Fathers

Song of Solomon 3

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By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. I will rise now, and go about the city in the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, but I found him not. The watchmen that go about the city found me: to whom I said, Saw ye him whom my soul loveth? It was but a little that I passed from them, but I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him, and would not let him go, until I had brought him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till he please. Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant? Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about it, of the valiant of Israel. They all hold swords, being expert in war: every man hath his sword upon his thigh because of fear in the night. King Solomon made himself a chariot of the wood of Lebanon. 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. Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold king Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.

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What the Fathers say

Song of Solomon 3:10

Eastern Fathers

Cyril of Jerusalem

Every king is proclaimed by soldiers. It was fitting that Jesus also, in figure, be crowned by soldiers. For this reason Scripture says in the Canticles: "Daughters of Jerusalem, come forth and look upon King Solomon in the crown with which his mother has crowned him." But the crown was also a mystery, for it was a remission of sins and release from the sentence of condemnation.

Catechetical Lecture 13:17 ↗

Western Saints

Ambrose of Milan

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. …

On Isaac and the Soul, 5.46 ↗

Bede

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. …

Commentary on the Song of Songs ↗

Bernard of Clairvaux

There is a place between fear and security, as between the left and the right, namely the middle place of hope, in which the mind and conscience, with the soft bedding of charity laid beneath, rests most sweetly. And perhaps in what follows in this very canticle, this place will have been designated, where in the description of the litter of Solomon among other things you have: "The middle he spread with charity on account of the daughters of Jerusalem" (Song 3:10). …

Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 51 ↗