Song of Solomon 3:7

Behold, the little bed of Solomon, etc. Thus, to the little bed and chariot of Solomon, that is, of the peaceful king, evidently our Lord and Savior, is his ascent: namely, to the little bed in which he rests eternally in peace; and to the chariot, from which he is refreshed by the feasts of life without end. The cause of ascending, however, is that the middle of his chariot, to which he ascended, is spread with love; to which, even if the ascent is purple, that is, bloodied by intense struggle, nevertheless the sweetness of love, which is known to reside in it, greatly invites the daughters of Jerusalem, that is, the souls of a religious mind, to ascend to it. Therefore, the little bed of Solomon is the glory of supreme blessedness, in which the king of peace himself perpetually rests with his saints; toward which little bed the beloved of the king himself, that is, the Church through the desert of this world, strives daily, and partly has already reached, as much as she has sent her faithful toward future rewards. But she will reach it entirely, when at the consummation of the world, the Creator himself and the king of that same heavenly city will have gathered his chosen from the four winds, and as he says elsewhere, He will have girded himself and made them recline, and passing by will have ministered to them. But even in this life, the little bed of Solomon is the quiet behavior of the saints, secluded from worldly tumults, which, with the conflicts of vices now suppressed or put to sleep, imitates the happiness of perpetual peace. Hence also the prophet, And his place was made in peace, and his habitation in Zion (Psalm LXXI), that is, in the sublime contemplation of future goods. And the apostle Peter, If you are reproached in the name of Christ, you are blessed; for the Spirit of the glory of God rests upon you (I Peter XLIX). To each of these couches, what is suitably said applies: "Because Solomon's bed is surrounded by sixty mighty ones of Israel's mightiest," because both the present peace and rest of the Church are defended by holy preachers against the attacks of heretics, and the internal rest of the heavenly homeland is contemplated with firm intent by the more perfect ones. Therefore, it is well said of that bed of the king of peace that it is surrounded by mighty ones. It is also fittingly added, "From the mightiest of Israel." For indeed,…