Fragments on the Song of Songs 4–8

"Your teeth are like flocks of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of them bearing twins, and there is none barren among them." Bearing twins in another sense, because of the twofold understanding, the literal and the spiritual.

"Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your speech [is lovely]." That is, let the preparation of the word be fiery, so as to be able to set the hearer aflame; or it also indicates that the words coming out through the lips are full of blood and of life, as if dipped in the true drink of the blood of Christ. To the praise of her self-control he adds the praise of the bride, who knows from her silence the seasons for beautiful speech and for praiseworthy silence. And since one who is faithful in spirit hides matters, the bride too hides her contemplations in the depth, like the seeds of the pomegranate, each in its own order, embodied in the ruling mind. Therefore he added, "apart from your silence," indicating the doctrines kept in silence, like the seeds of a pomegranate under the [veil].

"Your neck is like the tower of David, built for Thalpioth; a thousand shields hang upon it, all the darts of the mighty." Aquila rendered Thalpioth "battlements"; Symmachus, "heights." In keeping with this, the tower above the battlements is wisdom, on which there hang, in the same way, shields, that is, the doctrines that are believed, which the Apostle spoke of in the singular as "the shield of faith"; and darts of the mighty, that is, the arguments that mightily overturn the plausibility of those opposed to the truth. Instead of "battlements" the fifth edition rendered "commandments," interpreting the sense rather than the word; for unless commandments have first been laid down, it is impossible for true knowledge to be built up.

"Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies, until the day breathes and the shadows move." … feeding in lovely and fragrant places, signifying both the things of the mind and the things of the senses. "Fawns," because now we know in part; but when the perfect comes, we do away with childishness, when the burning heat of the present life ceases and the time of refreshment arrives, and the shadow too is dissolved; for the present life is a shadow. For then we shall be fed as perfect, and not as fawns.

"You have heartened us with one of your eyes, with one [ornament of your neck]." The ornament is so called from being set upon and fitted to the neck of the bride. But if the bride's breasts had remained like two fawns of a gazelle, "How have they become beautiful?" would not have been said in wonder about the intellectual part, as I said; rather, the doubling of the wonder showed the increase of her beauty, as does "you have heartened" said a second time. The garments of the bride are those who have put on Christ Jesus, compassion, kindness, and humility. Her lips are the teachers, and the honeycombs are good words; prophets and apostles made the honeycomb and the honey.

"A garden enclosed, my sister bride; a garden [enclosed, a fountain sealed]." "Garden enclosed" was said a second time, once of one who is making progress and once of one who is perfect. … Or else: now the bride is only a garden enclosed, but in the age to come, because of her perfection and steadfastness, she is also a sealed fountain. "For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance." Now, then, Scripture says simply that she is a garden; but elsewhere, as if of another, it adds … .

The bride seems to rebuke the north wind, having received the authority from the bridegroom, who rebuked the wind; for this reason it is said in the three evangelists that the wind was rebuked, and the winds simply obey him. When the powers of the devil are driven out, Christ then makes his dwelling in the souls; of him it is said, "God will come from Teman," that is, from the south.

"Open to me, my sister, my companion, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night." The addition of "to me" to "open" is necessary; for one may also open to the opposing powers. He seems to speak of the dew as troublesome, as also of the drops of the night; for he seems to seek rest from them. These things follow on what came first: for after the resurrection he came in while the doors were shut, and he calls Thomas, and through him every unbelieving soul, to open its own heart and to receive the full assurance of the resurrection; and he calls him perfect when he has said, "My Lord and my God." The dew indicates the resurrection at dawn, when the dew comes down.

"My kinsman passed by; my soul went out at his word." When the bride reached the bolt, so as to open her soul to the Word, then, having shown only his hand and some of his deeds, he passed by, since the bride did not yet have room to behold more; and at the same time he arranges to heighten her love still further. The soul goes out and departs from the body because of the word of the bridegroom, having her citizenship in heaven.

"I sought him, and did not find him; I called him, and he did not hearken to me." The soul seeks the bridegroom Word continually; and having found him, being again at a loss about other things, she seeks; and having contemplated those, she longs for the revelation of others; and having obtained these, she prays to the bridegroom about yet others.

"[My kinsman is white and ruddy, chosen] from ten thousands." … Or white, since he is true God, and ruddy because of the incarnation.

"His head is gold, kephaz; his locks [are fir branches, black as a raven]." The locks, because of their thickness, are compared to the fronds of palm trees, which, they say, serve the female palms in place of seed so that they bear fruit … in place of hairs, thoughts, which are called black in praise when they are compared with the beauty of the bridegroom. And "as a raven," not simply, I think, because of the colour, but as a symbol of the deepest things, filled with dark water in clouds of the air; about which Job said, "Who has prepared food for the raven? Its young cry out to the Lord." For God has prepared much food for those who are deeper in mind, and their disciples, the young ones, devoting themselves to prayers, have cried out to the Lord, wandering and seeking the things in them about which they are perplexed.

"His cheeks are like bowls of spice, putting forth [perfumes]." The cheeks of Christ are to be understood as those who minister the word of God and spiritual food: because of the fullness of the fragrance of good works and words, they are like bowls of spice; and because of the varied word rooted in them, in every arrangement of Scripture, always [putting forth perfumes].

"His belly is an ivory box, upon a sapphire stone." The belly of the Word is those who can contain the mysteries, that is, those who are hollow so as to receive them; the box, those fit to preserve them; and because of its brightness and clearness it is said to be of ivory. Such a belly, the ivory box, has been set upon a sapphire stone, which is Christ. All who are the belly of the Word conceive the Lord in the womb from fear, and give birth to a spirit of salvation. For this reason too the belly of the sacrifice is washed in Leviticus, so as to have nothing filthy.

"You are beautiful, my companion, as good pleasure, lovely as [Jerusalem, terrible as ordered ranks]." The nearer she comes to the bridegroom, the better the things to which she is likened; for to "beautiful" and "lovely" and "companion" he added "as Jerusalem." And he calls the perfected church terrifying: in one way to the opposing powers, which cannot gaze upon the beauty of her face; in another way also to those below her, since she resembles the ordered states of the universe. Symmachus has not "ordered" but "battle-lines": for they are an object of awe, like a rank of armies.

"Turn your eyes away from me, for they have given me wings." The church gazes upon the loveliness and beauty of Christ, able through greater progress to perceive his divinity, inasmuch as all things came into being through him. And he, gladdened by the power of the eyes of the soul, whether the church or the soul that is the bride of the Word, bids her turn away on rational wings toward the height, so that she may come to the summit of perfection, and so that she too may see him winged and no longer coming down for her sake, and may be able to say, "even if we have known [Christ according to the flesh, we know him so no longer]." He went up, then, together with your progress, he says, since you now have room to gaze upon him, and no longer seek further than the dispensation.

"[Your teeth are like flocks] of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of them bearing twins, and there is none barren among them." These things are said to the bride a second time: the first time, I think, when she had appeared such, as far as was possible, while she was still in this life; the second, when she had come to perfection. Therefore now he only hinted at it: "Your teeth are like flocks of shorn ewes"; according to Aquila and Symmachus, "your teeth are like flocks of sheep," or "of ewe-lambs." And it was fitting that these things be said of perfection, so that "from the washing" refers no longer to the first washing but to the second. Bearing twins, perhaps, as being nourished by the contemplation of the things of the mind and the things of the senses, and as none being barren of the nourishment of the word about anything whatever.

"There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number; but one is my dove." The maidens have no number, not because they do not fall under number, but because they are not worthy to be numbered. And perhaps the same thought underlies the difference here among the maidens who share with Christ and what the Apostle says about the resurrection of the dead when he speaks of orders: "For since death came through a man, the resurrection [of the dead also came through a man; for as in Adam all] die, so also in Christ all will be made alive, each in his own order." For each one's life and word and disposition will cause each to be ranked according to worth. Do not be surprised if the bridegroom, having a beautiful bride, has perhaps a second and a third and more: if you understand his brides too, you will not be afraid to say, from the Song, "There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and maidens without number; but one is my dove." The bridegroom is the Word; the bride is a rational living being, if the soul understands and the bridegroom receives the bride. But since this Word shares, not with one soul, but with many and different ones, then the one with whom he shares with a royal and conspicuous honour, let her be called the perfect dove; those with whom he shares royally, but less, are for this reason the sixty queens; he shares with other souls that are trained by the fear of God, and these are the concubines; there are some other souls, still lower, having less fear: these are the maidens without number. The bridegroom, then, [seeking] here too souls that are beautiful and able to be his and to share with him, came out from the heavenly bridal chamber. He shares with angels and archangels, who are brides of the Word, and with thrones and dominions.

"I went down into the garden of the nut tree, to see the produce of the torrent, to see whether the vine had blossomed, whether the pomegranates had flowered; there I will give you my breasts." By a kind of likeness the righteous are nut trees, bearing fruit through their priestly service to God, because they have a fence around them: one bitter and like gall, another hard, the hardness of temptations. But temptation may also be called a torrent, according to the saying, "Our soul passed through a torrent." The bride, then, … going down into the garden of the nut tree, that is, falling from the things of paradise into this toilsome life, to see some unexpected produce of the winter-flowing dark river; or, according to Symmachus, "I went down to learn whether the ravine of life has fruits"; and also to see whether the vine has blossomed, having escaped the winter and reached the spring, the season of the Passover and of the feast of unleavened bread; for that is when the vine usually blossoms in Judea; and whether the pomegranates have flowered, whose fruit is plentiful and enclosed in order by the rind, to which the bride's cheek is likened. "There," she says, "I will give you my breasts," that is, the ruling mind. But "my soul did not know," she says, and the promise proved false, since she cannot do anything of herself. "But I was not left behind in these things; for the father of Nahshon, the ruler of my people, Amminadab, set me to be chariots for himself." Nahshon is interpreted "serpent-like," the ruler of the bride's people; and Amminadab is the one in Numbers, the father of Nahshon, ruler of the tribe of Judah. He is applied to Christ because of the words, "as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert." So, she says, he set me as chariots for himself, driving my thoughts. "Return, and we shall look upon you."

"What will you see in the Shulammite? She who comes like dances of the camps." For she has come up from the washing, like the angelic orders. Aquila and the fifth edition rendered "Shulammite" as "the one at peace"; for the bride of the Word is the soul, the church of Christ, because of him who made both one and broke down the dividing wall of the fence. But if "Shulammite" means "the despoiled one," according to Symmachus, the bridegroom would say to her: O despoiled one, who came to be under the one who took you captive, return to your former nobility; now receiving, as in firstfruits, the pledge of adoption and the hope of the resurrection, but then the garment of the promise and of incorruption. The repetition of "return" is for exhortation; for then, he says, it is properly possible to see you. I think the words are spoken by the companions of the bridegroom to the bride, and to them the bridegroom says, "What will you see?" She is likened to an army of victors; for the one bride has in herself a multitude of camps. For the members of the bride, being many companies, are dances in hymning the divine with one voice and speaking of God; and in destroying the enemies they are camps, now at peace, no longer having a warlike form. The friends of the bridegroom call to her who toiled and was troubled for those in the torrent, saying, "We shall look upon you"; for seeing her trouble, not fruitless but ending in a good outcome, how she led with her as victors those who had been condemned in the torrent, handed over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, once they had passed through the water of the torrent, coming like dances of the camps of those returning from war, … and saying, "Lord, as with a shield of good pleasure you have crowned us."

"The curves of your thighs are like necklaces, the work of [a craftsman's] hands." Scripture often places the thighs in connection with generation. Here, then, it indicates what is ordered and well proportioned in the bride in the region of generation, like necklaces fashioned by virtue.

"[Your navel is a turned bowl, not lacking] mixed wine; your belly is a heap of wheat fenced about with lilies." At the navel, wisdom calls people to the mixing bowl, saying, "Come, drink the wine that I have mixed for you"; and it indicates the spiritual …; and he added "a heap of wheat" also, to signify the spiritual food. For "heap" stands for a gathering of a multitude of virtues, ordered into one in concord. The lilies would be the flowers of the grace of God, which she gathered from amid the thorns of life.

"Your neck is like a tower of ivory." Those who do what pleases the bridegroom were called towers, having as their watchtower the contemplative soul, which watches over all things from on high; and ivory, because of its brightness and smoothness; for there is nothing rough from wickedness in the bride's neck. And he no longer spoke of the fawns "that feed among the lilies"; for they had come to be above the lilies that are amid thorns. He wishes us, being lovers of learning, to have the soul as the daughter of many wise men, and to be at the entrances of many studies, which he called gates. So great a grace of knowledge, he says, abounds to the teachers among you that not only those with you enjoy their instruction, but those outside and far off already enjoy the benefit they bring.

"Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon, watching the face of Damascus; your head upon you is like Carmel, and the braid of your head like purple; a king bound in the galleries." The one who has pure breath, and through the perception of the divine Word is able to run after him to the fragrance of his ointments, is a nose that perceives spiritual fragrance, watching whether any doctrine among the nations seems remarkable; for Damascus represents the nations, and the face is a symbol of what is remarkable and beautiful. Frankincense is offered on the altar of God. Carmel is interpreted "knowledge of circumcision"; and he knows circumcision who can say with boldness, "We are the circumcision." From … the head, that is, Christ, the knowledge of spiritual circumcision was born.

"How beautiful you have become, and how sweet, O love, in your delights! This is your stature: you were likened to the palm tree, and your breasts to clusters." Because your mind is lofty, and nothing earthly … . The bridegroom says these things marvelling at their change for the better. For as a good blending of the elements produces health in bodies, so from right impulses and avoidances a kind of health and beauty comes upon the soul. And as the bride, who was ugly through wickedness, changed through virtue into loveliness, so, being bitter, she became most pleasant and sweet to him. He says, then, that as in bodily delights a costly feast is longed for, so, for those who delight in spiritual delight, love is longed for. Since the pronoun "your" stands in the other versions, he would be saying: you delight in love more than in the other fruits of the Spirit, so as to bear all things and endure all things for its sake. And as there is shortness in some bodies and tallness in others, so it is with the soul too, in proportion to what it accomplishes. That is, your thoughts, he says, are nourishing and … .

"I said, I will go up into the palm tree, I will take hold of its heights; and your breasts shall be like clusters of the vine, and the fragrance of your nostril like apples, and your throat like good wine, going to my kinsman for uprightness, sufficient for my lips and teeth." Having been likened to a palm tree, she calls the bridegroom a palm tree, having perceived the height and greatness of the Word, to which she also hoped to go up at the end of the songs, when the bride is perfect, when she will also take hold of the bridegroom's breasts, which signify the dense truths; therefore they are also likened to clusters of the vine, of which the Savior said, "I am the true vine." The things that come forth from the hidden places of the Word direct and gladden to such a degree that one speaks when one should, to whom one should, and as much as one should. For the lips signify speech, and the teeth reticence, according to the saying, "Make a door and a bolt for your mouth, and a measure and a weight for your words." In such people not only are the thoughts secure, but the lips also are bound by discernment. The good wine is that which is brought forth from the good treasure of the heart.

"I am my kinsman's, and his turning is toward me." When she has been perfected, [she says] that the Word will find rest nowhere at all, wherever he turns, as he does with me.

"Come, my kinsman, let us go out into the field; let us lodge in the villages; let us rise early to go to the vineyards." The bride urges him to go out, as from the innermost and blessed dwellings, to watch over those who are lower; for these are the field and the villages and the vineyards and the pomegranates …

"Finding you outside, I will kiss you, and indeed they will not despise me. I will take you, I will bring you into my mother's house and into the chamber of her who conceived [me; I will give you to drink of spiced wine,] from the stream of my pomegranates." For finding him come down from the lookout above, … .

"I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and by the strengths of the field: why should you awaken and arouse love until it pleases?" She has now adjured them a second time. Before, being in doubt, she put "if" first; but now, having taught the form of the awakening, of the arousing, and of love, she presents, as it were, this: that in adjuring you I adjured by these things, by "awaken" and … .

"Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, [jealousy hard as Hades]." The bridegroom urges her to shape every thought and action by his own stamp; and he says that it is love, strong as death, that does these things; for it bears all things, endures all things. Therefore it is strong like death, putting sin to death. That is: since death prevailed over all, because in Adam all die, and Hades likewise, such, he says, is love; and such is the jealousy with which one must be jealous for God, being hard against sinners, like that of Elijah and of Phinehas. Or the bridegroom says this to her: "Set me as a seal," to seal your thoughts and your actions, and to contend even to death for the truth. And even in Hades the Jews were jealous against Christ, bribing the soldiers.

"Our sister is small, and she has no breasts." Because the soul of man is small, and the church of God is still being furnished on earth and does not yet have thoughts (for this is what the breasts are), she advances to greatness of life and of thoughts, when she makes the thoughts and the prophetic contemplations clear, or makes room for the concord and working of power; and she says these things together with the prophets and the spirits of the righteous.

"You who sit in the gardens, the companions attend to your voice; let me hear it. Flee, my kinsman, and be like the gazelle or the young stag on the mountains of spices." The bride saw the bridegroom resting in the gardens, and the companions attending to his voice, which she herself heard; and she wishes him, who sees sharply and keenly, to turn away from the things here: in speed and sharpness of sight to be like a gazelle, and like a young stag in treating the enemies, as serpents and scorpions, with contempt; and to go up to those who stand high like mountains and breathe out every fragrance, of whom it is said, "His foundations are on the holy mountains." This is according to the Seventy, Theodotion, and the fifth edition. Aquila rendered "he who sits in the gardens"; but Symmachus, "she who dwells," so that the first words are said to the bride, as sitting among her own fruits, while his companions listen attentively to her.