhaps accustomed to use for the purpose of a tent, whenever it pleased him to dwell in tents; which certainly, if any such there were, must without doubt have been dark and foul, inasmuch as they were exposed to the daily sun and to the injuries of frequent rains. Nor was this without purpose, but so that the ornament which was stored within might be kept more bright. By this example the bride does not deny her blackness, but excuses it; nor does she count as a reproach whatever appearance charity may form and the judgment of truth may not disapprove. For who is weak, and he is not weak with him? Who is scandalized, and he does not burn? (2 Cor 11:29.) She puts on the blemish of compassion, so that in another she may lighten or heal the disease of suffering; she grows black out of zeal for radiance, for the gain of beauty.
2. The darkening of one makes many bright — not when one is stained by guilt, but when one is affected by care. It is expedient, he says, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish (Jn 11:50): it is expedient that one should be darkened for all in the likeness of sinful flesh, and that the whole nation should not be condemned by the blackness of sin: that the splendor and figure of the substance of God should be veiled in the form of a servant for the life of a servant: that the radiance of eternal life should grow black in the flesh, for the purging of the flesh: that he who is beautiful in form beyond the sons of men, for the illumination of the sons of men should be darkened in his passion, disfigured on the cross, made pale in death: that altogether there should be in him no form nor comeliness, so that he might acquire for himself a beautiful and comely bride, the Church, without spot and without wrinkle. I recognize the skin of Solomon — nay rather, I embrace Solomon himself in his black skin. Solomon too has blackness, but in his skin; outwardly black, in his skin black, not within: otherwise all the glory of the king's daughter is from within (Ps 44:3, 14). Within is the radiance of divinity, the beauty of virtues, the splendor of glory [or, of grace], the purity of innocence: but the more despicable color of weakness covers these things; and his countenance is as it were hidden and despised, while he is tempted in all things according to the likeness without sin. I recognize the form of a darkened nature; I recognize those tunics of skin, the garb of the first parents when they sinned (Gen 3:21). For he darkened himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and found in habit as a man (Phil 2:7). I recognize under the skin of the kid, which signifies sin, both the hand which did no sin, and the neck through which no evil thought passed; and therefore no guile was found in his mouth (Isa 53:9). I know that you are gentle by nature, meek and humble of heart, pleasant in appearance, sweet in spirit, and indeed anointed with the oil of gladness above your companions (Ps 44:8). Whence then are you now hairy and rough like Esau? Whose wrinkled and foul image is this, and whence come these hairs? They are mine: for the hairy hands express the likeness of a sinner. I recognize these hairs as my own; and in my skin I see God my Savior.
3. Yet it was not Rebecca who thus clothed him, but Mary; one so much worthier to receive the blessing, as she who bore him was holier. And rightly in my garb; because the blessing is claimed for me, the inheritance is sought for me. For he had heard: Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession (Ps 2:8). Your inheritance, he says, and your possession I will give to you. How will you give it to him, if it is his? And how do you urge him to ask for what is his? Or how is it his, if he needs to ask? Therefore he asks for me, who for this purpose put on my form, that he might take up my cause. For the chastisement of our peace was upon him, as the prophet says, and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all (Isa 53:5, 6): whence he had to be made like his brethren in all things, as the Apostle says, that he might become merciful (Heb 2:17). Therefore the voice indeed is the voice of Jacob; but the hands are the hands of Esau (Gen 27:22). What is heard from him is his own: what is seen in him is ours. What he speaks is spirit and life: what appears is mortal and death. One thing is discerned, and another is believed. The sense reports him black; faith proves him radiant and beautiful. He is black, but to the eyes of the foolish: for to the minds of the faithful he is exceedingly beautiful. He is black, but beautiful: black in the estimation of Herod, beautiful in the confession of the thief, in the faith of the centurion.
4. How beautiful he had perceived him to be, who exclaimed: Truly this man was the Son of God! But in what way he perceived this must be noted. For if he were attending to what appeared, how could he be beautiful, how could he be the Son of God? What but deformity and blackness met the eyes of the spectators, when with hands outstretched on the cross, in the midst of two criminals, he gave laughter to the malicious, weeping to the faithful? And he alone was for a laughingstock, who alone could have been a terror, who alone ought to have been an honor. Whence then did he perceive the beauty of the Crucified, and that he is the Son of God, who was reckoned among the wicked? (Isa 53:12.) It is neither fitting nor necessary for us to say anything to this; for neither did the diligence of the evangelist pass this over. For thus you have it: And when the centurion who stood facing him saw that he thus cried out and expired, he said: Truly this man was the Son of God (Mk 15:39). Therefore he believed at the voice, from the voice he recognized the Son of God, and not from the face. For he was perhaps of his sheep, of whom he says: My sheep hear my voice (Jn 10:17).
5. Hearing found what sight did not; the outward appearance deceived the eye, truth poured itself into the ear. The eye pronounced him weak, the eye foul, the eye wretched, the eye condemned by a most shameful death; to the ear the Son of God, to the ear he was made known as beautiful; but not to the ears of the Jews, because they were uncircumcised in their ears. Rightly did Peter cut off the ear of the servant, to make a way for truth, and that the truth might set him free, that is, make him a free man. That centurion was uncircumcised, but not in his ear, who at the single voice of the one expiring, amid so many signs of weakness, recognized the Lord of majesty. And therefore he did not despise what he saw, because he believed what he did not see. But he did not believe from what he saw; but without doubt from what he heard, because faith comes from hearing (Rom 10:17). It would indeed have been worthy for truth to enter the soul through the upper windows of the eyes; but this, O soul, is reserved for us in the future, when we shall see face to face. But now, let the remedy enter by the same way whence the disease crept in, and let life follow death along the same tracks, and light follow darkness, and the antidote of truth follow the venom of the serpent; and let it heal the eye which was troubled, so that being serene it may see him whom, when troubled, it cannot. Let the ear, the first gateway of death, be first opened also for life; let hearing, which took it away, restore sight; since unless we believe, we shall not understand. Therefore hearing is for merit, sight is for reward. Whence the Prophet says: To my hearing you shall give joy and gladness (Ps 50:10): because the faithful recompense of hearing is the blessed vision, and the merit of the blessed vision is faithful hearing. But blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Mt 5:8). Furthermore, it is needful that by faith the eye be cleansed which is to see God, as you have it: Cleansing their hearts by faith (Acts 15:9).
6. In the meantime, therefore, since sight is not yet prepared, let hearing be aroused, let hearing be exercised, let hearing receive the truth. Happy is he to whom Truth bears witness, saying: At the hearing of the ear he obeyed me (Ps 17:45). I am worthy to see, if before I see, I am found to have obeyed; I shall see securely, to whom the gift of my obedience shall have gone before. How blessed is he who says: The Lord God has opened my ear, and I do not contradict, I have not gone back (Isa 50:5). Where you have both the form of voluntary obedience, and the example of perseverance. For he who does not contradict is willing; and he who has not gone back perseveres. Both are necessary; because God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9:7), and he who perseveres to the end, he shall be saved (Mt 10:22). Would that the Lord would open my ear also, that the word of truth might enter into my heart, might cleanse my eye, and prepare it for the joyful vision, so that I too might say to God: The preparation of my heart your ear has heard (Ps 9:17); that I might hear from God, even I myself with the other obedient ones: And you are clean because of the word which I have spoken to you (Jn 15:3). Nor are all cleansed who hear, but those who obey: Blessed are those who hear and keep it (Lk 11:28). Such a hearing does he require who commands, saying: Hear, O Israel (Deut 6:3); such does he offer who says: Speak, Lord, for your servant hears (1 Sam 3:9); such does he pledge who says: I will hear what the Lord God speaks in me (Ps 84:9).
7. And that you may know that the Holy Spirit also observes this order in the spiritual progress of the soul, namely that he first forms the hearing before he gladdens the sight: Hear, he says, O daughter, and see (Ps 44:11). Why do you strain the eye? Prepare the ear. Do you desire to see Christ? You must first hear him, hear about him, so that when you have seen you may say: As we have heard, so we have seen (Ps 47:9). The brightness is immense, the sight is august, and you cannot attain to it. You can by hearing, but not by looking. For when God cried out: Adam, where are you? (Gen 3:9), I, a sinner, could no longer see, yet I still heard. But hearing will restore sight, if a devout, if a watchful, if a faithful hearing shall have gone before. Faith will purify what impiety troubled; and what disobedience shut, obedience will open. For: From your commandments, he says, I have gained understanding (Ps 118:104): because the observance of the commandments restores the understanding which transgression took away. Observe further in holy Isaac how above the other senses hearing flourished in the aged man. The eyes of the patriarch grow dim, the palate is deceived, the hand is fooled, the ear is not fooled. What wonder, if the ear perceives truth, since faith comes from hearing, hearing through the word of God (Rom 10:17), and the word of God is truth? The voice, he says, is the voice of Jacob. Nothing is truer. But the hands are the hands of Esau (Gen 27:22). Nothing is more false. You are deceived: the likeness of the hands has misled you. Nor is there truth in taste, even if there is sweetness. For how does he have truth who thinks he eats game, when he feeds on the flesh of domestic kids? Much less the eye, which sees nothing. There is no truth in the eye, no wisdom. Woe to you who are wise, he says, in your own eyes! (Isa 5:21.) Not good is the wisdom which is cursed. It is of the world, and therefore foolishness before God (1 Cor 3:19).
8. Good and true wisdom is drawn from hidden things, as blessed Job understands (Job 28:18). Why do you seek it outwardly in the bodily sense? Taste is in the palate, wisdom is in the heart. Do not seek wisdom in the eye of flesh, because flesh and blood do not reveal it, but the spirit (Mt 16:17). Not in the taste of the mouth: for neither is it found in the land of those who live in pleasures (Job 28:13). Not in the touch of the hand, since the holy man says: If I have kissed my hand with my mouth, which is a very great iniquity, and a denial of God (Job 31:27, 28). Which I think happens when the gift of God, which is wisdom, is ascribed not to God but to the merits of actions. Isaac was wise, yet he erred in his senses. Hearing alone possesses truth, because it perceives the word. Rightly is the woman who thinks in a carnal way forbidden to touch the risen flesh of the Word; for she gave more credit to the eye than to the oracle, that is, to the sense of the flesh rather than to the word of God. For him whom she had seen dead, she did not believe risen [or, to rise again], though he himself had promised this. And so the eye did not rest, until the sight was satisfied; because there was no consolation of faith, nor was the promise of God held firm. Do not heaven and earth, and whatever the eye of the flesh can reach, have to pass away and perish, before one iota or one tittle of all the things which God has spoken? And yet she ceased from weeping at the sight of her eye, she who would not be consoled by the word of the Lord; esteeming experience more than faith. But experience is deceitful.
9. She is therefore sent to the more certain knowledge of faith; which indeed apprehends what sense does not know, what experience does not find. Do not touch me, he says (Jn 20:17): that is: Unaccustom yourself from this seducible sense; lean upon the word, accustom yourself to faith. Faith knows not how to be deceived; faith comprehending invisible things does not feel the poverty of sense. Indeed it passes beyond the limits even of human reason, the use of nature, the boundaries of experience. Why do you ask the eye for what it cannot reach? And why does the hand try to explore what is above itself? Whatever the one or the other reports is too little. Let faith pronounce concerning me, which diminishes nothing from majesty. Learn to hold that more certain, to follow that more safely, which faith shall have persuaded. Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father (Jn 20:17). As if indeed when he shall have ascended, he would then wish or be able to be touched by her. And indeed she will be able, but by affection, not by hand; by desire, not by eye; by faith, not by the senses. Why do you, he says, now seek to touch me, you who estimate the glory of the resurrection by bodily sense? Do you not know that in the time of my mortality the eyes of the disciples were unable to bear the glory of the body transfigured for a time, destined to die? (Mt 17:6.) Indeed I still comply with your senses, presenting the servile form, which you may recognize by custom. But my glory has been made wonderful beyond you, it has been strengthened, and you cannot reach it. Defer therefore your judgment, suspend your verdict, and do not entrust the determination of so great a matter to sense; reserve it for faith. She will determine more worthily, she will determine more certainly, because she will comprehend more fully. Indeed she comprehends in that mystical and profound embrace of hers, what is the length, the breadth, the height, and the depth. What eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, she carries within herself as though enclosed in a certain wrapping, and keeps it sealed.
10. She therefore will worthily touch me, who will receive me seated with the Father, no longer in humble garb, but in heavenly: in the flesh itself, but in another appearance. Why do you wish to touch the deformed? Wait, that you may touch the beautiful. For he who is deformed now, will then be beautiful; deformed to touch, deformed to sight; deformed indeed to you who are deformed, because you cling more to the senses and less to faith. Be beautiful, and touch me; be faithful, and you are beautiful. Beautiful, you will touch the beautiful one both more worthily and more happily. You will touch with the hand of faith, with the finger of desire, with the embrace of devotion; you will touch with the eye of the mind. But is he still black? Far from it! Your beloved is radiant and ruddy. Beautiful indeed is he whom the flowers of roses and the lilies of the valleys surround; that is, the choirs of martyrs and of virgins: and I who sit in the midst am in harmony with both choirs, a virgin and a martyr. For how am I not in accord with the bright choirs of virgins, I a virgin, the son of a Virgin, and the bridegroom of a virgin? How am I not in accord with the rosy choirs of martyrs, I who am the cause, the power, the fruit, and the pattern of martyrdom? Touch me, such a one, in such a way, and say: My beloved is radiant and ruddy, chosen out of thousands (Song 5:10). Thousands upon thousands are with the beloved, and ten hundred thousands around the beloved, and none is equal to the beloved. Will you need to fear lest perhaps by some mistake you fall upon one of the multitude, when seeking him whom you love? You will not at all be in doubt whom to choose. Easily will the one chosen out of thousands meet you, more distinguished than all, and you will say: This one is beautiful in his robe, striding in the multitude of his strength (Isa 63:1). Not therefore in the black skin, which until now indeed had to be presented to the eyes of persecutors, that they might despise the one to be killed; or even to the eyes of friends, that they might recognize the one risen. Not, I say, will he now appear in the black skin, but in a white garment, beautiful in form, not only beyond the sons of men, but even beyond the faces of the angels. Why do you wish to touch me in humble garb, in servile form, in contemptible appearance? Touch me, beautiful in heavenly appearance, crowned with glory and honor; awesome indeed in divine majesty, but pleasing and gentle in inborn serenity.
11. Amid these things the prudence of the bride must be noted, and the depth of her words, who under the figure of the curtains of Solomon, that is, in the flesh, searched out God; in death, life; the summit of glory and honor amid reproaches; and under the black garb of the crucified, the radiance of innocence and the splendor of virtues, just as those curtains, though they were black and despised, preserved within themselves the precious and most bright ornaments of the exceedingly rich king. Rightly she does not despise the blackness in the curtains, perceiving the beauty which is beneath the curtains. And therefore some despised her, because they did not at all recognize this beauty: for if they had known, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8). Herod did not recognize it, and therefore he despised him; the Synagogue did not recognize it, which, reproaching him with the blackness of his passion and weakness, said: He saved others, himself he cannot save. Let Christ the king of Israel descend now from the cross, and we will believe him (Mt 27:42). But the thief recognized it from the cross, though on the cross, who both confessed the purity of his innocence, saying: But this man, what evil has he done? and at the same time declared the glory of royal majesty: Remember me, he said, when you come into your kingdom (Lk 23:41, 42). The centurion recognized it, who proclaimed him the Son of God (Mt 27:54); the Church recognizes it, which both emulates his blackness, that she may share in his beauty. She is not ashamed to be seen as black, to be called black, so that she may say to her beloved: The reproaches of those who reproached you have fallen upon me (Ps 68:10). But she is black after the manner of the curtains of Solomon, outwardly that is, and not within: for my Solomon does not have blackness within. For she does not say: I am black like Solomon; but, like the curtains of Solomon: because the blackness of the true Peacemaker is on the surface only. The blackness of sin is within; and guilt first stains the interior before it comes forth to the eyes. For from the heart come evil thoughts, thefts, murders, adulteries, blasphemies: and these are the things which defile a man (Mt 15:19, 20); but far be it from Solomon! You will by no means find defilements of this kind in the true Peacemaker. For it is necessary that he who takes away the sins of the world be without sin, so that being found suitable for reconciling sinners, he may rightly claim for himself the name of Solomon.
12. But there is a blackness of afflicting penance, when lamentation is taken up for transgressions. This perhaps Solomon would not abhor in me, if nevertheless I willingly put it on for my sins; because a contrite and humbled heart God will not despise (Ps 50:19). There is also a blackness of compassion that affects, if you share in the suffering of the afflicted; and a brother's misfortune discolors you. Nor does our Peacemaker think that this is to be rejected, since he himself graciously put it on for our sake, he who bore our sins in his body upon the tree (1 Pet 2:24). There is also one of persecution: which is even held as the highest adornment, if indeed it is undertaken for justice and truth. Whence is that saying: The disciples went away rejoicing from the presence of the council, because they were deemed worthy to suffer reproach for the name of Jesus (Acts 5:41); and again: Blessed are those who suffer persecution for the sake of justice (Mt 5:10). In this especially I judge the Church to glory, this she more gladly imitates from the curtains of the bridegroom. Indeed she also has it in the promise: If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you (Jn 15:20).
13. Whence the bride also adds: Do not consider me because I am dark, for the sun has discolored me (Song 1:5), that is: Do not mark me as deformed, because you see me less flourishing, less adorned according to the glory of the world, on account of the pressing persecution. Why do you reproach the blackness which the heat of persecution, not the shame of conduct, has brought? Or does she call the sun the zeal for justice, with which she is kindled and girded against the wicked, saying to God: The zeal for your house has consumed me (Ps 68:10)? And that saying: My zeal has made me waste away, because my enemies have forgotten your words; and also: Fainting has seized me because of sinners who abandon your law (Ps 118:139, 53); likewise: Have I not hated those who hate you, O Lord, and wasted away over your enemies? (Ps 138:21.) She also carefully observes that saying of the Wise Man: You have daughters, he says? Do not show a cheerful face to them (Sir 7:26): so that to the lax and soft and those who flee discipline, she might display not the brightness of serenity, but the darkness of severity. Or to be discolored by the sun is to burn with fraternal charity, to weep with those who weep, to be weak with the weak, to burn at the scandals of individuals. Or thus: The Sun of justice has discolored me, Christ, with whose love I languish. That languor is a certain destruction of color, and a failing in the desire of the soul: whence she also says: I remembered God, and was delighted, and I was exercised and my spirit failed (Ps 76:3). Therefore, like a burning sun, the ardor of desire discolors her who sojourns in the body, while it makes her impatient with the repulse as she yearns for the face of glory, and the delay torments the lover. Who among us so burns with holy love that, out of desire to see Christ, he disdains and puts aside every color of present glory and joy, proclaiming to him with that prophetic voice: And I have not desired the day of man, you know (Jer 17:16); likewise with holy David: My soul refused to be comforted (Ps 76:7); that is, she disdains to be colored with the empty joy of present goods? Or certainly, the sun has discolored me, by the comparison, that is, of its own splendor, since drawing near to it, I from that very nearness discover myself dark, find myself black, despise myself as foul. Otherwise indeed I am beautiful; why do you call me dark, when I yield only to the beauty of the sun itself? But the things which follow seem rather to agree with the former sense. For when she adds: The sons of my mother fought against me, she openly signifies that she has suffered persecution. But from this we shall begin another discourse, because the things which we have received on this occasion concerning the glory of the Bridegroom of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ, can suffice, by the gift of him who is God blessed for ever. Amen.
Translated from the Latin by AI. Source: Migne, Patrologia Latina 183.