1° The name and general form of the book, its canonical status. – The Hebrew name is Šir hašširim, which the Septuagint translated very literally as ἀχσμα ἀσμάτων, and the Vulgate as Canticum canticorum. This is a superlative in the Hebrew style, meaning that "this canticle surpasses all the other canticles of the Old Testament," as Saint Bernard says (likewise Saint Francis de Sales: «This divine work which, for its excellent sweetness, is called the Song of Songs.» Similar examples abound in the Bible: Gen. 9:25, servant of servants; 1 Kings 8:27, the heavens of heavens; Eccl. 1:1, vanity of vanities; Ezek. 16:7 (from the Hebrew), ornament of ornaments; Dan. 8:27, prince of princes; 1 Tim. 6:15, king of kings and Lord of lords, etc. (in the liturgy, the Virgin of virgins).
This name simultaneously designates the highly poetic and lyrical nature of the book, since it makes the Song of Songs the šir par excellence of the Bible. It also shows that we have sometimes, quite wrongly, sought a true drama in these pages, which are above all idyllic. If the Song of Songs has elements of drama, it is not, like the Book of Job, that in the broad sense of this expression («in the manner of drama,» said Origen); for the dialogue is too intermittent, the action too slow, the surprises too rare, the plot too absent, the denouement too unstriking, for the Song to bear the name of drama; it is an idyll in which two main characters move, a dialogued song. Its various parts are therefore «songs,» and by no means acts or scenes, as the rationalist school would have it.
There reigns in the Song of Songs a perfect unity, despite what several members of this same school have still asserted to the contrary. It is wrong to regard it as a collection of disparate and originally separate pieces, as a kind of anthology: it is the same subject from beginning to end, the same characters, the same expressions resounding like refrains and closely binding together the parts of the poem. Compare 2:7; 3:5, and 8:3; 2:9, 17, and 8:14; 2:6, and 8:3; 4:5, and 6:2; 1:8; 5:9, and 6:1, etc. etc.
Nothing is more certain than the canonical status of this little book, which has always been part of the Bible, both for the Jews and in the Christian Church. The Talmud does, admittedly, mention the hesitations of some rabbis on this subject; but these date only from the 2nd century AD, and the famous Akiva retorted in these forceful terms: «God forbid! No man in Israel has ever disputed that the Song of Songs is a sacred book; for the entire course of ages cannot compare with the day the Song of Songs was given to Israel. All the hagiographers are holy, but the Song of Songs is sacrosanct (see L. Wogue, History of the Bible and biblical exegesis up to the present day ; Paris, 1881, pp. 55 and 56). As for the Church, the canons of its councils are formal and indisputable.
In the Hebrew Bible, the Šir hašširim is part of the so-called writings Ketubim, where he is placed after Job, as the first of the five Megillôt. In the Septuagint and the Vulgate, it is classified among the poetic books, between the’Ecclesiastes and Wisdom.
2° The subject. — That is, generally speaking, love The mutual affection of two characters, one named Solomon and the other Shulamite: The sacred poet recounts the various trials of their relationship. They desire to be united in marriage; but for a time, obstacles arise before them and prevent the consummation of their union. However, the difficulties disappear; then the marriage is celebrated, and the two spouses fully experience happiness. joy to belong to each other forever. A true love song resounds here in all its beauty, grace, and power. This intimate drama is, in fact, recounted in the most graceful and delicate terms. The author has employed, in presenting it, all the resources that nature and art, his heart and mind, provided; thus, he has succeeded in creating a literary and religious marvel unique in its kind, which will never cease to be admired. The Song of Songs is, in everyone's opinion, one of the most beautiful and sublime products of poetic art, if not the most beautiful of all (this is what Bossuet explains in the preface to his commentary, in terms worthy of the sacred poem: ‘This charming amiability coming from Solomon, the fertility of the fields, the well-irrigated spring gardens, the waters, the wells, the fountains, the exquisite scents produced by art or which the earth engenders of itself, the doves, the turtledoves, the voices, the honey, the lake, the vineyards, and finally, in both sexes, honest and beautiful forms, chaste kisses, embraces, loves as modest as they are passionate. And if something horrifies us, like steep and wild mountains, or the dens of lions, everything else gives pleasure, like the ornament of a very fine table, and everything is composed with art and variety.«
Nevertheless, and especially for us modern Westerners, the imagery is sometimes so powerful, the colors so stark and vivid, that a reader unfamiliar with Oriental and biblical matters might at first glance believe that this book recounts a purely earthly passion. The name of God is not even pronounced directly once in the eight chapters that comprise it (though it is mentioned indirectly in a compound name, according to the Hebrew text. Cf. 8:6, and the commentary). Therefore, we felt it necessary to quote, from the very first line of this introduction, the serious warnings of Origen and Saint Jerome concerning its reading. Among the Jews, a special law forbade anyone under the age of thirtie from reading it. But, although the Song of Songs was not written for profane and sensual souls, and although "it should not be placed indiscriminately into every hand and under every eye," it breathes, in its smallest details as well as in its entirety, an immaculate purity, a holy gravity; there is nothing in it that is not worthy of the Spirit of God. Throughout history, the most chaste, the most elevated, the most holy souls have delighted in it, and have admirably used it to increase their love for God (see, in this regard, the Fragment from Saint Teresa's book on the Song of Songs, translated by Father Marcel Bouix, Paris, 1880, and various passages from the works of Saint John of the Cross and Saint Francis of Sales).
Other characters besides Solomon and the Shulamite are introduced: primarily the brothers of the Mystic Bride, a chorus of young women from Jerusalem, and then the Bridegroom's friends. The setting changes frequently: "we are transported sometimes to the apartments of the royal palace in Jerusalem, sometimes outdoors, in the gardens, in the street, sometimes to the bride's country dwelling." Everything takes place through speech (dialogues or soliloquies); there is no narration proper, delivered by the poet himself.
3° The different schools of interpretation. — «The meaning to be attached to the Song of Songs is the subject of lively controversy. All the modes of interpretation that have been proposed can be attributed to three main schools: the literal school, the mystical or typical school, and the allegorical school» (Vigouroux, Bible Manual, t. 2, n. 862).
- 1) The so-called literal school, which could also be called realist, adheres purely and exclusively to the letter of the Song of Songs, that is to say, to the idea of a purely human marriage. The first proponents of this opinion were, among the Jews, the famous Shamai and his disciples, and, in the Christian Church, Theodore of Mopsuestia; it was immediately condemned either by the Sanhedrin, around the year 90 AD, or by the Second Council of Constantinople, in 553. It varies infinitely in its details, and sometimes crosses (as is the case today in the camp of unbelievers) the boundaries of the most vulgar propriety. Thus, while Theodore of Mopsuestia was content to see in the Song of Songs an epithalamium composed to celebrate the marriage of Solomon with the daughter of the king of Egypt, his principal wife, others have simply applied this magnificent poem to the union of a shepherd and a shepherdess (this is the most fashionable opinion among the rationalists); the sacrilegious words "guardhouse song" (we recognize Voltaire by this trait worthy of him) and "erotic song" have even been uttered.
It is indeed appropriate to repeat after Aben Esra: «Far be it from us to think that the song describes carnal pleasure. Rather, it must be said that everything is treated figuratively. If this love did not have a supreme dignity, it would not be recounted in the books of Scripture. On this point, there is no controversy.»Praefat. In Cant. Cantic.(.) Moreover, as we have just indicated, the authors of this system took care to refute one another through the multiplicity of their discordant explanations. The very substance of the book also contradicts them at every turn; for many features of the poem are unsuitable for Solomon or for other purely earthly characters, and thus become incomprehensible if one does not rise above the literal meaning: Thus, the hero is by turns and without transition, a shepherd, a hunter, a glorious king, only to suddenly become a shepherd again; his fiancée wanders alone at night through the city streets and is mistreated by the guards, etc. Even admitting that the narrative, interpreted simply at face value, had a didactic purpose and a moral dimension—for example, to highlight the idea of "the essential unity of the marital bond," the notion of love true as the basis of conjugal love,» and to condemn the polygamy accepted in the East and even among the Jews – the system remains false and condemnable, for it is only an insufficient palliative.
- 2) «The mystical school admits a literal meaning in the Song of Songs, but not exclusively: the union of Solomon with the daughter of the king of Egypt, which is celebrated there, is only a type of another union, that of the mystical marriage of the Savior with his Church. The most famous representative of this opinion is Bossuet, who expounded and defended it in the preface to his commentary on the Song of Songs. Calmet also adopted it… The interpretation of the mystical school is not condemnable like the previous one; we nevertheless believe that it is not the true one» (Vigouroux, Biblical Manual, t. 2, n. 864). Indeed, most of the reasons that go against the literal school also go against the typical school, since it too admits a historical meaning that could not have existed.
- 3) The allegorical school alone provides a satisfactory explanation of the Song of Songs. Rising, in accordance with the meaning of the word allegory (a kind of fiction that consists of representing one object to convey the idea of another—from the double root: ἀλλο, other, and ἀγορεύω, I say; to express one thing to convey another), far above the literal meaning and its appearances, it refuses to see in this poem the story of a real event that happened exactly as it is recounted, with all its details. For this school, the marriage of Solomon and the Shulamite is merely a figure intended to represent a moral truth of a higher order, a veil covering a great and profound mystery, a noble garment to adorn a purely celestial idea. In this respect, "the Song is like the parables of the Gospel; the literal meaning has never been historical. Taking as the basis of his descriptions "the tenderness of spouses, for the sole reason that it is the most vivid and sensitive image of affection at its highest degree", the sacred poet sings here, solely and exclusively, "the infinite condescensions of holy Love incarnate, of that love which, first humbling itself in human form to visit us in our miserable state, in order to seek and conquer the beloved object, and which, then raising with him to the heavenly sanctuary a sanctified humanity (Eph. 2, 6), finally awaits there above an invitation from the mystical Bride, to return a second time to earth and seal the union for eternity (Rev. 22, 17). "In simpler terms, the Song of Songs recounts the mystical marriage of Our Lord Jesus Christ, this ideal and perfect Solomon, with the Church, of which the Shulamite, so beautiful, so pure, so loving, so faithful, is an admirable type.
Christ and the Church, their mutual love, their ineffable union: this, then, is the true and direct idea of this sublime poem, the one that Catholic tradition has always seen in it before any other concept. But it is quite understandable that by generalizing or particularizing it, various, though secondary, applications could be made of it: indeed, the Song of Songs represents "all of God's love for humanity"; consequently, the union of God with humankind in general, the union of God and the synagogue (this is naturally the interpretation of Jewish exegetes), the union of the Word and the Virgin. Married, his mother according to the flesh (see Saint Francis de Sales, Treatise on the Love of God(Book 10, Chapter 5), and the union of Christ with the faithful soul (Saint Bernard focuses particularly on this meaning in his delightful homilies on the Song of Songs). But it is good to reiterate that the first and principal purpose of the Song of Songs is, as Saint Gregory of Nyssa wrote, to "sing, by divine inspiration, the praises of Christ and his Church" ("this whole book is prophetic," says Cornelius a Lapide, "to such an extent that it is nothing other than a continual prophecy of Christ and the Church").
Besides what has already been said, based on the very substance of the book, regarding the impossibility of a literal interpretation, it is easy to support the allegorical interpretation on the most solid foundations. 1. Completely analogous examples or comparisons abound in both the Old and New Testaments. The Bible often represents the Jewish nation "as the bride or betrothed of the Lord, even as a mother or a virgin, and it describes Israel's defection as marital infidelity and prostitution." It calls God, in the strict sense of the expression, a "jealous God," who threatens his mystical bride with divorce. Compare Exodus 34:15; Leviticus 20:5-6; Numbers 15:39; Psalm 73:27 (according to the Hebrew text); Isaiah 50:1; 54:6; Jeremiah 3:1-11; 4, 30; Ezekiel 15, 16; Hosea 2, 19-20, etc. Psalm 44 develops, but in an abbreviated way, absolutely the same thought as the Song of Songs, and under the same image. In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is very expressly also given the name of bridegroom, and the Church is mentioned as his bride (cf. Matthew 9, 15; 22, 2-14, and 25, 1-13); John 3, 29; 2 Cor. 11:12; Eph. 5:22 ff.; Rev. 19:9; 21:2, 9, and 22:17). 2° The ancient Jewish commentators (the Targum, the Midraš, The rabbis (the great doctors of the Middle Ages) always explained the Song of Songs according to its allegorical meaning, not understanding that it could be given another. Thirdly, Christian tradition is no less explicit and universal in this respect: "This is the common opinion of the doctors and the saints," Sanchez rightly says to characterize it. Origen, Saint Cyprian, Saint Athanasius, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Saint Jerome, Saint Ambrose, Saint Augustine, Theodoret, Saint Bernard, Saint Thomas Aquinas, are the most glorious witnesses to this (for details of this proof, see Grandvaux and Le Hir, the Song of Songs, Paris, 1883, p. 13-43; Cornely, Introductio specialis in didacticos et propheticos VT Libros, pp. 186-195). 4° Finally, we find many similar allegories in the ancient and modern literature of the Orient, that is to say, divine love sung by comparisons borrowed from human affection and marriage.
It is therefore this great thought of the union of Jesus Christ with his Church that one must always keep in mind when reading the pages of the holy Song of Songs. "It swiftly traverses the human senses, and raises them to the heights, as Bossuet so delicately puts it. One must strive to make the flight to the divine swift."Praef. In Cant., 4).
4. The author of the Song of Songs. — The very title of the book clearly indicates this: Song of Songs, by Solomon, and we have no serious reason to doubt the authenticity of this formula, which is older than the Septuagint version. The almost unanimous tradition of the Jews and the Catholic Church also attributes the composition of the Song of Songs to King Solomon. Several intrinsic characteristics confirm this twofold assertion. The style is certainly, on the whole, "pure Hebrew of the best period," worthy, therefore, of the golden age of Hebrew literature; worthy also of Solomon, who was such a great poet (cf. 1 Kings 4:33). Here again, rationalists allege supposed Aramaicisms in order to be able to postpone the date of composition by several centuries; this exaggerated claim has been made in connection with the«Ecclesiastes. The description of the splendors of Jerusalem, the royal court, and all of Israel is also very fitting for the reign of Solomon, which was unsurpassed in this respect (cf. 1:4, 8; 3:7-11; 4:4, 12-15; 8:11, etc.). The same is true of the frequent details concerning the plant and animal worlds, with which King Solomon was intimately familiar, according to 1 Kings 4:33 (cf. 1:11-16; 2:1-5; 7-17; 4:1-16, etc.). This fact is therefore considered indisputable.
5° The same does not apply to the question relating to plan and to the division of the book, because it has been divided in many ways. However, one notices here and there identical formulas, which seem to end or begin a song; for example, I implore you, daughters of Jerusalem.... (2, 7; 3, 5, and 8, 4), and Which one is it?… (3, 6; 6, 9, and 8, 5). By combining these with the events recounted, the Canticle can be divided into six distinct parts, which appear quite complete in terms of both content and form: First Canto, 1, 1-2, 7; Second Canto, 2, 8-3, 5; Third Canto, 3, 6-5, 1; Fourth Canto, 5, 2-6, 8; Fifth Canto, 6, 9-8, 4; Sixth Canto, 8, 5-14 (Bossuet's overly artificial division into seven parts, corresponding to the seven days of the wedding feasts, has long since been abandoned). There is, in terms of the idea, a very noticeable ascending gradation in the different cantos; Christ and the Church grow in love and manifest their heavenly love ever more clearly. Their union becomes closer with each canto; At the end, she receives her consummation and her coronation in heaven.
6° Authors to consult. — In the early centuries, Origen, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, and Theodoret, in the Greek Church; Saint Ambrose, Saint Gregory the Great, and Bede the Venerable, in the Latin Church. In the Middle Ages, Honorius of Autun, Saint Bernard, Nicholas of Lyra, and Saint Thomas Aquinas. In modern times, Pineda (Praelectio sacra in Cant., 1602), Sanchez (Lyon, 1616), Bossuet (Libri Salomonis… cum notis, Paris, 1693), Calmet. In the 19th century, Le Hir (The Song of Songs, preceded by a study on the true meaning of the Song, by Abbé Grandvaux; Paris, 1883), Bishop Meignan (Solomon, his reign, his writings; Paris, 1890); G. Gietmann (Commentarius in Ecclesiasten et Canticum canticorum; Paris, 1890).
The kisses from her mouth
1 1 Song of Songs, of Solomon. 2 Let him kiss me with kisses from his mouth, for your love is better than wine. 3 Your perfumes have a sweet scent, your name is like oil poured forth, that is why young girls love you. 4 Draw me after you, let us run. The king has brought me into his chambers. We will tremble, we will rejoice in you, we will celebrate your love more than wine. How right it is to love you. [THE WIFE:] 5 I am black but beautiful, daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the pavilions of Solomon. 6 Do not stare at my dark complexion, it is the sun that has tanned me. My mother's sons were angry with me; they put me to tend vineyards, but I did not tend my own vineyard.
You whom my heart loves
7 Tell me, O you whom my heart loves, where you lead your sheep to pasture, where you make them rest at midday, so that I may not be like one who is lost, wandering among the flocks of your companions. [THE CHORUS:] 8 If you do not know, O fairest of women, go forth in the footsteps of your flock, and lead your young goats to graze near the shepherds' huts. [THE HUSBAND:] 9I compare you, my love, to my mare when she is harnessed to Pharaoh's chariots. 10 Your cheeks are beautiful amidst the necklaces, your neck is beautiful amidst the rows of pearls. 11 We will make you necklaces of gold, studded with silver. [THE WIFE:] 12 While the king was on his couch, my spikenard gave off its fragrance.
A sachet of myrrh between my breasts
13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh, which lies between my breasts. 14 My beloved is to me a cluster of cypress trees in the vineyards of Engaddi. [THE HUSBAND:] 15 Yes, you are beautiful, my friend; yes, you are beautiful, your eyes are like doves' eyes. [THE WIFE:] 16 Yes, you are handsome, my beloved; yes, you are charming. Our bed is a bed of greenery. [THE HUSBAND:] 17 The beams in our houses are cedar, our paneling is cypress.
I am lovesick
2 [THE WIFE:] 1 I am the narcissus of Sharon, the lily of the valleys. [THE HUSBAND:] 2 Like a lily among thorns, so is my love among the maidens. [THE WIFE:] 3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. I longed to sit in his shade, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. 4 He brought me into his cellar and the banner he raises over me is love. 5 Sustain me with raisin cakes, strengthen me with apples, for I am lovesick. 6 May his left hand support my head and his right hand hold me in its embrace. [THE HUSBAND:] 7 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and the does of the field, do not awaken or rouse the beloved until she is ready. [THE BRIDE:] 8 The voice of my beloved, behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, skipping over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle
9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look, he is behind our wall, peering through the window, watching through the lattice. 10 My beloved spoke, he said to me, «Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” 11 because now winter is over, the rain has stopped, it has disappeared. 12 The flowers have appeared on the earth, the time for singing has arrived, the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our countryside, 13 The fig tree puts forth its budding fruit, the flowering vine gives its fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. 14 My dove, where you dwell in the cleft of the rock, in the shelter of the steep cliffs, show me your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet and your face lovely. 15 "Take away the foxes, the little foxes, that are ravaging the vineyards, for our vineyards are in bloom."»
My beloved is mine and I am his.
16 My beloved is mine and I am his; he pastures his flock among the lilies. 17 Before the cool of the day comes and the shadows flee, return. Be like a gazelle or a young stag on the rugged mountains.
I searched for the one my heart loves
3 1 On my bed, during the night, I searched for the one my heart loves; I searched for him, but I did not find him. 2 «"Let us rise," I said to myself, "let us roam the city, the streets and the squares, let us seek the one whom my heart loves." I sought him and I did not find him. 3 The guards met me, those who patrol the city. "Have you seen the one my heart loves?"« 4 I had scarcely passed them when I found the one my heart loves. I seized him and I will not let him go until I have brought him into my mother's house and into the chamber of her who gave me birth.
Don't wake your beloved
[THE HUSBAND:] 5 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and the does of the field, do not awaken or rouse the beloved until she is ready. [CHORUS:] 6 What is this that rises from the desert like a column of smoke, exhaling myrrh and frankincense, all the spices of the merchants? 7 This is Solomon's bed; around him are sixty brave men from among the mighty men of Israel. 8 All are armed with swords, trained in combat. Each carries his sword on his hip, to ward off the alarms of the night. 9 King Solomon made himself a bed out of the wood of the Lebanon. 10 He made its pillars of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple; in the middle is an embroidery, the work of love of the daughters of Jerusalem. 11 Go out, daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon, wearing the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of joy from his heart.
You are so beautiful, my friend
4 [THE HUSBAND:] 1 Yes, you are beautiful, my friend; yes, you are beautiful, your eyes are like doves behind your veil; your hair is like a flock of goats, hanging down the slopes of Mount Gilead. 2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep coming up from the washing place; each one has twins, and among them there is not one barren. 3 Your lips are like a purple thread and your mouth is lovely; your cheek is like half a pomegranate behind your veil. 4 Your neck is like the tower of David, built as an armory; a thousand shields hang on it, all the shields of the brave. 5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, grazing among the lilies. 6 Before the cool of day comes and the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. 7 You are absolutely beautiful, my friend, and there is no blemish on you. 8 Come with me from the Lebanon, My fiancée, come with me from Lebanon. Look from the summit of Amana, from the summit of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards. 9 You stole my heart, my fiancée sister, you stole my heart with just one of your glances, with just one of the pearls on your necklace.
My fiancée is a sealed fountain
10 How charming is your love, my betrothed sister! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your perfumes than all spices!. 11 Your lips drip honey, my bride, honey and milk are under your tongue and the scent of your clothes is like the scent of Lebanon. 12 It is a closed garden that my sister is betrothed to, a closed spring, a sealed fountain. 13 Your shoots are a grove of pomegranates, with the most exquisite fruits; cypress with spikenard, 14 spikenard and saffron, cinnamon and cinnamon, with all the frankincense trees, myrrh and aloe, with all the best balsams. 15 Garden spring, well of living water, stream flowing from Lebanon. [THE WIFE:] 16 Arise, north winds; come, south winds. Blow upon my garden, that its trees may exude fragrance. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat its choice fruits.
I sleep, but my heart is awake.
5 [THE HUSBAND:] 1 I have entered my garden, my betrothed sister; I have gathered my myrrh with my balm; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk, my beloved. [THE BRIDE:] 2 I sleep, but my heart is awake. It is the voice of my beloved. He knocks: «Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my pure one; for my head is covered with dew, the locks of my hair are wet with the drops of the night.» 3 I took off my tunic, how can I put it back on? I washed my feet, how could I get them dirty again? 4 My beloved reached through the keyhole and my heart stirred for him. 5 I rose to open to my beloved and from my hands dripped the myrrh, from my fingers the exquisite myrrh, onto the handle of the lock.
Oh, the most beautiful of women
6 I opened the door to my beloved, but my beloved had vanished; he had fled. I was beside myself when he spoke to me. I sought him, but did not find him; I called to him, but he did not answer me. 7 The guards who patrol the city met me; they struck me, they bruised me; they took off my cloak, those who guard the wall. 8 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, what will you tell him? That I am sick with love. [CHORUS:] 9 What does your beloved have more than another beloved, O fairest of women? What does your beloved have more than another beloved, that you conjure us thus?
My beloved is Fresh and Vermilion
[THE WIFE]: 10 My beloved is fresh and rosy; he stands out among ten thousand. 11 Her head is pure gold, her curls of hair, flexible like palm fronds, are black like a raven. 12 Her eyes are like doves by the streams, bathing in milk, perched on the banks. 13 Her cheeks are like beds of balsam trees, squares of fragrant plants; her lips are lilies, from which flows the purest myrrh. 14 Her hands are golden cylinders, enameled with Tharsis stones; her breast is an ivory masterpiece, covered with sapphires. 15 Its legs are alabaster columns, set on bases of pure gold. Its appearance is that of Lebanon, elegant like cedar. 16 His palate is all sweetness, and his whole being is all charm. This is my beloved, this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.
I am my Beloved's, He is mine
6 [THE CHORUS:] 1 Where has your beloved gone, O fairest among women? Which way has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you? [THE WIFE:] 2 My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture his flock in the gardens and to gather lilies. 3 I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine; he pastures his flock among the lilies. [THE BRIDEGROOM:] 4 You are beautiful, my friend, like Tirzah, charming like Jerusalem, but terrible like battalions. 5 Turn your eyes away from me, for they trouble me. Your hair is like a flock of goats, hanging down the slopes of Mount Gilead. 6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep, coming up from the washing place; each one has twins, and among them there is not one that is barren. 7 Your cheek is like half a pomegranate, behind your veil. 8 There are sixty queens, eighty concubines, and countless young girls: 9 My dove is mine alone, my immaculate one; she is her mother's only child, the favorite of her who bore her. The maidens saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines saw her and praised her: 10 «"Who is this that appears like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, pure as the sun, but terrible as battalions?"» 11 I had gone down to the walnut garden, to see the herbs of the valley, to see if the vines are growing, if the pomegranate trees are in bloom. 12 I don't know, but my love made me ride on the chariots of my noble people.
My love, amidst the delights
7 [THE CHORUS:] 1 Return, return, Shulamite, return, return, so that we may look upon you. [THE BROTHER:] Why do you look upon the Shulamite as upon a dance of Mahanaim? [THE CHORUS:] 2 How beautiful your feet are in your sandals, daughter of a prince. The curve of your hips is like a necklace, the work of an artist. 3 Your navel is a rounded cup, where the flavored wine is never lacking. Your belly is a heap of wheat, surrounded by lilies. 4 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle. 5 Your neck is like an ivory tower; your eyes are like the pools of Hezebon, by the gate of Bath-Rabbim. Your nose is like the Tower of the Lebanon, which is monitoring the Damascus side. 6 Your head rests upon you like Mount Carmel, the hair of your head is like scarlet: a king is bound by its locks. [THE BRIDEGROOM:] 7 How beautiful you are, how charming you are, my love, amidst the delights.
My beloved directs his desires towards me
8 Your waist resembles a palm tree and your breasts its clusters of grapes. 9 I said: I will climb the palm tree, I will seize its bunches. May your breasts be like the clusters of grapes on the vine, the fragrance of your breath like that of apples 10 and your palate like exquisite wine. [THE WIFE:] Which flows easily for my beloved, which glides over the lips of those who fall asleep. 11 I belong to my beloved, and it is toward me that he directs his desires. 12 Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields, let us spend the night in the villages. 13 Early in the morning we will go to the vineyards, we will see if the vines are budding, if the buds have opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom; there I will give you my love. 14 The mandrakes give off their fragrance, and at our gates we have all the best fruits, both new and old: my beloved, I have kept them for you.
Love is as strong as death
8 1 Oh, that you were not a brother to me, who would have nursed at my mother's breast. Meeting you outside, I would embrace you and no one could despise me. 2 I would bring you, I would introduce you to my mother's house: you would teach me, and I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranates. 3 His left hand is under my head and his right hand holds me in a kiss. [THE HUSBAND:] 4 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, do not awaken or rouse the beloved until she is ready. [CHORUS:] 5 Who is this that comes up from the desert, leaning on her beloved? [THE BRIDEGROOM:] I woke you up under the apple tree, there your mother conceived you; there she conceived you, there she gave birth to you. 6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy as unyielding as Sheol. Its ardor is the ardor of fire, a flame of the Lord.
I am the one who found peace
7 Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers drown it. If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love, he would only be despised. [THE CHORUS:] 8 We have a little sister, who doesn't have breasts yet: what will we do to our sister, the day we look for her? 9 If she is a wall, we will crown her with silver; if she is a door, we will close it with a cedar plank. [THE WIFE:] 10 I am a wall and my breasts are like towers, so in his eyes I am the one who found peace. [THE CHORUS:] 11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-Hamon; he entrusted the vineyard to caretakers, and each was to bring him a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit. [THE WIFE:] 12 The vineyard that is mine, I have given it over to you, Solomon: the thousand shekels and two hundred to the guardians of its fruit. [THE BROTHER:] 13 You who dwell in the gardens, whose companions listen to your voice, deign to let me hear it. [THE WIFE:] 14 Run, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a fawn of deer, upon the mountains of balsam.
Notes on the Song of Songs
1.5 Cedar Tents ; That is to say, the Cedarenian or Scenite Arabs were made of goat hair, which is almost entirely black in that country. THE tents ; literally the skins ; because this kind of dwelling was formerly made with skins; but let us say that the travelers who describe to us the tents of the kings of the East, and those of their viziers and their generals, speak only with admiration of their beauty, their richness and their magnificence.
1.6 Isaiah 5:1-7, Jeremiah 12:10 and following...
1.9 This was probably the chariot that Pharaoh, King of Egypt, his father-in-law, had given him as a gift.
1.12 My nard. Her perfume is her loving response to the King's presence [BJ, 1951, p.32] Women In the East they carried bouquets of myrrh.
1.14 Cyprus ; it is the name of a shrub, having leaves similar to those of the olive tree, fragrant white flowers, and fruits hanging in clusters with a very pleasant aroma. It was harvested in Engaddi, a city located not far from Jericho, which became famous for the abundance of its palm trees, vines, and banana trees. ― «The cypress or chypre, in Hebrew copir, is the shrub named by the Arabs henna Or henna (Lawsonia inermis) whose leaves were used by Egyptian women to dye their hands and feet, and sometimes their hair. Jewish women adopted this fashion, which then spread throughout the East. This shrub bears charming golden-yellow flowers clustered on stems whose vibrant crimson contrasts pleasantly with the fresh green of the leaves. These flowers were highly prized for their sweet fragrance, by women Israelites; they made bouquets of them which they carried in their bosoms and crowns with which they adorned their heads.» (E. RIMMEL.)
2.4 In his cellar. Among the ancients cellar It was not a dark cellar, but an elevated place in the house where not only wine was kept, but also other provisions and all the most precious possessions; this place was adjacent to the bridal chamber. Homer tells us, in fact, that in Odysseus's palace, wine and oil were kept in large jugs arranged along the wall in an upper room, where there was also much gold, silver, and clothing, besides the bridal bed. Thus, it is not surprising that the Bride says more than once in this book that she was brought into the Bridegroom's cellar. He settled (ordinavit) in me charity ; that is to say, as expressed Saint Thomas Aquinas, He has placed in me a well-ordered love, so that I love myself and my neighbor only for God, and that I love God himself above all things.
2.7 I beg you, etc. The husband, leaving his wife's room early in the morning, leaves her asleep and begs that she not be awakened. By the gazelles and the does. These animals are the image of all that is beautiful and graceful.
2.9 through the trellis. See Proverbs, note 7.6.
2.11 Winter is over, the rain has stopped. The rains usually cease in March in Palestine, and their cessation marks the end of winter.
2.12 The flowers appeared on the earth. In March, Palestine is a carpet of flowers. The voice of the turtledove. Turtle doves are in the Holy Land of migratory birds that return in the spring: their voice announces the return of this most pleasant of seasons, for they arrive first among migratory birds and make themselves heard everywhere and incessantly.
2.13 The fig tree in Palestine produces two or even three harvests, in June, August, and at the beginning of winter. As soon as winter ends, the first figs begin to grow on the tree.
2.15 The little foxes, properly speaking, jackals. These animals cause great havoc in the vineyards.
2.16 grazes his flock among the lilies ; which gives off a scent as pleasant as if it were fed on lilies, and as if it had spent the night among the most fragrant flowers.
2.17 The ravine mountains ; according to the Septuagint, mountains of cavities. We do not know exactly what these mountains were; but we can suppose that they were very pleasant and full of game, since the Bride compares her beloved to the deer and the baleen of does that inhabited them.
3.5 I beg you, etc. See Hymn, 2, 7.
3.8 night alarms ; That is to say, because of the surprises that one might fear during the night. The custom of placing guards for the king's bed also existed among the Romans.
3.11 Go out, etc. The wedding girls invite the other girls of Jerusalem to come and see Solomon adorned with the diadem.
4.1 Gilead, a land rich in herds, pastures, and especially beautiful goats. ― The mountain of Gilead is very fertile and rich in pastures and there are many goats there.
4.3 Like half a grenade. The opened pomegranate reveals the seeds it contains, which are a beautiful crimson red.
4.4 A thousand shields are hanging there.. The pearls and jewels that adorn the Bride's neck.
4.8 Amana, a mountain in the Anti-Lebanon range. ― Sanir, Amorite name for Hermon. ― Hermon, southern part of the Anti-Lebanon mountain range. — Lions and other ferocious animals were once numerous in these mountains; now only the panther is found there. The meaning of this verse is highly controversial. Several commentators interpret it as follows: Leave the wild mountains, lair of wild beasts, and come dwell with me.
4.12 An enclosed garden. See Ecclesiastes, note 2.5. ― The Sealed fountain This is thought to be the present-day Ras el-Aïn, south of Bethlehem, about a hundred meters from the fortress of Kalaâh el-Bourak. «A staircase of twenty-six steps leads into a first chamber hewn from the rock and vaulted with a semicircular arch, its top pierced by a circular opening. The middle of this chamber, which measures twelve to thirteen meters long by four to five meters wide, is occupied by a small rectangular basin. This is where the water first gathers. From there, it is carried by an aqueduct to the water tower [of the Basins or Pools of Solomon, near Kalaâh el-Bourak]. This aqueduct, largely hewn from the rock and initially vaulted in a humpback shape, opens in the eastern wall. Through a doorway in the western wall, one enters a second chamber, also hewn from the rock and vaulted with a semicircular arch.» Here we see an apse cut into the south wall and another into the west wall. This wall is faced with bricks, but they are not very old. It is at the base of this latter apse that most of these waters emerge from the rock; pure and limpid as crystal, they flow through a narrow channel into a small reservoir, from which they immediately flow out again to empty into the reservoir of the first chamber. (LIEVIN.)
4.14 «"Saffron consists of the dried stigmas [of the plant that bears this name], of the crocus sativus. It was one of the most prized aromatics of the ancients; but it is now hardly used except for dyeing or as a condiment in southern cuisine. (E. Rimmel.) For other perfumes, see Exodus, notes 30.23 to 30.34.
5.1 Get drunk. In this passage, as in several others, the verb does not mean to drink to the point of disturbing the brain, it only means to drink as much as thirst and necessity demand, or even to feast lavishly, to rejoice.
5.3 I washed my feet. Since people in the East usually wear sandals, they often wash their feet to remove dust.
5.4 Through keyhole, to open it.
5.7 My coat. The cloak of oriental women, which also serves as a veil, covers them completely.
5.9 What sign will allow us to recognize it for your particular beloved?
5.15 elegant like cedars ; among all the other trees.
5.16 His palace ; That is to say, the sound of his voice, his speech.
6.11 Although I went down into the walnut garden to see the fruits of the valleys, that is, whether the vine had flowered and whether the pomegranates had sprouted, I could not ascertain this, because I was disturbed by the speed with which the charioteers of Aminadab were carrying me along.
7.1 Shulamite, the peaceful one, a name corresponding to Solomon, which means the peaceful one. — Why are you looking. According to some, these are the words of the Bridegroom, addressed to himself or to the daughters of Jerusalem; according to others, it is the Bride herself who speaks; and according to still others, it is the daughters of Jerusalem. — The Bride has already been compared to an army drawn up in battle array.
7.4 Your eyes, etc. The Hebrews called fountains eyes; this is one of the beauties of the comparison.
7.5 Hesebon, an ancient and famous city beyond the Jordan.
7.5 In the past, hair braids were tied with purple ribbons.
7.9 Worthy from my beloved to drink, and to savor.
8.6 Like a seal on your arm. This is undoubtedly an allusion to a custom similar to that of the Assyro-Chaldeans, who had as a seal an engraved precious stone, in the shape of a cylinder; they wore it attached to their arm.
8.8 the day she will be sought ; that is to say, to propose marriage to her. Genesis, 34, verse 4 and following.
8.14 The Balsam Mountains, the mountains no doubt where aromatic plants grow, as in Hymn, 4, 6, the hill of incense.
