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.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 2. Knocking. The spouse had retired to rest, as her beloved delayed longer than usual. But love is ever on the watch. Calmet.—She wished to meditate, but is called upon to assist others, and excited by Christ’s own example. Worthington.—Dew. Having been out in the evening, preceding this fourth night. This denotes imperfect Christians, who remain, indeed, attached to the head, but are a disgrace to it, by their scandalous lives. Saint Augustine tr. 37 in Jo. Saint Gregory Calmet.—Such was the state of many in the days of Luther, who accordingly joined the first reformers. See Philips’s Life of Card. Pole. p. 364. Bible.—Nights. Anacreon (ode 1.) has something similar. Christ knocks by his inspirations and chastisements, and he is better heard in the night of tribulation. Revelation 3:20. Calmet.—Heretics began to blaspheme Christ, after the Church had only enjoyed a short peace, ( Menochius.) after the ten persecutions.