The Divulgence of Mysteries and the Appearance of Lights (Commentary on the Song of Songs)

Joseph Ibn ‘Aqnīn claimed that his Judeo-Arabic commentary, The Divulgence of Mysteries and the Appearance of Lights (Inkishāf al-asrār wa-ṭuhūẓ al-anwār), was the first to take a philosophical view of the meaning of this work. In it, he flatly denies that the erotic sense of this book could possibly be its intent. Instead, he sees Song of Songs as a dialogue between the man’s intellect (the rational soul) and the active intellect (the lowest emanation of the divine) as they seek to unite. Ibn ‘Aqnīn offers three different interpretations of each verse: a grammatical-contextual interpretation; the traditional rabbinic allegorical interpretation, according to which Song of Songs is a dialogue between God and Israel; and his own philosophical and psychological interpretation. This excerpt is taken from his introduction and presents his threefold interpretation of Song of Songs 2:16. The text is fragmentary in parts.