Historical chapter commentary
Verse 1. What? Christ commends the Jews, who shall at last embrace the faith with great fervour. Worthington.—Thou. Hebrew and Septuagint “ye.” They join this sentence with the preceding chapter. Bible.—Companies. Hebrew “as it were the choir (or dance) of Mahanaim,” ( Calmet.) where Jacob saw the camps of angels, near the Jaboc. Bible. Genesis 32.—These dances might be proverbial.
Verse 4. Ivory. Preachers communicate the sentiments of the Church, ( Calmet.) which prevails against the gates of hell. Cassiod.
Verse 5. Carmel. Shaded with trees. Calmet.—Hebrew “purple,” which colour was sometimes given to the hair. Propert. ii. 18.—Channels. Of the dyers. Hebrew “to beams.” Calmet.—Prot. “the king is held in the galleries” to view thee. Bible.—Christ was all charity, and the faithful are twice dyed, with the love of God, and of their neighbour. Menochius.
Verse 7. Grapes. The Church triumphs over her adversaries, and feeds her children. Calmet.
Verse 8. Up. Christ shed his blood on the cross, and enabled his Church, composed of Jews and Gentiles, who were before barren, to produce a numerous progeny. Calmet.—Mouth. Hebrew and Septuagint “nose.”
Verse 9. Lips. Septuagint “sufficient for my lips and teeth.” Bible.—The wine in that country was very thick, when kept a long time. It here denotes charity, or the gospel truths. Lu. 5:37. Acts 2:13. Hebrew “causing the lips of them who sleep to speak,” ( Calmet.) as the apostles did, in transports of zeal. Theod.—Yet the reading of the Septuagint Aquila, and so forth seems preferable. Calmet.
Verse 10. Turning. The Church is submissive to Jesus Christ, and is entirely actuated by the Spirit. Calmet.—She takes the words, as it were out of his mouth, (verse 9) and answers, worthy, and so forth acknowledging that all the praise belongs to him.
Verse 11. Villages. She begs that he would come and remain with her. Worthington.—She accompanies him into the country, on the morning after the fifth night. There Christ affords the purest delights, (verse 12. Calmet.) and the Church ( Menochius.) becomes his mother, while she instructs and feeds others. Saint Gregory hom. Menochius.
Verse 13. Mandrakes. Hebrew dodai comes from the same root as dodi, “my breasts or loves.” verse 12. Bible.—It may denote oranges, as mandrakes are not spring-fruits. Genesis 30:14. Calmet.—Yet ( Bible.) married women eagerly sought after mandrakes. Here they may signify such as are fit to gain souls to Christ. Menochius.—And the old. Or great abundance. Leviticus 26:10. Matthew 13:52. Calmet.—She acknowledges Christ to be the Saviour of all, under the Old and the New Testament. Worthington.—A doctor of the Church shews Christ in the prophets, and figures of the law, as well as manifested in the gospel. Aponius, and so forth Calmet.