Song of Songs — Chapter 8

Quis mihi det te fratrem meum sugentem ubera matris meae ut inveniam te foris et deosculer te et iam me nemo despiciat

Who shall give thee to me for my brother, sucking the breasts of my mother, that I may find thee without, and kiss thee, and now no man may despise me? The Bride (Church/converted Synagogue) wishes that the Bridegroom were her brother — that she might embrace Him publicly without reproach. \"I would find thee without and kiss thee\" = the desire for an open, public, shameless love of Christ, without the reproach that the Jews currently face for their former unbelief and now-converted state. The mother's breasts = the Old Testament and its promises, which both Christ and the Synagogue drew from — making them, in a sense, siblings from the same mother. The verse expresses the Synagogue's shame over her long rejection of Christ and her desire that this be forgiven and forgotten. Three Anonymi (Theodoret): the kiss = the Synagogue desiring to receive Christ publicly, without the shame of her former apostasy. Cassiodorus: the Church desires to love Christ openly without the contempt of the world.

Apprehendam te et ducam in domum matris meae ibi me docebis et dabo tibi poculum ex vino condito mustum malorum granatorum meorum

I will take hold of thee and bring thee into my mother's house: there thou shalt teach me and I will give thee a cup of spiced wine and new wine of my pomegranates. The Synagogue will bring Christ into the house of her mother (= the Synagogue itself, or the Roman Church, or Sacred Scripture). \"There thou shalt teach me\" = the Church's permanent docility to Christ's teaching. The spiced wine = the Church's prayer, praise, and liturgical worship offered to Christ — the \"wine\" of grateful devotion, enriched with all the spices of virtue and piety. The must of pomegranates = the blood of the martyrs (red as pomegranate juice, pressed out in the winepress of tribulation), offered to Christ as the supreme gift of the Church. Cassiodorus: \"I will bring thee to the house of my mother\" = the Church unites itself with its mother-faith (the Synagogue, which gave birth to all the Apostles) and offers to Christ the full fruits of both Testaments.

Laeva eius sub capite meo et dextera illius amplexabitur me

His left hand under my head and his right hand shall embrace me. Repetition of Sg 2:6. Here, in the context of the end-time union, this verse has its fullest meaning: the mystical marriage of Christ and the Church (Synagogue + Gentiles) now consummated to its fullest degree on earth, approaching the final heavenly consummation. The left hand = Christ's sustaining support through all the trials and sufferings of history; the right hand = His eternal embrace of glory soon to be given. In the fullness of the last times, Christ's right hand (= the gift of eternal life and vision) is imminent. Anagogically: this verse describes the beatific vision — the soul at last fully embraced by Christ in eternity, with nothing remaining between them. Bernard: the left hand = memory of Christ's temporal life; the right hand = the enjoyment of His divinity.

Adiuro vos filiae Hierusalem ne suscitetis neque evigilare faciatis dilectam donec ipsa velit

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not up nor awaken my beloved till she please. The final adjuration (cf. Sg 2:7, 3:5) — commanding reverence for the sacred sleep of the Church approaching her final consummation. In this final context, the sleep = the Church in her holy repose awaiting the Last Day, which must not be hastened by impatience or disturbed by presumption. The daughters of Jerusalem = the souls who desire the end to come quickly (those who cry \"Maranatha\" — \"Come, Lord Jesus\"); they are adjured to leave the timing in God's hands. Cassiodorus: the adjuration = Christ's prohibition against human calculation of the day and hour of the end (Mt 24:36). The imminent union of the Church with Christ in glory must be awaited in patience, prayer, and humble fidelity. The sleep of charity is the deepest form of activity.

Quae est ista quae ascendit de deserto deliciis affluens innixa super dilectum suum sub arbore malo suscitavi te ibi corrupta est mater tua ibi violata est genitrix tua

Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I raised thee up: there thy mother was corrupted, there she was defloured that bore thee. Dual reference: (1) The Church ascending from the desert of this world, rich in consolations, leaning entirely on Christ — the image of the Church's final ascent toward heaven, supported only by Christ; (2) The converted Synagogue ascending with the Church, having shed her desert of unbelief. \"Under the apple tree I raised thee up\" = Christ raised the Church from her fall under the apple tree (= the Cross/Calvary, or Eden, where Adam fell under the apple tree; Christ raised what Adam destroyed). \"There thy mother was corrupted\" = the original sin of Adam and Eve under the tree of knowledge is now healed under the tree of the Cross. The inversion of the Fall and Redemption: under the same symbolic \"apple tree\" where humanity fell, Christ restores it. The Church leans on Christ = total dependence on grace.

Pone me ut signaculum super cor tuum ut signaculum super brachium tuum quia fortis est ut mors dilectio dura sicut infernus aemulatio lampades eius lampades ignis atque flammarum

Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm, because love is strong as death, jealousy is hard as hell, the lamps thereof are fire and flames. The greatest verse on divine love in the Song. The Bride asks to be sealed on the heart and arm of Christ = to be permanently united to His love and power, unable to be separated. The seal = (1) the name of Christ imprinted on the soul by Baptism and Confirmation; (2) the mark of grace in the justified soul; (3) the permanent character of love, which cannot be erased. \"Love strong as death\" = the love of Christ for the Church is as powerful and inevitable as death — no power can resist it; it overcomes all obstacles. \"Hard as hell\" = jealous love as unyielding as the grave — the love of Christ for the Church admits no rival (His zeal for her = His refusal to allow any other claim on her). The \"lamps of fire\" = charity, which burns and illuminates, consuming all that is not God. Gregory, Bernard: this is the definition of perfect charity.

Aquae multae non potuerunt extinguere caritatem nec flumina obruent illam si dederit homo omnem substantiam domus suae pro dilectione quasi nihil despicient eum

Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can floods drown it. If a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing. The inextinguishability of divine charity = a defining property of true love. Many waters = persecutions, tribulations, heresies, apostasies, worldly temptations — all of which try to quench the Church's love for Christ and fail. Floods = greater catastrophes — wars, plagues, the fall of empires, the terrors of Antichrist — which cannot drown the love of the Church. \"If a man should give all his substance for love\" = no sacrifice is too great for love; charity makes every sacrifice seem negligible. Theodoret: the Church throughout her history proved this — under Nero, Domitian, Diocletian, and all subsequent persecutors, charity survived unquenched. Bernard: this verse is the proof-text for the nature of pure charity, which loves God for God's sake alone and cannot be bought, sold, or extinguished by any worldly force.

Soror nostra parva et ubera non habet quid faciemus sorori nostrae in die quando alloquenda est

Our sister is little, and hath no breasts. What shall we do to our sister in the day when she is to be spoken to? The Bride (Gentile Church) speaks to the companions of the Bridegroom (Elijah, Enoch, or the Church's holy preachers) about her younger sister — the Synagogue/Jewish people not yet converted. She is \"little\" = young in faith, recently converted or not yet fully converted. She \"has no breasts\" = no mature doctrine, no teachers, no apostolic tradition of her own yet; she is dependent on the instruction and formation of the older Church. \"The day when she is to be spoken to\" = the day of final judgment approaching; the Church asks what preparations to make for the Jewish people before the end. The response (v. 9): if she is a wall (firm), she will receive doctrinal fortification; if a door (open but unstable), she will be enclosed with cedar planks (= incorruptible formation in the faith). Aponius, Honorius, Cassiodorus, Anselm, Rupert: the younger sister = the Synagogue, to be perfected in the last days.

Si murus est aedificemus super eum propugnacula argentea si ostium est conpingamus illud tabulis cedri

If she be a wall, let us build upon it bulwarks of silver. If she be a door, let us join it together with boards of cedar. Two possible states of the younger sister (Synagogue): (1) A wall = firm in her newly received faith; in this case, they will build upon her the silver bulwarks of eloquent doctrinal formation, the brilliant argumentation of Scripture and theological wisdom; (2) A door = open but movable, unstable; in this case, she must be reinforced with cedar planks = the incorruptible example and teaching of holy religious life. The silver bulwarks = the teachings of the Fathers, the eloquence of Scripture, the creeds and doctrinal formulations of the Councils. The cedar boards = the incorruptible life of monks and religious, whose example and community stabilize the convert. The double response shows the Church's pastoral wisdom: she adapts her methods to the spiritual condition of those she forms. Cassiodorus and Rupert: the silver = sacred eloquence; the cedar = the virtues of the saints.

Ego murus et ubera mea sicut turris ex quo facta sum coram eo quasi pacem reperiens

I am a wall, and my breasts are as a tower, since I am become in his presence as one finding peace. The converted Synagogue responds: \"I am a wall\" = I am firm in faith, immovable in my new confession of Christ. My breasts (my doctrine and teachers) are as a tower = they stand high and strong, defending the faith against all assaults of Antichrist and his allies. \"Since I am become in his presence as one finding peace\" (quasi Sulamitis = as a Sulamitess = peaceful one) = by conversion to Christ, the Synagogue has found the true peace of which the earthly Jerusalem was only a figure. She who was formerly Christ's enemy is now His Bride and fortress. Cassiodorus and Honorius: the tower of the Church's doctrine is the apostolic succession, built upon Peter as the first stone. Anagogically: the soul that has surrendered entirely to Christ becomes a wall (invincible in virtue) and a tower (elevated in contemplation).

Vinea fuit pacifico in ea quae habet populos locavit in ea custodes vir affert pro fructu eius mille argenteos

The peaceable had a vineyard, in that which hath people. He gave it out to keepers: a man bringeth for the fruit thereof a thousand pieces of silver. The vineyard of the Peaceful One = Christ's vineyard = the Church. The vineyard \"in that which hath people\" (in ea quae habet populos) = the Church established among all peoples and nations, the new Babel/Pentecost reversed. The keepers = the Bishops, Pastors, and Doctors entrusted with the care of souls. Each keeper brings back a thousand pieces of silver = each faithful pastor returns abundant fruits to Christ from his portion of the vineyard. The thousand silver pieces = the souls saved through his ministry, or the wealth of grace produced by his apostolate. Historically: Solomon's vineyard given to tenants at Baal-Hamon (= multitude of peoples) typifies Christ giving the Church to the care of the Apostles and their successors at Pentecost. Cassiodorus: the thousand silver pieces = the infinite value of souls won for Christ.

Vinea mea coram me est mille tui pacifice et ducenti his qui custodiunt fructus eius

My vineyard is before me. A thousand are for thee, O peaceable, and two hundred for them that keep the fruit thereof. The vineyard of the Church belongs directly to Christ (\"coram me\" = before me, in my sight). He assigns its fruits: a thousand to Solomon (= to Christ Himself, the true Peaceable King, who receives the principal portion as Lord); two hundred to the keepers (= the apostolic ministers, who receive their reward as servants and stewards). Allegorically: the full harvest of souls belongs to Christ, the hundred percent being His in justice; but His servants/ministers share proportionally in the merit and reward. Gregory and Aponius: the thousand = the elect souls gathered to Christ; the two hundred = the share that pastors receive in the glory of those they have saved. Rupert: the Church (older Bride of the Gentiles) acknowledges that the vineyard and all its fruits belong to Christ, not to her own merit.

Quae habitas in hortis amici auscultant vocem tuam fac me audire

Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the friends hearken: make me hear thy voice. The Bridegroom speaks to the Bride: \"You who dwell in the gardens — make me hear your voice.\" The gardens = the various Churches and religious communities where the Bride (Church/soul) dwells with her Lord. The friends who hearken = the angels and saints who hear the voice of the Church's prayer and worship. \"Make me hear\" = Christ, who already knows all things, expresses the insatiable desire of love to hear again the voice of the Bride — as a lover desires to hear his beloved speak again, even though he knows her words. The friends = (1) the angels who stand as witnesses to the Church's liturgy; (2) the Apostles and Doctors whose preaching is the \"voice of the Bride\" across time; (3) all the faithful who keep company with the Church. Cassiodorus: Christ's \"make me hear thy voice\" = the perpetual summons to prayer, worship, and the exercise of charity which Christ never ceases to invite.

Fuge dilecte mi et adsimilare capreae hinnuloque cervorum super montes aromatum

Flee away, O my beloved, and be like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of aromatical spices. The last verse of the Song: the Bride cries \"Flee away!\" = not an expulsion but a lover's paradox, as one who longs for the beloved's swift approach cries \"come quickly!\" The beloved who flees = Christ who seems absent but draws the soul after Himself by His swift movement. \"Be like a roe or young hart\" = swift, eager, powerful; come quickly in the final consummation. The mountains of aromatical spices = the glorified Church, now full of every virtue and fragrance, ready for the eternal nuptials. Three interpretations: (1) The Bride begs Christ to come quickly at the Last Day (cf. Apoc 22:20 \"Come, Lord Jesus\"); (2) The Bride urges Christ to hasten the conversion of the remaining souls; (3) Anagogically: the soul at death cries out in holy impatience for the full vision of God. Cassiodorus, Gregory, Rupert, Bernard: the final cry of the Song is the cry of the Church throughout history — always longing, always hastening toward the eternal Bridegroom.