Behold, you are fair, my love; behold, you are fair; you have doves' eyes behind your veil: your hair is like a flock of goats, going down from mount Gilead.
All Commentaries on Song of Songs 4:1 Go To Song of Songs 4
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
How. Christ again praises the beauty of his Church. (Worthington)
The dialogue takes place in the country. (Haydock)
From corporal beauty, which is often dangerous, and the portion of the most dissolute, we must raise our minds to spiritual advantages, which the Holy Spirit has here in view.
Within. St. Ambrose, "besides thy taciturnity. "Septuagint, "silence. "Rabbins, "hair. "Protestants, "within thy locks. "But what renders this version of tsammathec (Haydock) suspicious is, that none of the ancients knew of it, and the hair is afterwards specified, chap. vi. 4. Moreover, Isaias, (xlvii. 2.) uses it for (Calmet) "turpitude "(St. Jerome) or the parts which are usually "covered. "(Septuagint) (Haydock)
Si qua latent, meliora putat. ( Met. 1500.)
All the glory of the king's daughter is within, Psalm xliv. 14. Modesty and silence are the best encomium. (Calmet)
The Lord praises the intention, occupations and doctrine of the Church, the twins of faith and good works; the preaching of Christ's passion without shame, (ver. 3.) and the administration of the sacraments, which, like the neck, unite the members to their head; so that they become invincible, (ver. 4.) whether they be of Jewish or Gentile extraction, ver. 5. (Worthington)
Up. Hebrew and Septuagint, "appear. "Jerusalem was the highest part of the country; (Haydock) and coming up and down often means no more than coming or going, Judges xi. 3., and xv. 11. (Calmet)
The hair of goats in Lycia was beautifully curled. (Ælian xvi. 30.)
Women used such false hair. (Martial xii. 45.)
Though the hair be only an ornament, it is not to be neglected; so the pious Christian will always treat with respect the ceremonies established chiefly for the instruction of the ignorant. (Calmet)
Those simple and fervent souls, by their numbers, adorn the Church, as hair does the body. (St. Gregory)
The external and internal perfections of the spouse deserve commendation. (Menochius)
