▼1:3The Bride is speaking about her groom, saying that the maidens (or adolescent girls) are attracted to him, (they wish that they were marrying the groom, instead of the bride). She asks him to draw her to him. +Christ draws the Church to Him and to the Father. The Church asks to be drawn by Christ. Many who are not mature in the Faith (the maidens, who are not yet ready to be brides), and some who might not even be Christians at all, are drawn to Christ out of love for him.(Conte)

▼1:3 Draw me: That is, with thy grace: otherwise I should not be able to come to you. This metaphor shows that we cannot of ourselves come to Christ our Lord, unless he draws us by his grace, which is laid up in his storerooms: that is, in the mysteries of Faith, which God in his goodness and love for mankind has revealed, first by his servant Moses in the Old Law in figure only, and afterwards in reality by his only begotten Son Jesus Christ.(Challoner)

▼1:4This cannot be the bride speaking, because the speaker is plural. Also, the person they are running after is perfumed, so they must be running after the bride. Therefore, this is the chorus of maidens speaking. The Chorus is those adolescent girls mentioned in the verse above, who are attracted to the groom. They admire the bride; they wish that they were getting married in her place. As the bride is drawn to the groom, they are drawn by admiration of her to follow after her. +The adolescent girl chorus represents those who are not mature in the Faith, but who are attracted to Christ and His Church. As Christ draws the Church forward, they run after the Church, attracted by the Church’s perfumes (prayers, sacrifices, holiness, etc.).(Conte)

▼1:4 I am black but beautiful: That is, the church of Christ founded in humility appearing outwardly afflicted, and as it were black and contemptible; but inwardly, that is, in its doctrine and morality, fair and beautiful.(Challoner)

▼1:5The chorus says that they will follow the bride, and the bride replies by saying where she is being led, i.e. where they will also go if they follow her: into the storerooms (including those of wine, as we find out later in the book). The groom, on the historical or literal level of meaning, is king Solomon. +The Church replies to those who listen to Her and who admire Her, that the king (God the Father) is leading Her into his storerooms, which represent the resources of the Faith, including the Sacraments and the Teachings that have been preserved through the ages. Since they expressed a desire to run after the Church, the Church then informs them of where the Father (King) is leading them.(Conte)

▼1:6The ‘we’ is the chorus speaking about the bride. They tell her that her breasts, symbolic of her inner feminine beauty, are better than the wine of the king’s storerooms. +After the Church tells its admirers that it is being led into the storerooms of the king, the chorus of admirers replies that they exult and rejoice in the Church and its teachings, even above the gifts of the Sacraments. For those who receive the Sacraments, without believing and following the teachings of the Church, will not be saved.(Conte)

▼1:7Now it is the groom’s turn to speak. The word ‘recti’ is nominative plural; so this is not the chorus saying ‘we’ love you, but the groom saying to the bride why they, the chorus, love her. This is not the bride speaking to the groom, because it follows after the chorus’ expression of admiration and love for the bride. Therefore, it is an explanation as to why the chorus of girls finds the bride so admirable: it is because they are maturing in righteousness and are therefore attracted to a woman who is more righteous than they are. The Bride’s feminine beauty, symbolized by her breasts, is the inner beauty of righteousness. +The Christ tells the Church that those who are righteous, who love truth and justice and mercy, will also love the Church. This explains why even those outside the Church find the Church attractive.(Conte)

▼1:7 If you know not thyself, etc: Christ encourages his spouse to follow and watch her flock: and though she know not entirely the power at hand to assist her, he tells her, ver. 8, my company of horsemen, that is, his angels, are always watching and protecting her. And in the following verses he reminds her of the virtues and gifts with which he has endowed her.(Challoner)