Bede

Each man has his sword on his thigh, etc. By the thigh, carnal propagation is usually designated; hence it is written: All the souls that came out of the thigh of Jacob were seventy (Exod. I). Soldiers of Christ have a sword over their thigh when they suppress the movement of carnal desires with the severity of the spiritual word. And this is because of the night terrors, that is, lest they be struck down by the traps of the ancient tempter if they are found secure and unarmed, lest, having been overwhelmed, the bed of the true Solomon, which they ought to have guarded, be defiled; this applies to both beds of the eternal King that we mentioned, that is, both the present peace of the Church and the future one can equally be understood. For holy teachers fear lest the status of the present Church be violated by the darkness of heretics; they fear, those who have accustomated to open the eye of the mind to the contemplation of future joys, lest the light of divine revelation be obscured in them by the nocturnal disturbance of demonic perturbation. But if the strongest from Israel, in whom there is no deceit, who are the most skillful in wars, have a sword over their thigh because of the night terrors, what should I and those like me do? With how much fear should we serve the Lord, who are less skilled in spiritual combat and less strong in performing the things we speak of? One refuge alone remains for us, to adhere to Him, to place our hope in Him whom we know cannot be overcome, to seek His protection with the prophet, often saying: The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? (Psalm XXXVI). My light, indeed, to train me for battle; my salvation, to make me strong and invincible in battle. For if we persist in preaching, perhaps we too will deserve to hear with the same prophet. His truth will surround you with a shield; you will not fear the terror of the night (Psalm XC). Some strong ones who surround the bed of Solomon interpret this over the angels, who fight against the aerial powers for the peace of the holy Church, whose understanding seems to contradict what is said: Each man has his sword on his thigh; for how can they suppress the enticement of the flesh with the sword of continence, or assess it, who have no nature of flesh from which they subsist? So the Church, coming from the Gentiles, says, Behold the bed of Solomon, seventy strong ones surround it from the strongest of Israel, and so forth; as if to clearly say: Why are you surprised, O daughters of Jerusalem, that is, believing people from Judea, that I ascend through the desert in the manner of sweet-smelling spices of virtues? See that the king, to whose company I hasten, is peaceful, that bed of his inner peace is safe from the snares of the wicked and accessible only to the good, towards which I strive to arrive. But if it delights to hear, I will recount even more of his riches.

In the midst of love He established it, etc. With that very love with which He suffered for us: for no one has greater love than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends (John 15). And as the Apostle says, But God commends His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly (Rom. 5), for through this middle part He prepared His Church's stratum place, where faithful souls might rest softly, because He filled it entirely within with the love of heavenly things. And this is what He added, For the daughters of Jerusalem, that is, for the souls burning with the desire of heavenly things. For as much as God commended His love toward us by suffering for us, He kindled more souls to love Him in return and to suffer for Him. The purple ascent can also be specially understood in those who shed their blood for Christ. They are rightly said to have ascended to the golden headrest by the purple ascent, because they reached the love of perpetual rest through the labor, the art of tribulation. To whom it aptly applies what follows, because He established it in the midst of love. For this reason, they are ready to shed their blood for the heavenly King, because He inflamed their hearts, which are the middle part of His couch, with His love. Whence the Apostle, while describing the purple ascent of the couch, said: But we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation works patience, patience works proof; immediately he took care to add about the golden headrest, saying: Proof however works hope, and hope does not disappoint. And then he concluded about the love, with which the middle is established, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts (Rom. 5). Therefore, to the daughters of Jerusalem who are amazed and praising the Church from the nations, which ascends to heaven like a colonnade of smoke from aromatic spices, He Himself returns the reasons for His ascent, explaining that the bed of the peaceful king to which He hastened, is safe from the incursions of evil; and that His couch, where He hopes to be refreshed, although the ascent is arduous, nevertheless has a headrest shining like gold; and established in the midst of His love, for which reason He hastens to ascend, knowing that God is love, and he who abides in love, abides in God, and God in him (1 John 4). With these words having been said, in a wonderful and proper order, after narrating the gifts of His King, He also begins to extol His own appearance and adornment, inviting everyone to see this, and after He has been called Himself, He also takes care to call others, having taken up the task of evangelizing, while it is subsequently added:

On the day of her betrothal, etc. At the time of his incarnation, when he proceeded from the virginal womb to marry the Church, as a bridegroom from his chamber, it was a day of the joy of his heart, for he rejoiced that through the dispensation of his incarnation the world would be brought to the knowledge and vision of eternal divinity. Hence, when many flocked to his faith, it is written: "At that hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to little ones' (Luke 10). Hence the Redeemer himself, having led humanity through his blood to the heights, speaks to the citizens of heaven, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost' (Luke 15). Because therefore the daughters of Jerusalem, marveling at the coming of the bride, said, 'Who is she who comes up through the desert,' and so on; she aptly praises the bed, praises the litter of the bridegroom, and finally praises the bridegroom himself, to whose embrace she hastens. She remembers the humanity assumed for her in God, which at the time of her response created the mystery of the incorrupt mother; so that it shows she rightfully aspires to the glory of his divine vision, for which he himself would have taken on the habit of human nature. Hence rightfully, she, who so subjugated herself to the praises of her Redeemer, who invites her own cohorts, namely the daughters of Zion, to praise with maternal affection, also received a worthy recompense of praise from that same bridegroom and Redeemer; to whose voice it is joined.

Go forth, and see, daughters of Zion, King Solomon. The daughters of Zion are also the daughters of Jerusalem, that is, souls longing for the joys of the heavenly homeland. For Zion means watchtower, or the watchman, Jerusalem means vision of peace: both names fittingly apply to the inhabitants of the same heavenly city, where they enjoy eternal peace and always behold the face of their Creator. Therefore, go forth, he says, daughters of Zion, and see King Solomon. Go forth from the tumultuous life of the world so you may be able to see the King of Peace; go forth in mind and action from the midst of Babylon, you who desire to have a part in the heavenly Jerusalem, according to the command of that true Solomon, who says: Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins; thus he himself, wishing to separate us from the company of the world and to provoke us to heavenly joys, willed to suffer outside the city walls for our sake, as the Apostle beautifully and fully explains, saying: Jesus, to sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate, let us then go to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one to come (Hebrews 13). And because our Lord Jesus Christ must be confessed to be not only the true Son of God but also the true Son of Man: the Son of God indeed eternally born before the ages; the Son of Man, in time made at the end of the ages, rightly, after it was said: See, daughters of Zion, King Solomon, it was immediately added.

In the diadem with which his mother crowned him. For this is clearly to say, "Behold the Lord in the humanity which, taken from the Virgin mother, he placed at the right hand of the paternal majesty." Indeed, his mother crowned him with a diadem when the blessed and undefiled virgin, conceiving by the Holy Spirit, provided to him from her flesh the material of that most holy flesh, in which appearing to the world and dwelling among us, he would destroy the reign of death by dying and restore life to us by rising again, and by ascending to the heavens, would exalt it with the glory of the everlasting kingdom. Therefore, the daughters of Zion, seeing King Solomon in his natural beauty, also marvel at the diadem with which his mother crowned him, because the elect, believing and confessing the glory of the Son of God equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit, also recognize the assumption of the human nature in which he overcame the dominion of death to be clarified forever, not by the power of his own substance, but by the work of the Word who assumed it, that is, the only Son of God; whose vision of the diadem, one of the daughters of Zion, herself most noble and already departing from the bounds of earthly desire, admiringly said, "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death" (Hebrews 2).

Your hair is like a flock of goats, etc. If the sharpness of the spiritual senses is rightly understood in the eyes of the bride, the purity of countless general thoughts can not inappropriately be recognized in the hair, which in the saints, even though sometimes undertaken for the administration of temporal things, are never separated from the intention of heavenly matters. For it is written that Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in Asia. He was hurrying, if possible, to be in Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost (Acts 20). Here, he was indeed occupied with such thoughts regarding the earthly journey; but he was undertaking the earthly journey with the intention of a heavenly reward. This must also be understood about the trade of tent-making, which he practiced with Aquila and Priscilla, for the thoughts with which they fulfilled it were indeed temporal, but the gaze was fixed on the eternal, so that by this earthly work they might support the ministry of the Gospel, which was heavenly. Thus, the hair of the bride is aptly compared to the flocks of goats that ascended from Mount Gilead. These are clean animals and are accustomed to climbing the heights of cliffs or trees for the sake of seeking food, because evidently, the thoughts of the elect, as we said, even though they engage in earthly matters, nonetheless aim at heavenly things, and even when they care for the needs of the flesh, they direct the sharpness of the mind rather towards the well-being of the soul and the heavenly nourishment. Moreover, in the eyes of the bride, the preachers of the Holy Church can also be understood, through whom the hidden secrets of heavenly mysteries, which the general multitude of believers does not see, are revealed. In the hair, the faithful people can also be understood, who, although they are less skilled in overseeing and governing the steps of the Church, nonetheless provide it with great honor through their numerous acts of obedience. Of these things, the Lord Himself, when preaching to the disciples sent to preach, said, "You will be hated by all because of my name;" he immediately added by consolation, "Not a hair from your head will perish" (Luke 12). This is to say plainly: although the hate of persecutors rages, they cannot even seize your slightest, namely your head, from among those who belong to me. Hair, in this context, is aptly compared to herds of goats; for sinners are customarily designated by goats; and since the entire Church truly acknowledges that it cannot be free from sin, how much more must those who are in a common life do this, because we all offend in many ways (James 3)! Therefore, the faithful have sin, but they nonetheless strive through daily advances of good works toward that life where they may be free from all sin. For this reason, it is aptly added about those same goats: "Which ascended from Mount Gilead:" for they dwell indeed on the mystical mount, all who are united to the body of their Redeemer. But the goats ascended the same mount, seeking the upper parts of the mount to graze, as they who are humble and conscious of their sins and frailty, fired by the very fear of their weakness, always strive to lift themselves up to the pastures of heavenly life in Christ. Indeed, we read in the Book of Numbers and Chronicles that Mount Gilead had very good and abundant pastures. This aptly fits that very high and very fruitful mountain from which the city itself, which is built on it, that is, the holy Church, is wont to say: "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want; in a place of pasture, there he has placed me" (Psalm 22). The name of the mountain itself is also pertinent, being called "a heap of testimony." For the Lord is the heap of testimony, because in Him is gathered and united all the multitude of the saints, namely the living stones, who have been proved by the testimony of faith, as the Apostle says. Thus, the hair of the bride is compared to flocks of goats, which, grazing on this mount, always strive to ascend to higher places, because whether the temporal thoughts of the elect or the more fragile people of the Church, the less they find themselves to be free from fault, the higher they seek the help of Him from whom they understand themselves to be liberated.

All bear twin offspring, etc. The sheep of Christ bear twin offspring, because all whom the holy teachers bring to God through preaching, they instruct in the twin love of the same God and neighbor. They bear twins, because they imbue the disciples whom they instruct with the knowledge of faith and good works. And there is none barren among them: there is no sheep of the supreme shepherd which does not produce offspring of good work; among whom there are many who rejoice in the offspring of both work and doctrine. But neither will those be counted among the barren who, washed by the fountain of salvation, are immediately taken from this life. For they have had the offspring of faith, which either they professed for themselves, or others professed for them; they have had the desire for good works, which they would have exercised among the sheep of Christ, if they had been granted more time. Concerning such it is written: "Being made perfect in a short time, he fulfilled long times" (Wis. 4:13). For his soul was pleasing to God; therefore He hastened to take him away from iniquity (Ibid.).

Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep, etc. Just as in the hair of the Church, the people who are still dedicated to more fragile deeds are designated, in the teeth, the more perfect ones and those suited for governing the Church are denoted, because the former excel in number, the latter in firmness; the former inwardly refresh with the word, the latter, even if they grasp less of the internal mysteries, adorn the Church externally with good works. Is not he rightly called the shepherd of the Church, of whom it was said: "Rise, Peter, kill and eat" (Acts 10)? Kill, by teaching to anathematize what they worshipped in their evil ways, and graft them, having returned to the profession of true faith, into the unity of your body, which is the Church of Christ? Indeed, above, these same teachers were designated under the name of eyes; but they are eyes, because they sharply perceive the secrets of spiritual mysteries; they are teeth, because they rebuke the wicked with the word of truth and transfer those rebuked and purified into the holy members of the Church. They are the teeth of the Church, because they prepare the bread of the word of God for its little ones, to whom they themselves are not sufficient to be eaten. Pious nurses are accustomed to chew pieces of bread with their teeth and insert the small morsels into the mouths of infants while nursing, until they gradually lead them away from milk to the use of bread; thus the holy mother Church has teachers who, like breasts, minister the milk of milder doctrine to beginners; these same teachers also provide the bread of stronger word to those who are well progressing. But in order to rightly advance, it is necessary for them to gradually and by parts provoke to learn higher things, and first entrust more open things concerning spiritual secrets to them, and these discussed with careful and diligent exposition, as if already chewed beforehand by teeth, so that by doing this repeatedly, they gradually render them capable of the more interior secrets. These teeth are rightly compared to a flock of shorn sheep that have come up from the washing, because they are cleansed by the font of baptism and stripped of their possessions. And indeed, it is for all to be purified by the washing of Christ's life, because unless one is born of water and the Spirit, and the rest (John 3), it is for the perfect, and especially those to whom the care of feeding his sheep is entrusted, to renounce all that they possess. Which, both those first and foremost teeth of the Church, that is, the apostles, and a great crowd of the primitive Church, are recorded to have done.

Like a fragment of a pomegranate, etc. We have also previously taught that shame is designated by the cheeks, because surely a sudden blush usually spreads over these when we are embarrassed. However, the pomegranate, because it is of a rosy color, quite fittingly hints at the mystery of the Lord's Passion, just as does the scarlet. For it was fitting that the manner of our redemption is indicated frequently in sacred song by the repetition of figures, as also intimated in other prophetic Scriptures. Therefore, because the holy Church is not ashamed of the cross of Christ, but even rejoices in the reproaches and sufferings for Christ, and usually carries the banner of his cross on her face, it is fittingly remembered that her cheeks are like a pomegranate fragment. Nor is it inconsequential that they are compared not to an entire pomegranate but to a fragment; for in a broken pomegranate, both the part of the redness that was exposed is seen, and the part that lay hidden inside, whiteness, is revealed. Thus, the bride has the redness of a pomegranate on her cheeks when the Church confesses the sacrament of the Lord's cross in words. She also shows the whiteness of the broken pomegranate when she proves the chastity of a pure heart through being struck by pressures and deeds, just as the cross itself of her Redeemer reveals what it holds within of saving grace. Again, she shows the red color on her cheeks when the foremost and most eminent of her members, that is, the holy martyrs, shed their blood for Christ. She also adds the white when these same martyrs, during their suffering or after completing their passion, shine forth even with miracles. Nor should we overlook that the pomegranate encloses a great abundance of seeds within one outer peel, whence it is also called the apple of seeds, which indeed cannot be seen when the pomegranate is whole, but become clear how numerous they are when it is broken. So indeed the holy Church, the more she is broken by adversities, the more clearly she reveals how many grains of virtues she embraces under the covering of one faith. And rightly it is added: Besides that which lies hidden within, because indeed the confession of the life-giving cross in the Church can be heard by all, the pressures on the Church can be seen by all; also the brilliance of charisms, which heals the sick, raises the dead, cleanses lepers, drives out demons, and other such things can be viewed by both infidels and the faithful, they can also be marveled at. But she alone knows with what love of invisible life she is held, with what flame she burns in the vision of her Creator, with what love she ignites in the progress of her members.

Like a scarlet ribbon, your lips, etc. The lips of the bride are compared to scarlet because the Church ceaselessly proclaims the price of the Lord's blood by which it was redeemed; but it continually sings: But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians XIV). And it should be noted that her lips are compared not simply to scarlet, but to a scarlet ribbon: for a ribbon is typically used to bind the hair. If by the hair of the bride the faithful people are understood, the ribbon that binds them and fits them more properly to the head, what else is it understood to be but the doctrine of truth? With which it is necessary to confirm the immature minds of believers and diligently apply them to the love and worship of their Creator, lest the wicked roam freely through idle acts and flee from the embrace or adornment of the true head, lest they impede even the eyes, that is, those who ought to show them the light of justice, by undue relaxation. Just as the good deeds of disciples sometimes become an example of virtue for teachers, so more often their neglect causes harm to the teachers' good actions. Therefore, he says, like a scarlet ribbon, your lips, and your speech is sweet, because the Church customarily fortifies and as it were dyes its doctrine, which restrains the minds of the weak from licentiousness, with the memory of the Lord's passion. For nothing more effectively restrains the voluptuous from carnal desires than when they hear or recall that the Lord of glory was pleased to be incarnate and suffer for them. Hence rightly the Lord considers such speech sweet because he very gladly accepts it when he sees us recount and meditate on this to one another, for the sake of which he himself came down to us from heaven. If we say that thoughts are represented by hair and spiritual senses of the faithful by eyes, the end of the exposition is the same: because we restrain the unrestrained wandering of superfluous thoughts by no other order more easily than by the memory and frequent recollection of the Lord’s blood. But also, often when we entertain harmful thoughts with an incautious mind, and are suddenly checked by God, we imprint the sign of the holy cross on our breast and discard what we were contemplating wickedly, as if binding our hair with a scarlet ribbon, because we suppress the loose thoughts with the trophy of sacred blood. If this salutary binding is lacking, they sully the whole beauty of the head by drifting, because they disturb the tranquillity of the mind and cover the sharpness of the eyes, because they obscure the grace of spiritual senses with the improper meditation of carnal things.

A thousand shields hang from it, etc. The thousand shields hanging from the tower of David are innumerable defenses of divine protection, by which the holy preachers are assisted by the Lord so that they cannot be overcome by enemies, and they also teach their listeners to be helped against the attacks of enemies, whether visible or invisible. All the armor of the mighty is every instruction or operation or heavenly doctrine, through which these same teachers not only evade but also overcome the ranks of evil spirits, when by preaching they rescue many of those whom they had held deceived from their dominion, and transfer them from vessels of wrath into vessels of mercy; and fittingly, where there is mention of spiritual war, there the tower of David, not the tower of Solomon, is set as an example, since the name and person of both kings often represents the figure of the eternal king: for David means strong in hand, or desirable to see, and rightly by this name is designated the Lord, where it is taught to fight against the enemies of the Church, so that it proceeds to the combat unafraid, reminded that it is aided by Him who cannot be overcome, and strives more urgently to conquer the more it knows His face to be desirable to see, to which it will come when the enemy is defeated.

As the tower of David, your neck, etc. And we have said above about the neck, which signifies the holy teachers who continuously enrich the Church by nourishing it with spiritual sustenance and strengthen it in faith through the words of holy exhortation. But also, the fact that the neck, positioned in the middle, connects the head to the body, aptly suits those through whose ministry the Church is united to Christ, who handed down the nourishment of life received from the Lord Himself. The Apostle, commending the grace of the Gospel, says about them: "Which at first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him" (Hebrews 2). Hence, it is written about Him: "And He gave to the disciples the loaves, and the disciples gave them to the crowds; and they all ate and were satisfied" (Matthew 14). This was done in such a corporal manner to signify also the spiritual acts of the Lord, because evidently, He entrusted the bread of heavenly doctrine to the first members of His Church, namely the apostles, who then served it to the body of the Church subjected to them, and thus succeeded by ministers of the word in order, the full nourishing of salvation was spread throughout the world. That neck is rightly said to be like the tower of David. If the city of David is the Church of Christ, the tower in that city is the unassailable constancy of the preachers who, to defend the edifices of faith and repel the weapons of enemies, were built with higher strength than other believers from the strong hand and beloved king, which the name David signifies. The bulwarks with which this tower is constructed are understood to be either the sacred Scriptures or the defenses of divine gifts. For He compared the neck of the bride to a tower, when the Lord made the first teachers of the Church, with the grace of the Holy Spirit given, invincible to their enemies. He added bulwarks to the tower when He opened their understanding to comprehend the Scriptures (Luke 24), and proved true the words of their preaching against the sayings of the preceding fathers. He added bulwarks to the tower when He also bestowed upon them the gifts of performing signs, so that by new works of miracles they might assert the divine nature of the new things they preached, and through the healing of bodily diseases, they might more easily attract those they taught to the salvation of the soul.

Your two breasts, etc. The same mysteries of Christ and the Church are repeated in various ways and in many forms, but repeated they always bring something new, which either provides an explanation for the same mysteries or through the novelty itself, delights the minds of the listeners further. Therefore, the same teachers who were previously designated by the names of eyes or teeth or neck, are now expressed by the term breasts: indeed, they may rightly be called eyes, because they perceive the hidden mysteries; rightly called teeth, because by rebuking the wicked, they as it were chew, and pass them into the body of the Church softened and humbled; rightly called neck, because to the whole body of the Church, they minister eternal joys by preaching, as if they were providing vital breath, and prepare the food of doctrines by which it is refashioned for salvation. But they are most aptly called breasts now, because they pour out the milk of the saving word to those who are still infants in Christ. Nor does he say "your two breasts" without reason, with the addition of a number, since no woman usually has more or less than two breasts: he says two breasts, to suggest that the infants of the two peoples, namely the Jewish and the Gentile, are to be nourished in faith. Finally, Paul says: James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the Gentiles, and they unto the circumcision; and so forth (Gal. II). But see what Peter, who was sent to the circumcision, says: As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby; if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious (I Pet. II). By saying this, he also explains the mystery of the Church’s breasts, saying that it is reasonable to desire the milk of the Lord, because He is sweet. Again, let us see if Paul, who was sent to the uncircumcision, also performs the duty of the breasts; for he says: And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ, I have fed you with milk, and not with meat (I Cor. III). These two breasts are like two twins of a roe, because they are indeed offspring of the one to whom it is so often said in this song: Be thou like to a roe or to a young hart. Like twins of a roe, because with the pure eyes of their hearts, they discern what is to be done, what avoided, by which path of virtues to proceed, because with a sagacious mind they perceive the words' complexities to be avoided, and hasten in the swift course of good works from the valley of weeping to the place which God has appointed; so that walking from virtue to virtue they may deserve to see Him in Zion, that is, in the watchtower of eternal habitation. For roes excel in both the swiftness of their feet and the sharpness of their eyes; hence those who are ordered to show the way of knowledge and virtue to the unlearned are fittingly compared to these. As he says, like two twins of a roe; well twins, because imbued with the same faith, renewed by the same sacraments, the teachers of both peoples gather all whom they educate into the one Church of Christ. Thus, Peter says of those who believed from the uncircumcision: And God, who knows the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he did unto us; and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith (Acts XV).