Ambrose of Milan — Commentary on Scripture

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

“I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys, as a lily among thorns.” This is a plain declaration that virtues are surrounded by the thorns of spiritual wickedness, so that no one can gather the fruit who does not approach with caution.

Song of Solomon 2:3 · 2 passages

As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.

“As an apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among young men.” And seeing this, the church is glad and rejoices, saying with great delight, “I sat in his shadow, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.”

The Church, following this ever-flourishing greenness of grace in Christ, says: "In his shadow I desired, and I sat." The Apostles also received this privilege of the evergreen gift, not a leaf of theirs could ever fall, so that even their shadow could heal the sick. For the weaknesses of the body overshadow the faith of the mind, and the flourishing merits of virtues.

Song of Solomon 2:5

Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love.

The Word of God inflicts a wound, but it does not produce a sore. There is a wound of righteous love, there are wounds of charity, as she has said, “I am wounded with love.” The one who is perfect is wounded with love. Therefore the wounds of the Word are good, and good are the wounds of the lover.

Song of Solomon 2:8

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

For at first, impatient of love and unable to bear the delays of the Word, she prays to be worthy of kisses, and she deserved to see the desired. Secondly, when she was also introduced into the king's chambers and engaged in mutual conversation, she rested in his shadow, and suddenly the Word departed from the midst of their conversation; however, it was not absent for long, but came forth leaping over the mountains and bounding over the hills. And not long after, like a young deer or a fawn, while addressing his beloved, he leaped forth and departed.

Song of Solomon 2:9 · 3 passages

My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows, shewing himself through the lattice.

Be more like him who leaps over mountains and transcends hills, looking through windows, standing above nets. The chains of pleasure are evil. It delights the eyes, soothes the ears, but corrupts the mind: it tells many lies, adds falsehood, subtracts truth, promises money, offers gold; but takes away discipline.

Therefore, he comes, and first after the wall is removed, which seemed to be an obstacle to harmony, in order to dissolve the enmities between soul and body. Then he looks through the windows. About what the windows are, hear the prophet saying: The windows are opened from heaven. Certainly, the prophet signifies those through whom the Lord looked upon the human race before he himself descended to the earth. And today, if any soul earnestly seeks him, it will receive much mercy; for the one who seeks much is owed the most. Therefore, if any soul seeks him diligently, it hears his voice from far away: and even though it may seek from others, it hears his voice before those from whom it seeks. It sees him coming towards it, that is, hastening and running, and surpassing those who are unable to grasp his power with a weak heart; finally, it sees him looking through the riddles of the prophets, reading them and understanding their words. It sees him looking, but as through a window, not yet as present.

But because we must always be anxious, always attentive; and because the Word of God leaps forth like a young goat, or like a fawn, the soul must always be vigilant and strive for what it seeks and desires to hold.

Song of Solomon 2:10-14 · 2 passages

My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

He is a fine deer, whose mountain is the house of God, to which he runs with such speed that he surpasses the wishes and desires of his bride. Indeed, when he saw him coming from afar, he suddenly recognized that he was present beside him. Hence he says: Behold, he is here behind our wall, looking through the windows, peering through the lattice. My cousin answered and said to me: Arise, come, my nearest one, my beautiful one, my dove; for behold, winter has passed, the rain has gone, it has departed for itself, flowers have appeared on the earth. Winter is the Synagogue: the rain is the Jewish people, who could not see the sun: the apostles are the flowers. And he added: The harvest of the incision has come, the voice of the turtledove was heard in our land. That harvest is the faith of the Church: the voice of the turtledove is chastity.

"Arise, come to me, my love," that is, rise from worldly pleasures, rise from earthly things, and come to me, who are still laboring and burdened, because you are anxious for the things of the world. Come above the world, come to me, for I have conquered the world. Come near to me now, beautiful with the beauty of eternal life, now a dove, that is, gentle and meek, now completely full of spiritual grace. Now winter has passed, that is, Easter has come, indulgence has come, remission of sins has come, temptation has ceased, the rain has gone, the storm has gone, and the shaking. Before the coming of Christ, there is winter, after His coming there are flowers. Hence it says: Flowers are seen on the earth. Where there were thorns before, there are now flowers. It is said that the time for cutting has come. Where there was a desert before, there is now a harvest. The voice of the turtle-dove has been heard in our land.

Song of Solomon 2:16

My beloved is mine, and I am his: he 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. It knows what waits among the prayers of the saints, and what clings to them, and understands how it feeds his Church, or the souls of his righteous ones among the lilies. The Lord demonstrated this mystery to you in the Gospel when he led his disciples through the fields on the Sabbath. Moses led the people of Judea through the desert: Christ leads through the fields, Christ leads through the lilies; for through his passion the desert blooms like a lily.

Song of Solomon 2:17

Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or 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 the beginning, he says: "My brother to me, and I to him, who grazes among the lilies, until the day breathes and the shadows flee away." Then he says: "I to my brother, and my brother to me, who grazes among the lilies." In the end, he says: "I to my brother, and his desire is towards me." First, as a foundational instruction for the soul, he said: "My brother to me." For with him as my teacher, my soul also took on an attachment to God: which follows, according to progress: thirdly, according to perfection. In the first, the soul still sees shadows as in an instruction, not yet moved by the revelation of the approaching Word, but for this reason the days of the Gospel did not yet shine on it: in the second, it gathers the sweet scents without the confusion of shadows: in the third, it now provides perfect rest in itself with the Word; that it may turn over on it, bend its head, and rest, holding the merit which it could not previously fin…

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 the beginning, he says: "My brother to me, and I to him, who grazes among the lilies, until the day breathes and the shadows flee away." Then he says: "I to my brother, and my brother to me, who grazes among the lilies." In the end, he says: "I to my brother, and his desire is towards me." First, as a foundational instruction for the soul, he said: "My brother to me." For with him as my teacher, my soul also took on an attachment to God: which follows, according to progress: thirdly, according to perfection. In the first, the soul still sees shadows as in an instruction, not yet moved by the revelation of the approaching Word, but for this reason the days of the Gospel did not yet shine on it: in the second, it gathers the sweet scents without the confusion of shadows: in the third, it now provides perfect rest in itself with the Word; that it may turn over on it, bend its head, and rest, holding the merit which it could not previously find in its search.

Song of Solomon 3:1-4 · 3 passages

By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not.

Let us follow him by day, the present day of the church, which Abraham saw and was glad. This is why we follow Christ during the day; for he will not be found by night. “Upon my bed,” Scripture says, “by night I sought him whom my soul loves. I called him, but he gave no answer.”

"In my bed, I sought the one whom my soul loves during the nights." Whoever seeks well, let them seek in their bed, let them seek during the nights, neither on holidays nor on nights of rest. Let no time be vacant from the duty of piety; and if it does not find it at first, let it continue in seeking. ... And since we see heavenly mysteries prefigured in the Gospel on earth, let us come to that Mary, let us come also to Magdalene. Let us consider how they sought Christ in the bed of his body, in which he lay dead, on the nights when the angel said to them: You seek Jesus who was crucified; he is not here, for he has risen. Why, therefore, do you seek the living among the dead? What do you seek in the tomb of one who is already in heaven? What do you seek in the chains of universal imprisonment, who breaks the chains? This is not a tomb, but a dwelling place. Therefore, one of them said: I sought him, but did not find him.

What is signified by the house of your mother and her chamber except the interior, secret place of your nature? Keep this house, and cleanse its inmost parts so that, once it is an immaculate house unstained by any sordidness of an adulterous conscience, a spiritual house held together by the cornerstone may rise into a holy priesthood, and the Holy Spirit may dwell in it. One who thus seeks Christ, who entreats him, is not abandoned by him. Rather, that one is frequently visited, for he is with us until the end of the world.

Song of Solomon 3:6-7 · 2 passages

Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?

For Solomon made himself a bed of wood from Lebanon. Its pillars were of silver, its bottom of gold, its back strewn with gems.

Seeing therefore the daughters of Jerusalem cleaving to Christ and still ascending with Him (for He deigns frequently to meet with them who seek Him, and to descend to raise them), they say: Who is this that ascendeth from the desert? For this desert place of the earth appears rough and uncultivated, covered with the thistles and thorns of our sins. They marvel, indeed, how a soul which was formerly abandoned in hell, can cleave to the Word of God and ascend like a shoot of the vine, raising itself above, as it were smoke that rises up from the fire, and reaching high, and moreover being inflamed with good works. But that smell of pious prayer gives off a pleasant fragrance, which rises up like incense in the sight of God. And in the Apocalypse we read that: Smoke from the incense rises up from the prayers of the saints, which are offered up by an angel, namely the prayers of the saints, on that golden altar which is before the throne of God, and like the sweet fragrance of pious prayer, it burns as an ointment; because it is composed not of requests for temporal and visible things…

Seeing therefore the daughters of Jerusalem cleaving to Christ and still ascending with Him (for He deigns frequently to meet with them who seek Him, and to descend to raise them), they say: Who is this that ascendeth from the desert? For this desert place of the earth appears rough and uncultivated, covered with the thistles and thorns of our sins. They marvel, indeed, how a soul which was formerly abandoned in hell, can cleave to the Word of God and ascend like a shoot of the vine, raising itself above, as it were smoke that rises up from the fire, and reaching high, and moreover being inflamed with good works. But that smell of pious prayer gives off a pleasant fragrance, which rises up like incense in the sight of God. And in the Apocalypse we read that: Smoke from the incense rises up from the prayers of the saints, which are offered up by an angel, namely the prayers of the saints, on that golden altar which is before the throne of God, and like the sweet fragrance of pious prayer, it burns as an ointment; because it is composed not of requests for temporal and visible things, but especially of myrrh and incense, because it is dead to sins and alive to God.

Song of Solomon 3:10-11

He made the pillars thereof of silver, the bottom thereof of gold, the covering of it of purple, the midst thereof being paved with love, for the daughters of Jerusalem.

Therefore, when the bride reaches the rest of the bridegroom, they sing a wedding song, saying to the daughters of Jerusalem: Go forth and see King Solomon, in the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding. They sing the wedding hymn and invite the other powers of heaven, or souls, to see the love that Christ has for the daughters of Jerusalem. Hence, he merited to be crowned by his mother as the son of charity, as Paul shows, saying: For he has delivered us from the power of darkness and has transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son.

Song of Solomon 4:1 · 2 passages

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.

[The church] mourns in its eyes, that is in its faithful, because it is written, “Your eyes are as doves apart from your reticence,” because they see spiritually and know how to keep silent about the mysteries which they have seen.

But Christ, beholding his church, for whom he himself, as you find in the book of the prophet Zechariah, had put on filthy garments, now clothed in white raiment, seeing, that is, a soul pure and washed in the laver of regeneration, says, “Behold, you are fair, my love, behold you are fair, your eyes are like a dove’s,” in the likeness of which the Holy Spirit descended from heaven. The eyes are beautiful like those of a dove, because in the likeness of a dove the Holy Spirit descended from heaven.