Fathers

Song of Solomon 5

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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 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spake: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.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.

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What the Fathers say

Song of Solomon 5:15

Western Saints

Ambrose of Milan

Who indeed but Christ could dare to claim the church as his bride, whom he alone, and none other, has called from Libanus, saying, "Come here from Lebanon, my bride; come here from Lebanon"? Or of whom else could the church have said, "His throat is sweetness, and he is altogether desirable"? And seeing that we entered upon this discussion from speaking of the shoes of his feet, to whom else but the Word of God incarnate can those words apply? …

Exposition of the Christian Faith 3.10.74 ↗

Bede

His appearance is like Lebanon, etc. Why, he says, should I labor to describe each of his members individually? I will summarize it briefly. Just as Mount Lebanon, famous in Phoenicia, is notable for its height and grandeur, so our Lord rightfully surpasses all those born of the earth in a superior grace. …

Commentary on the Song of Songs ↗

Bernard of Clairvaux

But those spiritual feet of God, which the penitent must first kiss spiritually, I ought not to pass over. I know your curiosity, which allows nothing to pass by altogether uninvestigated of its own accord. Nor indeed should it be held in contempt to know with what feet Scripture so frequently commemorates that God now stands, as there: We will worship in the place where his feet have stood (Ps 131:7); now walks, as there: And I will dwell in them, and I will walk among them (Lev 26:12; 2 Cor 6:16); now even runs, according to that: …

Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 6 ↗