NOTES for Sol 4:1-16
1 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead. |
2 Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them. |
3 Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks. |
4 Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men. |
5 Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies. |
6 Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. |
7 Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee. |
8 Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon: look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lions' dens, from the mountains of the leopards. |
9 Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. |
10 How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices! |
11 Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb: honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. |
12 A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. |
13 Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard, |
14 Spikenard and saffron; calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices: |
15 A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon. |
16 Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits. |
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The bridegroom sings the bride's praises; his epithets and comparisons are many, and in his eyes she is entirely beautiful and infinitely precious. Having found the bride, he singles her out from everything that exists in the world; for him she embodies all creation. Yet every soul that has found God is more precious to Him than all that was previously created. He created the world for us, and now, having turned away from the sin that destroys the world, we receive the possibility of entering a transfigured world where His design at Creation will be restored. It is difficult to say of those whom the Lord calls, there is no blemish in you, but these words can be applied to the state to which He wants to lead us.
Among the comparisons with which the bridegroom magnifies the bride, the comparison to a locked garden sounds unexpected, and we remember that since the Fall the garden of paradise has remained locked to us. Now a human being, endowed with hidden treasures given by God, is likened to a locked garden. And He enters this garden so that the human being may return to that Garden from which he was expelled.
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