Fathers

Song of Solomon 5

Tap a verse to read the Fathers. Press and hold, then drag, to make a card.

I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved. I sleep, but my heart waketh: it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night. I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them? My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer. The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love. What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us? My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven. His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set. His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh. His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

About · Privacy · Credits · Support VRSZ

What the Fathers say

Song of Solomon 5:10

Western Saints

Ambrose of Milan

"My beloved is white and ruddy." It is fitting, O virgin, that you should fully know him whom you love, and should recognize in him all the mystery of his divine nature and the body which he has assumed. He is white fittingly, for he is the brightness of the Father; and ruddy, for he was born of a Virgin. The color of each nature shines and glows in him.

Concerning Virginity 1.9.46 ↗

Jerome

"My beloved is white and ruddy": white in virginity, ruddy in martyrdom. And because he is white and ruddy, therefore it is immediately added, "His mouth is most sweet, yea, he is altogether lovely."

Against Jovinianus 1.31 ↗

Bede

My beloved is white and ruddy, etc. White, because appearing in the flesh, he committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth (1 Peter II); ruddy, because he washed us from our sins in his blood (Revelation I). And white well first, then ruddy, because first he came into the world holy, and afterwards, through his passion, he left the world bloodstained. …

Commentary on the Song of Songs ↗