Song of Solomon 2 · The Lantern

I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys.

The justified here begins to praise herself and says, "I am the flower of the field" because she was not spread abroad throughout the earth. For, behold, I am a flower to all men through faith in you.

It is necessary to understand that the valleys where the bride is a lily, as she is called, are comparable to these ravines. For in distinguishing herself in the midst of that which is called "hollow" by reason of actions or thoughts that are base, she who is adorned magnificently stands resplendent among them as a lily.

And since it is not the proud or arrogant, but rather the humble, who do not know how to presume of themselves, that are fit for martyrdom, he adds that he is also the lily of the valleys, that is, the crown of the humble, designating by the eminence of this flower the special glory of their future exaltation.

As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.

As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow, whom I desired: and his fruit was sweet to my palate.

He brought me into the cellar of wine, he set in order charity in me.

These are still the words of the bride, but they are directed, as I think, to the friends and intimates of the bridegroom, from whom she seems to ask that they bring her into the house of gladness, where wine is drunk and a banquet is prepared. For she who had already seen the royal chamber now desires also to enter the royal banquet and to enjoy the wine of gladness.

The banqueting-house of the heavenly King, that is, His body which He built up for Himself as His house, and then also the kingdom of heaven.

Furthermore, this charity gives to the soul a fire. Hence, in the Canticle, "Set me as a seal on your heart... for stern as death is love," when it loves to such a degree that it is totally carried up to the supremely desirable, and sees prosperity as nothing, and adversity as nothing, since all things are like a single straw in a furnace.

Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples: because I languish with love.

In the Greek, indeed, it reads: "Strengthen me with myrrhs"; and by naming "myrrh" a certain kind of tree, which the Latins, supposing it to be so called, rendered as "myrrha," they interpreted it as "perfumes." The sequence of the discourse, then, is of this sort: after the bride had heard the words from the mouth of the bridegroom himself, and had entered the chamber of the k…

The church proclaims in the Song of Songs, "I am wounded by love." So the holy people pray to be pierced by the fear of the Lord, so that by dying they may live, whereas earlier by living they were dying.

In this garden, there is much walking about, for if one is not happy to remain in the first, he goes to the second, and likewise with the others. And so man is compassed about with apples.

His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.

This is indeed the description of a love-drama hastening toward the marriage of bridegroom and bride, and it runs its course, as it were, in rather more openly bodily terms of the body.

"His left hand under my head, and his right hand will embrace me." Let us be careful once more, however, not to get involved in corporeal ideas on hearing "left hand" and "right hand." Solomon, in fact, speaks of wisdom, which is a habit and not substance: "Length of life and years of existence are in her right hand, and in her left wealth and glory." Likewise regarding the "em…

When a worthy admission has come about together with a holy perception, then the soul is rapt in God, that is, in the beloved. Hence, in the Canticle: "His left hand is under my head and His right arm embraces me."

I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and the harts of the field, that you stir not up, nor make the beloved to awake, till she please.

I have adjured you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and the forces of the field. Of what does the bride adjure the daughters of Jerusalem? If you will raise up and awaken love. How long does love sleep in you, O daughters of Jerusalem, O maidens — love which does not sleep in me, because I am wounded with love?

I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and the hinds of the field, etc. The daughters of Jerusalem signify souls burning with the desire for the heavenly homeland. The bridegroom adjures these souls not to awaken the bride resting in His love, neither presume to disturb her happily asleep from human disturbances.

Then, in this union, the power of the soul is recollected, and it becomes more unified, and enters in its intimate self, and consequently it rises up to its summit: for according to Augustine, the intimate self and the summit are the same.

The voice of my beloved, behold he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping over the hills.

It is fitting that we frequently remind ourselves that this little book is woven together in the manner of a drama. For the present little verse that we have set before us indicates something of this kind: that whereas the bride's speech had been addressed to the young maidens, the daughters of Jerusalem, suddenly, as though from afar, she perceived the voice of the bridegroom…

"Behold, he comes leaping upon the mountains and jumping across the hills." … Some things imply that the bridegroom is already present, whereas other things suggest that the bridegroom is being sought by the bride.

These therefore are the mountains and hills upon which the Church saw the heavenly Bridegroom leaping with wondrous eagerness, as he hastened to her embraces; and not only leaping, but also bounding over them.

My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart. Behold he standeth behind our wall, looking through the windows, looking through the lattices.

That the roe and the stag are reckoned among the clean animals is plainly shown by what is written in Deuteronomy, for it is written in this manner: "For these are the animals which you shall eat: the calf, and the lamb from the flocks, and the he-goat from among the goats, the stag and the roe, and the buffalo and the tragelaph, and the ibex, the camel and the leopard." But th…

My beloved is like a roe or a young deer. And indeed, all who know well how to explore the natures of these animals discover many things in them that most fittingly apply to the beloved of the Church, that is, the Lord and Savior.

But I, since I am a sinner, do not desire to be dissolved but dread it, knowing that "the death of sinners is most wretched" (Ps 33:22). How is death not most wretched where Life does not come to aid? I dread going out, and I tremble at the very entrance of the harbor, since I do not trust that he who would receive me as I go out stands near. For what?

Behold my beloved speaketh to me: Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come.

Rise up, come, my love, my beautiful one, my dove. Why does he say, "Rise up"? Why "make haste"? I for your sake bore the raging of the tempests; I received the billows which were owed to you. My soul was made sorrowful for you, even unto death.

It makes sense, therefore, for the bridegroom to call the bride, mature in virtue as she is, "dove," that is, spiritual and filled with the Holy Spirit.…The bridegroom encourages and consoles his church in its struggle with trials, "peeps through the windows and looks in through the netting," and urges her to stand fast and to fly to him.… He is saying, if you rest in the middl…

After this regard of such great condescension and mercy, there follows a voice gently and softly insinuating the divine will, which is nothing other than love itself, which cannot be idle, urging and persuading concerning the things that are of God. For the bride hears that she should arise and hasten, without doubt for the winning of souls.

For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone.

There is thus no doubt that winter has a double meaning, either that harshness and severity belong to it, or that it is a time for sowing with the coming of the rain.

What is to be understood by winter, if not the austerity of the law? Which, while it held the ancient people in carnal sacrifices, did not help its observers to seek spiritual and heavenly things. We can also understand by winter the present life, which, while it assails us with constant temptations, compels us to grow sluggish in following Christ, as if by relentless rains.

Furthermore, the winter time, which he signifies has passed, seems to me to designate that period when the Lord Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews, because they had conspired against him, wishing to kill him.

The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land:

The voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land. Not without cause is a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons, taken in the sacrifices: for they are of equal worth, and it is never said separately, a pair only of pigeons, but a pair of turtledoves, and two young pigeons. The dove is the Holy Spirit.

The flowers are said to have appeared on the earth, because when holy souls depart from their bodies, they are received in heaven. And because in this life, although it was winter, they did not grow sluggish from good work, as soon as they departed, they gloriously flourished in the land of the living.

Third, there is the production of prophets similar to the multiplication of flowers. It is said of them in the Canticle: "The flowers appear on the earth...

The fig tree hath put forth her green figs: the vines in flower yield their sweet smell. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come:

The fig tree has put forth its green figs; the vines flower, they have given their fragrance. If the vines already burst into flower, the time will come, and there will be grapes. Rise up, come, my love, my beautiful one, my dove. These things which we have expounded above, the bridegroom speaks not while the maidens hear, but while the bride alone hears.

The fig tree has produced its early fruit. They call the early and immature figs "grossi," which are unsuitable for eating and fall off even with a light touch if shaken.

"Arise, my love, my bride, and come" (Song 2:13). The Bridegroom commends his great love by repeating words of affection. For repetition is an expression of feeling: and that he again urges the beloved to the labor of the vineyards shows how anxious he is for the salvation of souls. For you have already heard that the vineyards are souls.

My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall, shew me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice is sweet, and thy face comely.

According to the order of the drama set forth, the bridegroom, who leaping upon the mountains and bounding over the hills had come to the bride, looking upon her and gazing through the windows, now in the second place says to her: Arise, come, my neighbor, my beautiful one, my dove.

Show me your face, etc. You who in the hidden recesses of quiet, like a dove in the clefts of the rock, or in the hole of the wall, desire to be concealed, I pray that you come forth into the public sphere of action, and show your faith from your works, and declare to others also outwardly as an example what beauty you have within.

"My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollows of the wall" (Song 2:14). Not only in the clefts of the rock does the dove find a safe refuge; she finds it also in the hollows of the wall.

Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vines: for our vineyard hath flourished.

According to the order of the drama the speaker has changed, for now the bridegroom no longer speaks to the bride, but to the companions, and to them he says that they should catch the little foxes that lie in wait for the vineyards, where they have first put forth their buds, and do not allow them to reach the flower.

[Those] who spoil the church of God, as the "little foxes do the vineyard," we exhort you to avoid, lest you lay traps for your own souls. "For he that walks with wise men shall be wise, but he that walks with the foolish shall be known."

"Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vineyards" (Song 2:15). Behold, I go after these foxes. They are the ones who pass beyond the way and who plunder the vineyard. They are not content to desert the way, unless they can also lay waste the vineyard, adding transgression.

My beloved to me, and I to him who feedeth among the lilies,

Without any loss therefore, he passed by the guardians, and the Word mixed with the daughters of that heavenly city seeks, and by seeking it arouses love in himself, and where it seeks the Word, it recognizes.

As if she were saying: I hold firmly to the friendship of my beloved, because I feel his constant goodwill toward me. For while I have his kind intimacy, whatever I hear from barking enemies against him is grievous to me.

When a worthy admission has come about together with a holy perception, then the soul is rapt in God, that is, in the beloved. "My Lover belongs to me and I to Him; He browses among the lilies," for the soul already feels the union and is made one spirit with God. And this is the highest thing in the soul: it makes it abide in heaven.

Till the day break, and the shadows retire. Return: be like, my beloved, to a roe, or to a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.

For thus he says: "I to my brother, and his desire is towards me." He repeats this meaning in a different way three times in the Song of Songs.

In this verse, the Lord's resurrection is taught and foretold. Just as the apostles were afraid without him, terrorized by the treachery of the Jews, so also is the soul, which, in a certain sense, is naked and unarmed without the assistance of the Holy Spirit, terrorized by the treachery of demons.

Such are the three hierarchies which this Sun enlightens in a threefold manner. Hence, the sun, three times as much, burneth the mountains. These are the mountains of Bether, as explained in the Canticle: My lover, like a gazelle or a young stag, upon the mountains of Bether. And it is upon those very mountains that this Sun is sending out its first illuminations.

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