Jerome — Commentary on Scripture

Song of Solomon 1:1

Solomon, a lover of peace and of the Lord, corrects morals, teaches nature, unites Christ and the church, and sings a sweet marriage song to celebrate that holy bridal.

LETTER 53.8

Song of Solomon 1:2

I see two attributes that, by coming together, are made one. Justice and peace have kissed. All this becomes one in the mystery of the Lord Savior, the Son of man and of God who is our truth, kindness, peace, justice, in whom the justice of the first people and the mercy of the second people are joined together into one peace. The apostle says, in fact, “He himself is our peace, he it is who has made both one.” This is the mystery for which the church longs and cries out in the Song of Solomon: “Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth.” This is the kiss of which Paul the apostle says, “Greet one another with a holy kiss.”

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS, ALTERNATE SERIES 64 (PSALM 84)

Song of Solomon 1:3

“It is as when the precious ointment upon the head runs down over the beard, the beard of Aaron.” Oh, if only there were time to explore together each verse; even a day would not suffice! We have read in Exodus the account of how oil is prepared for the anointing of the priest; we have read, too, of the different kind of balm used to anoint kings. There was still another unguent for prophets. What more is there to say? All these oils of unction were different, each with its own spiritual symbolism.… Nothing is ever made sacred except by anointing. It is with this in view that young maidens say in the Song of Solomon, “Your name is a spreading perfume: we will run after you in the odor of your ointments.”

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 45 (Psalm 132)

Song of Solomon 1:4

There also—the Lord himself is my witness—when I had shed copious tears and had strained my eyes toward heaven, I sometimes felt myself among angelic hosts and for joy and gladness sang, “Because of the sweet smell of your good ointments, we will run after you.”

LETTER 22.7

Song of Solomon 1:5

Born, in the first instance, of such parentage we are naturally black. Even when we have repented, so long as we have not scaled the heights of virtue, we may still say, “I am black but comely, O daughters of Jerusalem.” … “For this cause shall a man leave his father and his mother and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be” not as is there said, “of one flesh” but “of one spirit.” Your bridegroom is not haughty or disdainful; he has “married an Ethiopian woman.” When once you desire the wisdom of the true Solomon and come to him, he will avow all his knowledge to you; he will lead you into his chamber with his royal hand. He will miraculously change your complexion so that it shall be said of you, “Who is this that goes up and has been made white?”

LETTER 22.1

Song of Solomon 1:7

I linger long in the land of the midday sun, for it was there and then that the spouse found her bridegroom at rest.

LETTER 108.12

Song of Solomon 1:7

You see that it is not in the third hour that the spouse dines or reclines but at midday. Where do you dine, where do you rest, where shall I find you, where do you enjoy delights, where can I find you, O my spouse? Do you want to find me? At noon, in perfect knowledge, in good works, in the bright light. Because we have the noonday, that is why the devil disguises himself as an angel of light and pretends that he has the light, that he has the noonday. When heretics promise any pseudo-mysteries, when they promise the kingdom of heaven, when they promise continence, fasts, sanctity, the renunciation of the world, they promise the noonday. But since their midday is not the light of Christ, it is not the noonday but the noonday demon.

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 20 (Psalm 90)

Song of Solomon 1:11-12

Let us hear what the bride says before that the bridegroom comes to earth, suffers, descends to the lower world, and rises again. “We will make for you likenesses of gold with ornaments of silver while the king sits at his table.” Before the Lord rose again and the gospel shone, the bride had not gold but likenesses of gold. As for the silver, however, which she professes to have at the marriage, she not only had silver ornaments, but she had them in variety—in widows, in the continent and in the married. Then the bridegroom makes answer to the bride and teaches her that the shadow of the old law has passed away and the truth of the gospel has come.

Against Jovinianus 1.30

Song of Solomon 1:15

“Ah, you are beautiful, my beloved, ah, you are beautiful: your eyes are doves!” You who are beautiful and strong, because you resemble him of whom it is sung, “In your beauty and your splendor,” will hear from your spouse, “Forget your people and your father’s house. So shall the king desire your beauty.”

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS, ALTERNATE SERIES 61 (PSALM 15)

Song of Solomon 2:1

This flower has become fruit that we might eat it, that we might consume its flesh. Would you like to know what this fruit is? A Virgin from a virgin, the Lord from the handmaid, God from man, Son from mother, fruit from earth. Listen to what the fruit itself says: “Unless the grain of wheat fall into the ground and die, it cannot bring forth much fruit.”

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 6 (PSALM 66)

Song of Solomon 2:1

[Christ] himself says in the Song of Songs, “I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley.” Our rose is the destruction of death, and [that rose] died that death itself might die in his dying.

LETTER 75.1

Song of Solomon 2:6

The hands are here a figure of wedlock.

LETTER 22.19

Song of Solomon 2:8

Let us follow Christ in the mountains since our brother like a gazelle or a young stag came leaping over the hills, springing across the mountains. In truth, Christ after the resurrection did not ascend into heaven from the valley but from the mountain. Unless we are mountains of virtue, we cannot ascend into heaven.

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 45 (PSALM 132)

Song of Solomon 2:10-14

Then the bridegroom makes answer to the bride and teaches her that the shadow of the old law has passed away and the truth of the gospel has come. “Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away, for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.” … “The voice of the turtle [dove] is heard in our land.” The turtle [dove], the most chaste of birds, always dwelling in lofty places, is a type of the Savior.

Against Jovinianus 1.30

Song of Solomon 2:10-14

Immediately the turtle says to its fellow, “The fig tree has put forth its green figs,” that is, the commandments of the old law have fallen, and the blossoming vines of the gospel give forth their fragrance.… While you covered your countenance like Moses and the veil of the law remained, I neither saw your face, nor did I condescend to hear your voice. I said, “Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear.” But now, with unveiled face behold my glory, and shelter yourself in the cleft and steep places of the solid rock.

Against Jovinianus 1.30

Song of Solomon 3:1-4

Happy the person in whose heart Jesus sets his feet every day! If only he would set his feet in my heart! If only his footsteps would cling to my heart forever! If only I may say with the spouse, “I took hold of him and would not let him go.”

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 26 (PSALM 98)

Song of Solomon 4:7-8

“Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, with me from Lebanon. You shall come and pass on from the beginning of faith, from the top of Senir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.” Lebanon is, being interpreted, “whiteness.” Come then, fairest bride, concerning whom it is elsewhere said, “Who is she that comes up, all in white?” Pass on by way of this world, from the beginning of faith, and from Senir, which is by interpretation, “God of light,” as we read in the psalm: “Your word is a lantern unto my feet, and light unto my path,” and “from Hermon,” that is, “consecration,” and “flee from the lions’ dens, and the mountains of the leopards who cannot change their spots.”

Against Jovinianus 1.30

Song of Solomon 4:9

You should not grieve that you are destitute of those bodily eyes which ants, flies and creeping things have as well as do people. Rather you should rejoice that you possess that eye of which it is said in the Song of Songs, “You have ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse; you have ravished my heart with one of your eyes.” This is the eye with which God is seen and to which Moses refers when he says, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight.”

LETTER 76.2

Song of Solomon 4:9

Flee, he says, from the lions’ dens, flee from the pride of devils, that when you have been consecrated to me, I may be able to say unto you, “You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride, you have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.” What he says is something like this—I do not reject marriage: you have a second eye, the left, which I have given to you on account of the weakness of those who cannot see the right. But I am pleased with the right eye of virginity, and if it is blinded, the whole body is in darkness. And that we might not think he had in view carnal love and bodily marriage, he at once excludes this meaning by saying, “You have ravished my heart, my bride, my sister.” The name sister excludes all suspicion of unhallowed love. “How fair are your breasts with wine,” those breasts concerning which he had said above, my beloved is mine, and I am his: “between my breasts shall he lie,” that is, in the princely portion of the heart where the Word of God has its lodging.

Against Jovinianus 1.30

Song of Solomon 5:1

“Come, brethren, drink deeply of love.” Wine to cheer the heart of people. The wine of the flesh does not cheer the heart of humankind but overpowers it and produces madness; it is written, in fact, that it is not for kings to drink wine.

HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 42 (PSALM 127)