NOTES for Sol 4:1-16

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.