Fathers

Song of Solomon 5

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I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride. 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, friends! Drink, yes, drink abundantly, beloved. I was asleep, but my heart was awake. It is the voice of my beloved who knocks: “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled; for my head is filled with dew, and my hair with the dampness of the night.” I have taken off my robe. Indeed, must I put it on? I have washed my feet. Indeed, must I soil them? My beloved thrust his hand in through the latch opening. My heart pounded for him. I rose up to open for my beloved. My hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved; but my beloved left, and had gone away. My heart went out when he spoke. I looked for him, but I didn’t find him. I called him, but he didn’t answer. The watchmen who go about the city found me. They beat me. They bruised me. The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me. I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell him that I am faint with love. How is your beloved better than another beloved, you fairest among women? How is your beloved better than another beloved, that you do so adjure us? My beloved is white and ruddy. The best among ten thousand. His head is like the purest gold. His hair is bushy, black as a raven. His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks, washed with milk, mounted like jewels. His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes. His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh. His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl. His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires. His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His mouth is sweetness; yes, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.

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What the Fathers say

Song of Solomon 5:13

Western Saints

Bede

His cheeks are like beds of spices, etc. Just as the words on the lips of the Lord expressed what He spoke, so in His cheeks the modest piety and sternness of His countenance are simultaneously expressed. For if it could rightly be said of a mere man, the wisdom of a man shines in his face, how much more in the face of that man who is the power of God and the wisdom of God, would the highest virtue and wisdom shine forth to those who consider well? His cheeks, he said, are like beds of spices planted by perfumers. …

Commentary on the Song of Songs ↗

Robert of Tombelaine

If preachers are designated by the eyes, fittingly by the cheeks are figured those in the Church who are reported to have ended their lives by martyrdom in the Church. For while they do not hesitate to pour out their blood for the faith of Christ, they redden like cheeks on the face of the Bridegroom. Through them indeed the beauty of the Christian faith is made public: because they show toward how great a reward of faith they press forward, when they die for it. …

Commentary on the Song of Songs, Chapter 5 ↗