Commentary on the Song of Songs 5.1–5.9

1. "Let my kinsman come down into his garden and eat the fruit of his fruit trees." The north wind is among the things spoken against in the divine Scripture; that is why God says through Jeremiah the prophet that "from the north evils will be kindled." And again: "And the one from the north I will drive out from you." And elsewhere: "Behold, evils come from the north, and great destruction." So she bids the north wind arouse itself and withdraw, so that the south wind may blow through and the kinsman may enjoy [the] fruits of her [garden]. The south wind (notos), plainly, blows from the south, and is called notos because it is moist and fills bodies with moisture as it blows; moreover, light streams in more from the south; that is why Habakkuk foretells that the Lord will come from the south: "For God," he says, "will come from Thaiman"; and this is how the word is interpreted in the Hebrew and in the Syriac tongue. So she bids the opposing spirit depart and the divine grace blow, so that [her kinsman may enjoy] the fruits of her spices once they are ripened, … not falling before their time.

"I have entered into my garden, my sister, bride. I have gathered my myrrh with my spices, I have eaten my bread with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, companions, and drink, [and be drunk, kinsmen]." … into my garden, which you brought to me, and I gathered first my myrrh, that is, what I planted in you; for I first accepted death for your sake, and then you desired to die with me and to be buried with me. For you were buried with me through baptism into death, and you put to death your members that are on the earth. I gathered, then, my myrrh with my spices; for the rest of the virtue too, he says, which you were taught by me, I have reaped and received. And I have eaten my bread with my honey: the solid and sweet food that is found among the perfect. "I have drunk my wine." He has rightly added the pronoun; for he himself is the true vine from which this wine was cultivated. "I have drunk my wine with my milk." For he does not shake off even the infants, those still at the breast, as it were, and fed on milk, but receives from them too the fruit proportionate to them; and, being good, he also calls his friends to the feast, and says: "Eat, companions, and drink, and be drunk, kinsmen." Those who have been made perfect draw near to him and boast of their kinship with him, those who keep the image uncorrupted. And he bids them not only drink but also be drunk; for there is a drunkenness that produces soundness of mind, not derangement, that does not loosen the limbs but strengthens them. "For your cup that makes drunk, how excellent it is." And elsewhere again the blessed David says: "They will be drunk with the fatness of your house, and you will give them drink from the torrent of your delight." When the words from above had been spoken thus, the bride says:

2. "I sleep, but my heart is awake." For even if I am compelled by nature to close my eyes and take sleep, in mind I am awake, and I do not accept the sleep of sloth, as I await the coming of the bridegroom. That is why I perceive his knocking too: "For the voice of my kinsman," she says, "knocks at the door." Let us set beside these words, if you please, what was said by the good shepherd in the divine Gospels: "For my sheep," he says, "hear my voice." And again: "A stranger they will not follow, because they do not know the voice of strangers." Blessed, then, is the one who is shepherded and recognizes the voice of the shepherd. Blessed is the one who is being adorned as a bride and knows how to tell the voice of an adulterer from the voice of a bridegroom. Blessed is the one who says, "I will not give sleep to my eyes, nor slumber to my eyelids," but is wakeful and awaits the bridegroom according to the Lord's own exhortation: "Watch, for you do not know at what hour your Lord is coming." This counsel the blessed Paul too offers, saying: "Watch, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong; let all that you do be done in love." The bride, then, being awake, although she sleeps the sleep of the body, enjoys the voice of the bridegroom and hears the knocking at the door. And what are the doors of the soul but the senses of the body, through which the bride [hears] the one who asks that the door be opened to him? "[Open] to me," he says, "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." By the night he signifies the uprising of the Jews against him, which took place at night; and by the dew and the drops the three-day … death, which the locks of the head, and not he himself, … received. Since, then, he says, I accepted death for your sake and endured these things because of you, open to me and receive me; for I love your spiritual comeliness and your perfection in virtue. That is why I call you my sister, and my companion, and my dove, and my perfect one. Perfect, as fulfilling the perfection laid down by me; for I said: "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." And again: "If you wish to be perfect, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and take up your cross and follow me." I call you my dove, as having become spiritual, having put off the old man with its passions and desires, and able to see spiritually. My companion, as walking in my footsteps and desiring to come near me; for I said: "Draw near to me, and I will draw near to you." And I call you my sister, not only because of the kinship of the nature that I assumed, but also because of the closeness of godliness.

Hearing the words from above, the bride answers, saying: 3. "I have taken off my tunic; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I soil them?" We are taught from this how much harm sloth brings forth and how much toil it brings upon those who give in to it. For the bride, having made delays and having been unwilling to open the door to the bridegroom at once, is compelled a little later not only to walk as far as the door but also to run into the city, to go about the markets, and to fall in with certain watchmen, from whom she even receives wounds; and she barely finds the bridegroom she longs for. Had she obeyed the one who called her at once, she would have been spared all these toils. But now she says: "I have taken off my tunic; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I soil them?" And yet the bridegroom does not bid her do this. He does not want her, having put off the old man, to put him on again, nor does he wish her, having washed her feet and enjoyed his holy hands, to soil them again, but to open to him, without toil and without soiling, the door either of hearing or of the eye, so that the bridegroom may enter either through understanding or through listening … having used those pretexts, the bridegroom rouses her in another way, no longer only knocking from outside but also putting his hand in through an opening. By the hand we understand the sense of touch and his divine activity, by which … her to perception.

4. "My kinsman put his hand through the opening, and my belly was stirred for him. 5. I rose to open to my kinsman; my hands dripped myrrh, my fingers full myrrh, upon the handles of the bolt. 6. I opened to my kinsman; my kinsman had passed on. … I sought him, and did not find him; I called him, and he did not hearken to me. 7. The watchmen [who go about in the city] found me, they struck me, they wounded me; the guards of the walls took my veil from me." Since she was not willing to open at once to the one who knocked, he touches her through one of the organs of sense, which she has called an opening, putting in his hand, that is, his activity … and he kindles her love. "[My belly was stirred for] him": which Theodotion rendered "was warmed." And she rises, drunk with longing, runs to the door, and says: "For my hands [dripped myrrh], and my fingers full myrrh"; for I am clothed with the perfect deadening, even to the very extremities of my members. But opening the door, I see my kinsman passing me by and not wishing to come in. But I, bound by love and hanging upon his sacred words, kept up the search, and went on crying out and calling him continually; but he did not hearken, nor did he count me worthy of an answer. And going about and seeking the one I longed for, … those who live in the city and guard it; and they not only mistreated me or scourged me, but also inflicted wounds on me, and [took away] my veil. By the guards of the walls, I think, the bride means the guards of the city too, the rulers and tyrants who of old struck and wounded [the saints] of God and handed them over to death, and … the souls, and [took] the body from the souls like a veil. For those [saints], longing for the bridegroom and always proclaiming him in the … fields and remote places, endured all these things. We are taught, then, from what has been said, to put away all sloth and to open at once to the bridegroom when he knocks, so that we may not, after he has gone away, be compelled [to go] everywhere and seek the one we long for.

8. "I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, by … if you find my kinsman, tell him that I am wounded with love." For the bridegroom often appears even to those who are still imperfect and infants, condescending to their weakness and urging them on to perfection: "For those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are sick." So she adjures the maidens, if they find her kinsman, to tell him how great a love she has for him, and that she has been wounded by the chosen arrow of love. [But] the maidens … the name of the kinsman; for they are still imperfect and do not know the depth of the mysteries. That is why they say:

9. "What is your kinsman more than a kinsman, O beautiful among women? What is your kinsman more than a kinsman, that you have so adjured us?" For we have often heard you, they say, saying "my kinsman," "of my kinsman," and we do not know the force of what you say. Since, then, there is an oath in the midst, we cannot pass over in silence what you have commanded. Teach us, then, O beautiful among women (for you are more comely than all, both maidens and concubines), what this name means to you. For you bring it up continually, saying now "of my kinsman," now "my kinsman." If we learn from you who he is and what marks he bears, we will serve you and fulfil your command. So the bride teaches those whom she is instructing the marks of the bridegroom, and says to them: 10. "[My kinsman is white and ruddy,] chosen out of ten thousands. 11. His head [is fine gold, kephaz; his locks are palm spathes,] black as a raven. 12. His eyes are like doves by full pools of waters, [washed in milk,] sitting by full pools of waters. 13. His cheeks are like bowls [of spice, putting forth perfumes]; his lips are lilies dripping full myrrh. 14. His hands [are turned on the lathe, golden, full of Tharsis; his belly is an ivory tablet upon a sapphire stone. 15. His legs are marble pillars,] founded upon golden bases; his appearance [is as Lebanon, choice as cedars]. 16. His throat is sweetness, and he is all desire. This is my kinsman, and this is my companion, daughters of Jerusalem."

When the maidens have asked, the bride teaches the marks of the kinsman, and says: "My kinsman is white and ruddy." First she sets "white," second "ruddy"; for he was always God, and he also became man, not letting go of what he was, nor changed into a man, but putting on human nature. He is white, then, as God; for what is brighter than light? And he is the true light, according to the word of the Gospels: "For it was," it says, … in the garments; and it indicates the three-day death. And we must observe carefully that he does not say "I was sprinkled," but "my garments were sprinkled with their juice," that is, my body. For the divine nature is impassible, but the body received the suffering, the God the Word who was united with it sustaining it, yet drawing no suffering from it, since by nature the divine is above suffering. That is why the bride says: "My kinsman is white and ruddy, chosen out of ten thousands." For the firstfruits is better than all nature: "For he committed no sin, nor was deceit found in his mouth"; that is why he was offered as a blameless sacrifice for the whole race. For this reason the God of all also foretells through Isaiah the prophet, saying: "Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my chosen one, in whom my soul is well pleased; I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will bring forth judgment to the nations." Fittingly, then, the bride says: "My kinsman is white and ruddy, chosen out of ten thousands." For it was fitting that he who had taken up our sins, which were red as crimson and as scarlet, should become ruddy and be called so.

"And his head," she says, "is fine gold, kephaz"; according to Symmachus, "like precious stone," according to the fifth edition, "marked with gold." By his head she figuratively means the divinity, the white …, the true light that enlightens every man … named above. That is why she likens it to gold and stone, the most precious materials among men; for she found no other, more fitting name. "His locks are palm spathes, black as a raven." I think the graces poured out from that head are named locks, called black in one respect and palm spathes in another. For the spathes are the fruit of male palms, … to the females their fruit. Since, then, those who have believed in him, enjoying his various gifts, bear him the fruit of godliness, she fittingly [likens them] to palm spathes, and by the deep and dark colour … "palm spathes, black as a raven"; the raven she has included here for its colour alone.

"His eyes," she says, "are like doves by full pools of waters." Again here, by the eyes, she admires his power of sight. That is why she says that they are like doves by full pools of waters, and reminds us of the dove that came down upon him at the Jordan. And let no one be surprised that "like doves" is said, and not "dove"; for we find in the divine Scripture not only "spirit" but also "spirits" named, not because there are many Holy Spirits, for there is one Holy Spirit, the Paraclete; but the blessed Paul is accustomed to call his gifts spirits: "For the spirits of prophets," he says, "are subject to prophets." Since, then, Christ the Master had, according to his humanity, all the gifts of the Spirit, therefore the bride says: "His eyes are like doves by full pools of waters." For his eyes look continually to the supply of baptism, awaiting those who are being saved and longing for the salvation of all. But also "washed in milk," she says, are the doves, "and sitting by full pools of waters." For some they nourish with milk, those who need this food; and others they make new and renew, [those made old] by sin, … sanctifying these too. And fittingly she said "full pools of waters"; for it does not receive those who possess an imperfect faith and do not come with sincere faith. Such was Simon, who was baptized but was found unworthy of the grace, not having become full but lacking, and not having the perfection of faith.

["His cheeks are like bowls of spice, putting forth] perfumes; his lips are lilies dripping full myrrh." Again by cheeks and lips she means teaching; for lips and cheeks are instruments of speech, since by their movement articulate sound is produced. She calls them bowls of spice because of the fragrance of the teaching; and she says that they put forth perfumes; for the [teachers] of the church take from there the starting points of their teaching and prepare the ointment of benefit. And his lips, she says, are like lilies; for the divine words shine, having nothing human: the lilies neither toil nor spin, according to the Lord's teaching, but the Father who is in heaven clothes them. Since, then, the divine words are bare of all human wisdom and have only the divine beauty, she fittingly says: "His lips are lilies dripping full myrrh," that is, teaching the deadening of self in the present life. For such are the Lord's teachings: "Whoever does not leave father and mother and wife and fields and vineyards for my sake is not worthy of me"; and: "Whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me"; and: "If you wish to be perfect, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and take up your cross and follow me." That is why his lips drip full myrrh.

"His hands are turned on the lathe, full of Tharsis." By the hands she names his practical virtue, which he pursued with all harmony, as though turning and straightening each action. That is why he said to John: "Let it be so now; for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness." She calls them golden, again, as precious and rare. And Tharsis she took because of the excellence of the gold there; for the divine Scripture says that unalloyed, … and tested gold is brought from there. "His belly is an ivory tablet upon a sapphire stone." For the depth of his mysteries and the storehouse of knowledge, where all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden, are an ivory tablet to those worthy of revelation. By nature they are incomprehensible; that is why it says "upon a sapphire stone," which indicates the depth and hiddenness of divine things. Nevertheless, this deep and hidden and obscure thing becomes an ivory tablet to the worthy; that is why the blessed Paul cries: "What eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and has not entered the heart of man, what God has prepared for those who love him, God has revealed to us through his Spirit"; and again: "his mystery hidden from the ages and from the generations, which was not made known to other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets." That is why she says that his belly is an ivory tablet upon a sapphire stone; and the locks, which are plain to see, she called black; for to those who have not yet obtained the divine revelation even the things that seem plain are obscure, and the things of sense incomprehensible; but to those who have come within the divine mysteries even obscure things become plain. That is why the blessed [David] says: "The obscure and hidden things of your wisdom you have made plain to me." This, then, the bride too says: "His belly is an ivory tablet upon a sapphire [stone. His legs are marble pillars,] founded upon golden bases." By the marble pillars she has shown his steadiness, firmness, permanence and endurance; and she named their bases golden, indicating by them the preciousness of his deeds.

"His appearance is as frankincense, as cedars." Again here she interprets the twofold reality of the natures: frankincense she calls the divine, since frankincense was offered to God under the law; and cedar she calls the human, as having received no rot of sin; for among woods the cedar does not rot. … [what is sweeter than the] divine oracles? That is why the great David says: "How sweet your oracles are to my throat, more than honey and the honeycomb to my mouth"; and: "Your judgments are true, justified altogether, more to be desired than gold and much precious stone, and sweeter than honey and the honeycomb." That is why the officers of the high priests, who were sent against him and were charmed and captured by longing for the sweetness of his words, say to those who sent them: "Never has a man spoken like this man"; and others cried out: "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked." "His throat," then, "is sweetness"; and also, "he is all desire"; for, at a loss now for other praises, she names him with a single word. Why, she says, do I describe his beauty part by part? For he is all desire, drawing all to love, compelling them to affection, casting desire not only into those who see him but also into those who hear him. Having said this, she says to the maidens: "This is my kinsman, and this is my companion, daughters of Jerusalem." Since you did not know, and asked, "What is your kinsman more than a kinsman?", behold, I tell you that such is my kinsman, and such is my companion. Take thought, then, for the oath, and do not neglect it, but seek him and tell him of my longing.

Having learned, then, the marks of the bridegroom, they ask again and inquire where he goes and where … [6:1] "Where has your kinsman gone, O beautiful among women? Where has your kinsman turned, and we will seek him with you." For if we learn the place of his journey, we will not neglect it, but [will share] the toil with you, and we will seek him. Again, then, she answers them, saying: