Song of Solomon 6 · The Lantern

Where is your beloved gone, O fairest among women? where is your beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with you.

My beloved has gone down into his garden, to the beds of spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine: he feeds among the lilies.

So long as Christ wishes there to be one church of all nations, whoever is a stranger to the church is not considered a part of the body of Christ, even though he uses the name of Christian.

The Beloved descends into his garden to the bed of spices, because in visiting the Church, he comes with greater grace to those whom he knows to send forth from themselves to their neighbors the fragrance of good reputation through holy works and examples of virtues. He feeds in the gardens when he delights in the virtues of many souls.

Moreover, the Bride has spoken more rightly, and not putting forward merit but setting forth the benefit first, and confessing that she has been preceded by the grace of the beloved. Rightly indeed. For "who has first given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him?" (Rom 11:35.) Finally, hear John, what he perceived in his Epistle on this matter.

You are beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, beautiful as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners.

He who was spoiled by the soldiers, who was wounded by the spear, that he might heal us by the blood of his sacred wounds, will assuredly answer you (for he is meek and lowly of heart, and gentle in aspect): "Arise, O north wind, and come, O south, and blow upon my garden, that my spices may flow out." For from all parts of the world has the perfume of holy religion increased,…

It should be noted, indeed, that the Synagogue will one day be converted to the faith through the preaching of the Church, so that, denying itself, it will follow Christ alone, and will love Christ with the same desire with which the Church loves him, whom she loves alone above all others.

For it is necessary that the hierarchized soul have levels corresponding to the Jerusalem which is above. For the soul is something great: the whole universe may be described in it. The soul is called "as lovely as Jerusalem," for it is likened to Jerusalem through the disposition of the hierarchical levels.

Turn away your eyes from me, for they have overcome me: your hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.

A goat is honored because its thick coat provides an image of beauty for the bride. Another reason for praise is that a goat can pass over rocks with a sure foot, agilely turn on mountain peaks, courageously pass through difficult, rough places, and can go safely on the road of virtue.

Hair like a flock of goats, etc. These verses and the following ones placed above have been fully explained to the best of our understanding; but let us not hesitate to reiterate in explanation what the author of the sacred song did not hesitate to repeat in writing, so that we may either recall what was said before to memory or, with the help of divine grace, do something new…

The mind cannot see it with intellectual eyes, and so they must be turned away. Hence it is said in the Canticle: "Turn away thy eyes from me, for they have made me flee away." For Christ goes away when the mind attempts to behold this wisdom through intellectual eyes; since it is not the intellect that can go in there, but the heart.

Your teeth are as a flock of sheep which go up from the washing, of which every one bears twins, and there is not one barren among them.

Separated from the world, to which they were once conformed, they pass over into the members of the church. And rightly therefore are they, through whom such things are done, called teeth like to shorn sheep; for they have laid aside the burdens of earthly cares, and coming up from the bath, from the washing away of the filth of the world by the sacrament of baptism, every one…

All lambs of twin births, etc. For all the sheep with which the bride's teeth are arranged are multiplied by twin births, because every speech of the elect is fruitful with the twin love, that is, the love by which God and neighbor are loved; every speech talks about the perpetual health of mind and body; every speech is accustomed to fortify its listeners through the arms of j…

As a piece of a pomegranate are your temples within your locks.

There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and virgins without number.

Hence, then, it is that Scripture records that some of the Patriarchs had several wives at once, others took other wives when the former had died; so that this may be figuratively indicated, that certain men can exercise several virtues at once, while others do not begin those that follow before they have brought the former to perfection.

In the present verse, therefore, three orders of merit are indicated to be in the church according to the following enigma. First, clearly, there are teachers, living an immaculate life.

Solomon represents Christ, except in the women in whom there is no good that can have symbolical meaning. Hence, when it is said in the Canticle: "There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and maidens without number," this does not refer literally to wives: these women are placed here in a mysterious fashion, and they represent perfect and imperfect souls.

My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yes, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

This one church is also intended in the Song of Songs, when the Holy Spirit says, in the person of the Lord: "My dove, my perfect one, is but one; she is the only one of her mother, the choice one of her that bare her." Can one who does not keep this unity of the church believe that he keeps the faith?

"For as regards the fact that to preserve the figure of unity the Lord gave the power to Peter that whatsoever he should loose on earth should be loosed," it is clear that that unity is also described as one dove without fault.

Contemplate what a glory is hers who compares herself to heaven, even to that heaven who is so much more glorious as he is divine. This is no rashness, taking her comparison from whence her origin comes.

Who is she that looks forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and awesome as an army with banners?

The church is the sun and the moon and the stars, to which it was said, "Fair as the moon, bright as the sun." By it our Joseph is adored in this world as in Egypt, when he is raised from humble to high estate.

You are rightly compared with this figure since you raise your precious head over all races, and you transmit the souls of the just like resplendent stars to the kingdom above.

Again, there is a comparison of times three by three, as of the origin, promotion and fall of the Synagogue; and in the Church, the times of its beginning, expansion, and consummation. Hence, in the Canticle, there are three expressions of wonder: "Who is this," etc. in praise of the Church, and, by contrast, three expressions of sorrow in the Lamentations.

I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.

Before I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.

Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon you. What will you see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.

Turn to us, O peaceful soul, that you may show your glory to your sisters and that they may begin to console themselves with the security of your repose and happiness. Turn to us once only, that we may see you, and turn again and hasten with all speed to that great Jerusalem, the city of the saints.

For camps indeed belong to those who wage war. Camps, therefore, will be seen in the Shunammite, because for the faith which she now attacks, she will then fight valiantly against the faithless.

These four fruits come forth in an orderly manner. Consideration in a direct line through the help of the citizens of heaven disposes toward the first act of wisdom, seen to be "as awe-inspiring as bannered troops" and the "companies of the camps."

Song of Solomon6