Commento su Cantico dei cantici 5:6

But my beloved had vanished and gone. He was hidden and concealed from me, as in, “the roundness of your flanks,”¹⁷Below 7:2. i.e., the hidden places חַמּוּקֵי of your thighs, because the thigh is hidden. [And as in,] “Until when will you hide תִּתְחַמָּקִין,”¹⁸Yirmiyahu 31:21. [i.e.,] will you hide and cover yourself because of the shame that you betrayed Me?

I opened the door for my beloved: The parable refers to the rebuilt Temple.

My soul departed as he spoke. For he said, “I will not come into your house because at first you did not wish to open [the door].”

But my beloved had turned and gone: The shekhinah did not dwell there and prophecy in Israel ceased. Forty years after the Temple was built, prophetic vision was sealed. As our sages state in Seder Olam: “Alexander, king of Macedonia, reigned twelve years and died.” Until this time the prophets prophesied through the holy spirit. From this time onwards, “Incline your ears and listen to the sages’ words” [Prov. 22:17]. As our Sages said in tractate Yoma: “Why is it written: ‘rebuild the House, then I will look on it with favor and I will glorify it’ [Haggai 1:8] where the transmitted text states ‘I will be glorified.’¹³⁸We are dealing with ketiv/keri—the written text is akhabed (I will be glorified) but it is pronounced akhabdah (I will glorify it). The difference between the text as written and pronounced is the letter heh, whose numerical equivalent is five. These are the five differences distinguishing the first Temple from the second. They are: the Ark of the Covenant, the Urim and Tummim, the annointing oil, the heavenly fire upon the altar and the divine presence.”¹³⁹b. Yoma 21b. This is the proper rendition of the text.