Commentary on the Song of Songs 4.1–4.16

1. "Behold, you are beautiful, my companion; behold, you are beautiful. Your eyes are doves, apart from your silence." In amazement at her beauty he says a second time: "Behold, you are beautiful." Then he describes her loveliness part by part. He calls her eyes doves, praising their spiritual contemplation, and because they do not gape at things of sense but seek the things above, "where Christ is," according to Paul, "seated at the right hand of God." He admires also her timely silence. For we find this praised among the men of old as well; that is why we hear in the Psalms: "I set a guard on my mouth when the sinner stood up against me." And when we sing psalms we say: "Set a guard, O Lord, on my mouth, and a door of enclosure about my lips." And we find the Lord, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, not opening his mouth in his humiliation, and, according to the narrative of the Gospels, questioned by Pilate and not answering. So the bridegroom praises the bride's timely silence, since he himself had used it at the right time.

He praises her hair too, and admires her teeth, and says: "Your hair is like flocks of goats that have been revealed from Gilead. 2. Your teeth are like flocks of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and there is none barren among them." We must understand neither the hair as hair nor the teeth as teeth. By hair he means what is, as it were, superfluous and bodily in the bride, for hair is dead and without feeling. He shows that even in the matters in which you must mix with human affairs you have what is praiseworthy and orderly, and you are like the flock of goats that pastures on Mount Gilead and becomes conspicuous through the height of the mountain. Of this mountain the prophet Jeremiah says: "Is there no balm in Gilead, or is there no physician there?" And we must ask whether by the flock of goats the word here hints at those who come forward out of sin by repentance and therefore obtain healing in Gilead; and it shows that the humble parts of the bride, the lowest and as it were dead and insensible, are compared with the achievements of that flock. And your teeth are so pure and so free from all superfluous talk, from coarse jesting and foolish talk, from lying and shameful speech, that they resemble the flocks of ewes that are shorn and have put off what is superfluous, "which have come up from the washing." I think that by the flocks of shorn ewes the bridegroom indicates those who through baptism have shorn off sin and have been cleansed "by the washing of water with the word," according to the blessed Paul. For so, he says, you have kept your teeth pure and free from the filth of wicked words that you resemble those who have just been counted worthy of saving baptism. "And those flocks all bear twins, and there is none barren among them"; for I do not liken you to those who after saving baptism run back to wickedness, but to those who guard the gift given them and bring forth the twofold virtue, that of contemplation and that of practice.

Having thus praised these parts of the bride, he passes on to the rest and says: 3. "Like a scarlet thread are your lips, and your speech is lovely." By the scarlet thread he reminds her of Rahab the harlot, who in the Old Covenant filled out the type of her. For Rahab received the spies sent by Joshua the son of Nun, and through them became worthy of eternal life; and she received the scarlet thread as a sign of salvation, … so that, when [the Israelites] had entered the city, the sign, once seen, might keep off those who would kill her and procure her salvation. This sign the bridegroom beholds in the bride's mouth, lying as it were in the window, and says: "Like a scarlet thread are your lips, and your speech is lovely." For it has received the dye of my blood, and brings forth words of truth, fishing for the hearers as with a thread and binding them; for your lovely speech charms and enchants them and does not let them go away. He praises also the apple of her cheek: "For like the rind of a pomegranate," he says, "is your cheek, apart from your [silence]." He signifies the blush that comes upon her from modesty; because of it she also keeps a timely silence, hiding at the right time the more mystical words, as the rind of a pomegranate hides the seeds.

[4. "Like the tower of David is your neck, built for Thalpioth; a thousand shields hang] upon it, all the darts of the mighty." Thalpioth Aquila rendered "battlements," and Symmachus "heights." As, then, he says, [the tower] built upon battlements is high and conspicuous, so your neck is high … and lofty, looking around at the things above and moving among the things above. For it does not gape at the earth like the irrational animals, nor is it bent down toward the belly in imitation of swine, but it is raised up and lofty, and a thousand … The number is set not for a definite quantity but for a multitude; for your neck, which carries your head and your mouth, has all the teachings of the others, figuratively called darts, with which you overcome all your adversaries. It has also … you quench the [flaming] darts of the evil one; for you are clothed with … of the Spirit, and you easily wound those who oppose you, having all the darts of the mighty, refuting them now through the prophets, now through the apostles, and laying bare their weakness.

5. "Your two breasts are like two twin fawns of a gazelle, that feed among the lilies, 6. until the day breathes and the shadows are moved." We understand these words too in keeping with what has been said; and we know again that the breasts are the streams of teaching that are offered suitably to each age, giving milk to some and solid food to others. That is why [he likens] them to fawns, since, according to the blessed Paul, "Now we know in part, but then we shall know fully, even as we have been fully known." And since now we know in part and prophesy in part, the breasts of teaching are called [fawns] of a gazelle; [but when] the perfect comes, then what is in part will be done away. And of these he says that [they feed] among the lilies, that is, partake of a fragrant pasture; and this is the teaching of the Spirit. According to Symmachus he says "to pasture flowers"; for those who have been counted worthy to become a flower of the Spirit the bride's breasts pasture and shepherd, offering them the streams of teaching, "until the day breathes" and the scorching heat ends, that is, the toilsome life, "and the shadows are moved": present affairs, likened to shadows, as was said before.

Having thus praised the bride's members, he says: "I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense." Since you are so comely, he says, so lovely, so shining with beauty, so wounded with love for me, I accept death for your sake and will go my way to the mountain of myrrh; but I will rise again and return to the hill of frankincense. We have already said that by myrrh he indicates death and by frankincense the divine nature. We must ask, then, why he has put "mountain" for death and "hill" for the divinity. Because it is great and unspeakable and beyond human thought that he who was in the form of God did not count being equal with God a thing to be seized, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, and being born in the likeness of men and found in appearance as a man, humbled himself to death, even death on a cross. But to return to his own glory and to be glorified with the glory he had before the world came to be was nothing great or laborious, but very easy. That is why he says "mountain of myrrh" but "hill of frankincense," showing that the latter is easy for him and very simple, but the former steep because of his humanity. That is why, when he came to the passion itself, he says: "Now my soul is troubled," and "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me." But again he adds: "And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this reason I have come to this hour." Indicating this here too, he says: "I will go my way to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense." For I do each of these willingly, not forced or compelled by anyone: "For I have authority to lay down my life, and I have authority to take it again. No one takes it from me; I lay it down of myself, that I may take it again."

7. "You are all beautiful, my companion, all beautiful, and there is no blemish in you." These words resemble the words of the blessed Paul; he too says of the bridegroom: "that he might present the church to himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it might be holy and without blemish." … And she who has come near the bridegroom has become beautiful too, … having received the radiance from there and become luminous from the light. May it be granted to us, beholding the glory of the Lord with unveiled face, to be transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord the Spirit; with whom to the Father, together with the Holy Spirit, be the glory to the ages of ages. Amen.

We need prayer, diligent and earnest prayer, that our eyes may become doves, seeing spiritually, passing beyond the veil of the letter and clearly unfolding the hidden mysteries. For it is not possible otherwise to learn the sense of the divine Scripture, and above all of the Song of Songs, unless he himself enlightens …, sending rays of grace, and shows the hidden meaning. Come, then, let us call upon the revealer of mysteries, as the wise Daniel says, as our helper, and take up the interpretation of the writing, keeping to its sequence. At the end of the preceding book we heard the bridegroom admiring the bride's beauty, offering praise to each part, and after that praising her whole as without blemish; for the choir of souls made perfect in virtue has no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, according to the blessed Paul. Here he calls her from the …

8. "Come from Lebanon, bride, come from Lebanon; you will come and pass through, from the beginning …, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards." These words seem to me to resemble what is said to the bride in the forty-fourth psalm: "Hear, daughter, and see, and incline your ear, and forget your people and your father's house, and the king will desire your beauty, for he is your Lord." For there too [she receives] exhortation, and is bidden [to forget] her people and her father's house, as though the king would not otherwise desire her beauty unless this took place. By her people and her father's house he means the old customs, of which the blessed Paul says: "For we too were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various desires and pleasures, passing our lives in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. But when the kindness and love for mankind of God our Saviour appeared, not because of works of righteousness that we had done, but according to his great mercy, he saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal [of the] Holy [Spirit], whom he poured out on us richly," and what follows. In this writing he calls her from Lebanon and from Sanir, signifying by Lebanon idolatry, and by Sanir, which is interpreted "way of lamps," the life under the law. For the law is a lamp, shining in the night, but Christ is the sun, shining as in the day. That is why God says through the prophet: "But for you who fear me the sun of righteousness will rise, with healing in its wings." He adds also Mount Hermon, and by it too he indicates the law; for the great David says in the Psalms: "Like the dew of Hermon that comes down upon the mountains of Zion," that is, the teachings of the law supplied to the mountains of Zion. By mountains we must understand those who are perfect in virtue, as being lofty and conspicuous and raised up in divine thought. The bridegroom therefore calls … taught; and those from Sanir and Hermon, as receiving the dew of the law and … by the divine … "from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards": by the dens of lions [he means] the … wise, who by the intricacy of their words and the technical art of their sophisms … the bride; and having gathered her from the … mountains, and procured her salvation through faith, and beheld the beauty that came to her from it, he says to her:

9. "You have heartened us, my sister, bride; [you have heartened] us with one of your eyes, with one ornament of your neck." For "you have heartened us" Symmachus said "you have emboldened us." What he says is this: Your two eyes are admirable and spiritual, and are rightly called doves … [10.] … of the mystical drink, your breasts have acquired greater comeliness; and we have already said that the breasts are the streams of teaching. And the fragrance … full; for you have put me on, the bridegroom; and Isaiah is witness, foretelling and saying: "Let my soul rejoice in the Lord; for he has clothed me with the garment of salvation, and put a tunic of gladness around me." These garments of yours give off such fragrance that the fragrance of your garments, spreading everywhere, surpasses the virtue of the law, figuratively called spices. He calls her not only bride but also sister, since the blessed Paul too says: "that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." And the Lord himself, after rising, says to the women at the [tomb]: "Tell my brothers," and to Peter: "Behold, I go before you into Galilee." So she is his sister, and bride, and companion: companion according to the words "My soul has clung to you"; bride, as receiving from him the seeds of teaching and bearing the fruit of godliness; and sister, as clothed with the same nature as he according to his humanity. He continues, then, going through her praise, and says:

11. "Your lips drip a honeycomb, bride; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon." It is necessary to set beside these words the apostolic teaching that says: "For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member but many"; and a little after: "If all were one member, where would the body be?" and again: "Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually." The church, then, made up of many members, forms one body. Let us understand, therefore, that some of its members are eyes, some ears, some lips. That is why the bridegroom says to her: "Your lips drip a honeycomb, bride; honey and milk are under your tongue." He indicates here the teachers of the church, who offer the pious teaching and carry as it were a honeycomb of bees on their lips and let fall the drops of honey; and who have not only honey but milk as well, and offer each person suitable food, the fitting kind to infants and the proper kind to the perfect. The honeycombs carried on the lips of the teachers are the divine Scriptures, … the holy prophets and apostles; for they, flying about the meadows of the all-holy Spirit, built as it were the honeycombs of the divine Scriptures for us and filled them with the honey of teaching, and so sent the benefit on to us. The letter is like the wax, and the meaning hidden in it like the honey; the drops of this honey are what the lips of the pious teachers let fall. They hold out milk too, carried from their tongue, to those who need milk.

He continues admiring the bride's garments, and says: "And the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon." We said before that the bridegroom himself has become her garment; and the blessed Paul is witness, saying: "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." The bridegroom … is God before the ages and man in the last [times]; for she has put on Christ, who is God and man: … born of the holy Virgin [in the last] days; and remaining what he was, he took what is ours, and clothed the bride who had long been naked. That is why he says to her: "The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon"; and frankincense is a symbol of theology, since according to the …

12. "A garden enclosed, my sister, bride, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed." He calls her a garden as bearing not one fruit of godliness and virtue but many and various; and enclosed as fenced about and safe from plots: "For the gates of Hades," he says, "will not prevail against her." For she is not like that [vine] from Egypt, [whose fruit all who] pass along the road [plucked], and the boar from the wood ravaged it; she resembles [a garden] that has many fruits of every kind, but does not admit thieves, and escapes the hands of those who plot against it. And she is a sealed fountain; for these streams are not poured out for all, but for the worthy. Of this fountain the Lord says in the Gospels: "Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst, but it will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life." Fittingly, then, he calls her a sealed fountain, as one set before the worthy, not before all. For [it is] not for the uninitiated, nor for those who after initiation wallow in lawlessness, but for those who live with strictness or are cleansed by repentance. And he says not only "a garden enclosed and a fountain sealed" but also: 13. "[Your shoots are a paradise of pomegranates with the fruit of fruit trees, henna with nard, 14. nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon,] with all the trees of Lebanon, myrrh, aloes, with all the first perfumes. 15. A fountain of gardens, a well of living water, rushing down from Lebanon."

All these, he says, you sent me and brought me at the time of the marriage: first the paradise of pomegranates, which had its share of the other fruit trees too. I think the pomegranate is figuratively taken for love, since under one covering countless seeds lie together in the same place, and, united with one another, do not crush or spoil one another, but stay sound unless some rot arises among them. One may find another interpretation also from the partitions between them; for among those who are being saved we see many orders: one order of virgins, another of the continent, another of those who bear the yoke of marriage, and of … rich, … of slaves who love godliness, and another of masters who rule lawfully. So the pomegranate too has, as it were, partition walls that separate the seeds into certain groups. That is why he admires the bride's … the fruit of love; and he says that she is adorned with the other kinds of virtue too: "With the fruit of fruit trees." … "For [henna] with nard." Henna is a kind of tree from which a warming oil is made. And nard is a fragrant spice from which again an oil of the same name is made, also warming and suitable for treating the body. He says that the paradise has saffron too; for we need not only things that warm us and kindle in us love for God, but also things that cool unruly desires; and saffron is one of the cooling plants. "And calamus," he says, "and cinnamon." These too are kinds of spices, but understood figuratively. By the calamus (the reed) he signifies the pious writings: "My tongue is the reed of a swift scribe"; and the aromatic reed is fragrant; for the tongue of the teachers of godliness is full of every fragrance. And cinnamon, which was offered to God under the old law, is joined to the calamus, so that we may learn that writings about God are praiseworthy and fragrant and like the sweet spices mentioned. To these he adds: "With all the trees of Lebanon." For she has, he says, the virtue of the life under the law too, not according to the letter but according to the spirit; for we have often been taught that Jerusalem is signified by Lebanon. She has also "myrrh and aloes with all the first perfumes," that is, the deadening of the passions (for myrrh belongs to the dead) and the bitterness of temptations (for aloes is bitter). And, in a word, she has all the first of the perfumes, not the second nor the third but the first; for to the perfect belong the perfect things. She has also "a fountain and a well of living water, rushing down from Lebanon." For she has not only the gospel teaching, flowing openly, but also the well of the law, which is a well of living water, keeping its streams hidden, yet rushing and giving off a sound … [in Jeru]salem the life under the law flourished, which is figuratively called Lebanon; and this well too passed over to the Lord's bride, the church; and it is hidden, yet borne along with a rush and watering the paradise of the church.

Having heard the praises from above, the bride, delighted and gladdened … that he had not only admired her beauty but also praised her robes, says:

16. "Awake, north wind, and come, south wind, and blow through my garden, and let my spices flow."