From: Song of Songs 2:8-14
Second Canto: Spring
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Commentary:
2:8-3:5. The second poem implies that heartfelt acceptance of love (a point
reached at the end of the first poem) continues day (2:8-17) and night (3:1-5).
Activity begins again: the previous poem ended in sleep, and this one begins
with waking.
It treats of moments of love (day and night), with scenarios (countryside and city)
and with the movements that make it up (presence and absence of the loved one).
The day-time is described in terms of the joy of the two lovers: it parallels nature
waking up in springtime (2:8-17); night-time features the absence of the lover and
the anguished search that the beloved makes until she finds him (3:1-4). Like the
previous poem, it ends (3:5 cf. 2:7) with the beloved asleep and the lover keeping
vigil; but whereas in the previous poem (cf. 2:7) it seemed to be the lover who was
speaking, here it seems to be the beloved; “stir not up nor awaken love”: the RSV
[and Navarre Spanish] follow the Hebrew; the Latin versions read “the beloved”
(fem.) instead of “love”.
The motifs used in the description (springtime, the voice, the face of the beloved,
etc.) are very similar to those found in oriental love songs of the fourteenth or thir-
teenth century BC. Still, one can see allusions here to the image of Israel and
God joined in a spousal covenant. The little refrain of v.16 (”My beloved is mine
and I am his, he pastures his flock among the lilies”) is reminiscent of the phrase
“So shall you be my people, and I will be your God” (Jer 11:4; cf. Jer 7:23; 31:33;
Ezek 36:28; Hos 2:25; etc.). Similarly, the fact that the voices of spousal love
and the images of nature in springtime blend as they do here brings to mind pas-
sages in which the prophets used similar imagery to describe Israel’s anxious
waiting for God to manifest himself as her lover and protector: “I will greatly re-
joice in the Lord, my soul shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the
garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a
bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her
jewels. For as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is
sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to
spring forth before all the nations” (Is 61:10-11; cf. 62:4-5; Hos 2:16-23:, etc.).
2:8-17. This canto celebrates, in the open countryside, a rebirth of nature and of
love. Just as the fruitfulness of spring overcomes the infertility of winter, love tri-
umphs over the selfishness that imprisons us within ourselves. That was how
the Fathers interpreted spring as described here: “During the winter of idolatry,
the restless nature of man, because of his worship of idols, became as stolid
as them [...]. It is logical that that should happen. Those who contemplate God
come to possess features of the divine nature, while those who give themselves
over to the worship of vain idols are transformed into what they adore: they are
turned into the stone of idols” (St Gregory of Nyssa, “In Canticum Canticorum
Commentarius”, 5).
The poem begins with the voice of the beloved, waiting for the lover: she recog-
nizes him in the distance, by his voice (v. 8) and when he is near by his face (cf.
v. 9). In keeping with this, the lover will later sing of the face and voice of the be-
loved (v. 14). The body of the poem (vv. 10-14) is the lover’s invitation to come
away and celebrate their love in communion with nature. Hence, too, the joint
plea of v. 15: anything that might disturb that triumphal celebration must be shed.
The last words spoken here by the beloved, in which she claims the lover for her-
self exclusively (v. 16), while at the same time offering him his freedom (v. 17),
will appear later in the Song as a refrain (6:3; 7:10) and as the conclusion at the
very end (8:14).
An allegorical reading of this poem as a celebration of the spousal covenant be-
tween God and Israel in the time of the restoration is relatively easy to make. Is-
rael is depicted in many prophetical texts (Is 5:1-7; Hos 10:1; etc.; cf. Mt 21:33-
44) as a vineyard. Also, that literature used the images of devastation and of the
Garden of Eden to describe, respectively, the unfaithfulness and fidelity of Israel
(cf. Jer 12:7-13; Hos 2:14, etc.).
Extending that allegorical reading, ascetical literature saw the vineyard as repre-
senting the soul, and the foxes as the difficulties it still encounters in its efforts to
love God unfailingly: “The soul desires that nothing should diminish the delights
of love it feels within, a love which is the flower of the soul’s vineyard—not the en-
vious and evil demons, nor the body’s wild desires, nor the vagaries of the imagi-
nation, nor the attractions of created things; it calls upon the angels, asking them
to root out all these things or prevent their growth, so that they cannot hinder the
flowering of interior love; for the sweet taste and delight of that love is the joyful
sharing of the virtues and graces that pass between the soul and the Son of God”
(St John of the Cross, “Spiritual Canticle”, Song, 16, 3).
[”Upon rugged mountains” (v. 17b; cf. RSV note f): the New Vulgate has “montes
Bether” and the Navarre Spanish, hills of Bether.]
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.
From: Zephaniah 3:14-18a
Psalms of Joy in Zion
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Commentary:
3:14-18a. Now the promise becomes a song of jubilation. The Lord, the Savior,
sees to it that all is joy (v. 14), and there is no room for fear (v. 16). The Chris-
tian, in reading these verses, cannot but be reminded of the scene of the An-
nunciation: Mary, too, the humble Virgin (Lk 1:48), is invited to rejoice (Lk 1:28)
and not to fear (Lk 1:20), because the Lord is with her (Lk 1:28). And indeed,
with the Incarnation of the Word, the Lord did come to dwell among his people,
and the salvation that was promised came to pass.
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Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam (To the Greater Glory of God)
For: Monday, December 21, 2015
4th Week of Advent
Optional Memorial: St Peter Canisius, Priest and Doctor
(Preference Given to Liturgical Season)
From: Zephaniah 3:14-18a
Psalms of Joy in Zion
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Commentary:
3:14-18a. Now the promise becomes a song of jubilation. The Lord, the Savior,
sees to it that all is joy (v. 14), and there is no room for fear (v. 16). The Chris-
tian, in reading these verses, cannot but be reminded of the scene of the An-
nunciation: Mary, too, the humble Virgin (Lk 1:48), is invited to rejoice (Lk 1:28)
and not to fear (Lk 1:20), because the Lord is with her (Lk 1:28). And indeed,
with the Incarnation of the Word, the Lord did come to dwell among his people,
and the salvation that was promised came to pass.
******************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.