Song of Songs 4:2

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Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; every one of which bears twins, and none is barren among them.

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Ambrose of Milan

AD 397

[There is a] pleasing comparison to those that are shorn; for we know that goats both feed in high places without risk and securely find their food in rugged places, and then when shorn are freed from what is superfluous. The church is likened to a flock of these, having in itself the many virtues of those souls which through the laver lay aside the superfluity of sins and offer to Christ the mystic faith and the grace of good living, which speak of the cross of the Lord Jesus. - "On the Mysteries 7.38"

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Aquinas Study Bible

AD 2017

teeth: just as the hairs symbolize the weaker members among God's people, the teeth signify the stronger ones. twins: that is because they pass on to others the great qualities that they have. (St. Bede)

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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

He says to the church, his spouse, “Your teeth are like a flock of sheep that are shorn, which come up from the washing, all with twins, and there is none barren among them.” By this twin offspring the twofold object of love is meant, namely, God and the neighbor: “On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.” - "Letter 149"

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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

“Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes.” What do shorn ewes mean? Those who lay aside secular burdens. What does shorn mean? Those who lay aside their fleeces, like the load of secular burdens. Those persons were your teeth, about whom it is written in the Acts of the Apostles that “they sold all their possessions and laid the proceeds at the feet of the apostles, so that distribution might be made to each, as there was need.” You have received the fleeces of your shorn ewes. That flock has come up from the washing of holy baptism. All have given birth, because they have fulfilled the two commandments. - "Sermon 313b.3"

1 min4/8

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Augustine of Hippo

AD 430

The teeth of the church are those through whom she speaks. Of what sort are your teeth? “Like a flock of sheep that are shorn.” Why “that are shorn”? Because they have laid aside the burdens of the world. Were not those sheep, of which I was a little before speaking, shorn, whom the bidding of God had shorn when he said, “Go and sell what you have, and give to the poor; and you shall find treasure in heaven: and come and follow me”? They performed this bidding: shorn they came. And because those who believe in Christ are baptized, what is there said “which come up from the washing” means they have come up from cleansing. “Whereof every one bears twins.” What twins? Those two commandments, whereupon hang all the law and the prophets. - "Explanations of the Psalms 95.9"

1 min5/8

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Cyril of Jerusalem

AD 386

“Your teeth are like a flock of ewes to be shorn.” A sincere confession is a spiritual shearing! And further: “all of them big with twins,” signifying the twofold grace, either that perfected by water and the Spirit, or that announced in the Old and in the New Testament. - "Catechetical Lectures 3.16"

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

Them. Those who lay aside the old man, and receive baptism, are filled with grace, to bring forth the fruits of virtue. (St. Augustine, Doct. ii. 6.) Pastors in particular, must lay aside worldly cares, and attend to their flocks. (Menochius)

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Gregory of Nyssa

AD 394

Now is the time to examine the beauty attributed to the teeth of shorn sheep.… If we look at the literal meaning of this verse, I do not see how teeth can be compared with prolific sheep.… What then can we gather from these words? Persons reducing the divine mysteries into small fragments for a clearer interpretation of the text make spiritual food more easily acceptable for the body of the church. They perform the function of teeth by receiving the thick, dense bread of the text into their mouths. By a more subtle contemplation, they make the food delectable. - "Homilies on the Song of Songs 7"

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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20