雅歌 4
1
我的佳偶，你甚美丽！你甚美丽！你的眼在帕子内好像鸽子眼。你的头发如同山羊群卧在基列山旁。
2
你的牙齿如新剪毛的一群母羊，洗净上来，个个都有双生，没有一只丧掉子的。
3
你的唇好像一条朱红线；你的嘴也秀美。你的两太阳在帕子内，如同一块石榴。
4
你的颈项好像大卫建造收藏军器的高台，其上悬挂一千盾牌，都是勇士的藤牌。
6
我要往没药山和乳香冈去，直等到天起凉风、日影飞去的时候回来。
7
我的佳偶，你全然美丽，毫无瑕疵！
8
我的新妇，求你与我一同离开利巴嫩，与我一同离开利巴嫩。从亚玛拿顶，从示尼珥与黑门顶，从有狮子的洞，从有豹子的山往下观看。
9
我妹子，我新妇，你夺了我的心。你用眼一看，用你项上的一条金炼，夺了我的心！
10
我妹子，我新妇，你的爱情何其美！你的爱情比酒更美！你膏油的香气胜过一切香品！
11
我新妇，你的嘴唇滴蜜，好像蜂房滴蜜；你的舌下有蜜，有奶。你衣服的香气如利巴嫩的香气。
12
我妹子，我新妇，乃是关锁的园，禁闭的井，封闭的泉源。
13
你园内所种的结了石榴，有佳美的果子，并凤仙花与哪哒树。
14
有哪哒和番红花，菖蒲和桂树，并各样乳香木、没药、沉香，与一切上等的果品。
Arcana Coelestia #870
870. That 'a dove' means the truths and goods of faith residing with a person who is to be regenerated is clear from the meaning of 'a dove' in the Word, especially from the dove that alighted on Jesus when He was baptized, as mentioned in Matthew,
When Jesus was baptized He went up immediately out of the water, and behold, the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on Himself. Matthew 3:16-17; and in John 1:32, Luke 3:21-22; Mark 1:10-11.
Here 'a dove' meant nothing else than the holiness of faith, and the 'baptism' itself meant regeneration. It also meant therefore the truth and good of faith residing with the new Church that was to arise, which truth and good people receive through being regenerated by the Lord.
[2] Similar things were represented and embodied in the young doves or the turtle doves - mentioned in Leviticus 1:14-end; 5:7-10; 12:6; 14:21-22; 15:14-15, 29-30; Numbers 6:10-11; Luke 2:22-24 - which they used to offer as sacrifices and as burnt offerings in the Jewish Church, as becomes clear from each of the references just given. Anyone may grasp that they had such a meaning merely from the fact that they could not have been anything else than things of a representative nature. Otherwise they would be pointless, and in no sense Divine, for the external side of the Church is lifeless, but is made alive by the internal, as is the internal by the Lord.
[3] That 'a dove' in general means the intellectual concepts of faith is also clear in the Prophets, as in Hosea,
Ephraim will be like a stupid dove with no heart; they called Egypt, they went away to Assyria. Hosea 7:11.
In the same prophet, speaking of Ephraim,
They will tremble like a bird out of Egypt and a dove from the land of Assyria. Hosea 11:11.
Here 'Ephraim' stands for one who has intelligence, 'Egypt' for him who has knowledge, 'Assyria' for him who is rational, and 'a dove' stands for what belongs to the intellectual concepts of faith, the subject there being the regeneration of the spiritual Church. In David,
O Jehovah, deliver not the soul of [Your] turtle dove to the wild animal. Psalms 74:19.
'Wild animal' stands for people without any charity, 'the soul of a turtle dove' for the life of faith. See what has been stated and shown already in 40, 776, about birds meaning intellectual things. Harmless, beautiful, clean, and useful birds in particular mean intellectual truths and goods; but harmful, ugly, unclean, and useless ones, such as the raven, which is here used as the opposite of the dove, mean their opposites, namely falsities.
