Commentary on the Song of Songs 1 part 3/9

'If you do not know yourself, O fairest among women, go forth in the footsteps of the flocks, and feed your kids by the tents of the shepherds.'

And what he means is this:

'Looking to yourself, and considering carefully your own condition—for you have become fair, and the comeliest of all women—recognize those who are like you.

But if you are ignorant of yourself, search out the tracks of the flocks, and following them feed not only your sheep, but also your kids, by the tents of the shepherds.'

'They that are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick'; and,

'I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.' And through Ezekiel the prophet:

'I have no pleasure,' he says, 'in the death of the sinner, but rather that he should turn and live.' And the blessed apostle Paul speaks concerning him:

and under the figure of the kids the divine Scripture takes the sinners;

that they shall be set, separated from the lambs that have obtained the place on the right hand.

Since also in the law, for sin there was offered not a sheep, but a he-goat from among the goats.

'Follow the tracks of the flocks, and search out the life of the saints who have gone before;

and in the tents of those shepherds—that is, in the apostolic churches—feed your kids, having heard in the holy Gospels:

'See that you despise not one of these little ones, the least of those who believe in me;

for verily I say to you, that their angels do always behold the face of your Father who is in heaven.'

'I have likened you, my beloved, to my mare among the chariots of Pharaoh.'

Figuratively here he has named 'Pharaoh' the destroyer of our nature, that abominable and common enemy of ours, whom, like Pharaoh, he has made to sink beneath the waters in the holy waters of baptism.

'To my mare, therefore, by whose use I sank the chariots of Pharaoh, I judge you to be like, since you have become near to me and have gained love toward me.'

And he made use, as of a kind of vehicle, of the form of the servant, which, having emptied himself, he took upon him, that he might work salvation for the whole race.

To this mare, then, he likens the bride.

And the Apostle bears witness to this meaning, thus speaking concerning Christ the Savior:

'Who shall transform the body of our humiliation, that it may be made conformed to the body of his glory.' And again:

'But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord the Spirit.' From the apostolic words, therefore, let us understand the mystical words of the Song, and let us hear the bridegroom saying: 'You who have become near to me, and are on that account named 'near,' and reap the name from the very fact—I declare that you resemble my mare, by whose use I sank the spiritual Pharaoh together with his chariots, and I bestowed freedom upon you.'

'How beautiful are your cheeks, like a turtledove's!'

'your neck, like strings of beads!'

But let us not again understand the cheek and the neck in a carnal way;

rather let us take to mind that the divine Scripture also often uses bodily names even with respect to the soul;

and at one point the prophet Jeremiah says:

'My belly, my belly! I am pained.' And showing that he does not speak of this bodily belly, he adds, 'and the senses of my heart.' And at another point the blessed Paul says:

'Lift up the hands that hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but rather be healed.' It was neither concerning hands, nor concerning feet, nor concerning visible lameness that the blessed Paul exhorted, but he called by these names the practical activities of the soul.

'Your cheeks are made beautiful like a turtledove's, your neck like strings of beads.' For the Church, being framed together out of many men and women, has some who are named cheeks, some eyes, some ears, some a mouth, others hands, and others feet.

The bridegroom therefore praises those who pursue gravity of demeanor, and who possess the blush of modesty;

'Your cheeks are made beautiful like a turtledove's.' Now those who have written of the natures of animals say that the turtledove is not only a lover of solitude, but also chaste, the male being joined to a single female, and the female consorting with a single male, and, not even after death, suffering itself to be joined to another male or female.

And he says that her neck too resembles strings of beads.

Now this is a necklace, a kind of adornment that beautifies the neck.

And he praises her for bearing well the yoke of true religion, concerning which the bridegroom says in the Gospels:

When these things had been spoken by the bridegroom, the spearmen and attendants of the bridegroom also answer, and say to the bride:

'We will make you likenesses of gold, with studs of silver.'

'While the king is at his repose'

and they comfort the bride, saying: 'For all the time before the resurrection of the king, we will be with you, and will adorn you with the adornment that is in our power;

and we will not forsake you until he rises, but we will bring to you likenesses of gold, and studs of silver.'

And fittingly they said 'likenesses of gold,' and not gold itself;

since the gifts of the bridegroom are greater;

whereas those of his ministers have not equal glory.

But we honor also the law, and the prophets, and the writings of the holy apostles.

Fittingly, therefore, did the ministers of the bridegroom say:

'We will make you likenesses of gold, with studs of silver, while the king is at his repose.' And by 'studs of silver' and 'likenesses of gold' let us understand the variety of the gifts of grace, and of the providence exercised by God concerning us.

For we enjoy also the help that comes from the angels;

'For the angel of the Lord shall encamp round about them that fear him, and shall deliver them.'

And, 'He shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.' And the law itself was given by the ministry of angels.

'For if the word spoken through angels was steadfast.' While the king, therefore, reclines and rises up, we, he says, will bring what is in our power.

And they call his lying down 'death.'

'There shall come forth a man out of his seed, and he shall rule over many nations'; and after a few words:

'Lying down he rested as a lion, and as a lion's whelp; who shall raise him up? They that bless thee are blessed, and they that curse thee are cursed.' These same things one may find also in the prophecy of the patriarch Jacob spoken concerning Judah.

After these things had been spoken from above by the servants of the Bridegroom, the Bride again says:

'My spikenard gave forth its fragrance.'

(12) 'A bundle of myrrh is my kinsman-beloved unto me.'

But first we must inquire why ever she calls him her 'kinsman-beloved' (nephew).

Now we have been taught that the Bride is the Church gathered from the nations;

but also that the former wife of the Bridegroom was the multitude of the Jews, who received a bill of divorce into her hands because of her own wantonness.

For both boast Adam as their father;

but the Bridegroom sprang from the former according to his humanity.

For the blessed Paul says:

'For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah.' And again:

'Now to Abraham and to his seed were the promises made.'

'He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one.'

Since, then, the multitude of the Jews and the Church from the nations happen to be sisters, and Christ according to the flesh is the Son of the former, the Bride fittingly calls him her 'kinsman-beloved,' as having become the son of her sister according to his humanity.

This my kinsman-beloved, then, is unto me both spikenard and a bundle of myrrh;

for I address him by many names, being enchanted by the sweet scent of his ointment, and I am unable to make use of a single name.

For the power of his fragrance surpasses all appellations together;

but overcome by his love, I both name him spikenard and address him as a bundle of myrrh.

Spikenard, inasmuch as he was even anointed with the genuine, costly spikenard, whose fragrance filled the whole house—a house bearing the type of the inhabited world;

for the ministry offered to the Lord by the pious filled the inhabited world with the sweet-scented faith.

And I call him a bundle of myrrh, since he himself 'came down as rain upon a fleece, and as a drop dropping upon the earth.' And he has been called 'a drop' by the prophets also;

'For there shall be,' it says, 'from the drop of this people; Jacob shall be gathered together.' And it is to be known that Symmachus and Aquila have named the myrrh (stakte) 'smyrna.'

'He shall lodge between my breasts.' That is, in the ruling part of my soul, which rests upon the heart that lies between the breasts.

'He shall lodge between my breasts.'

'My kinsman-beloved is unto me a cluster of henna (cypros) in the vineyards of Engaddi.'

The Bride, at a loss what name to bestow upon the Bridegroom, roams here and there, and gathering appellations from every side lays them upon him, urged by love to call him, yet unable to find the worthy appellation.

For the vine is sweet-scented at that season.

And she adds: 'In the vineyards of Engaddi' he is thus sweet-scented.

If, then, it signifies the place in Judaea, as being adorned with wondrous vineyards, it must be understood figuratively, that 'Beyond those vines thy cluster is sweet-scented.'

But if she has set down the appellation of Engaddi on account of the meaning of the name—which is interpreted 'eye of temptation (or, of the place of trial)'—it must be understood thus: that 'Even while existing amid temptations, and warred against by many, I lay hold of thy fragrance;'

and of the vineyards flourishing at the present time—understood figuratively—being in the midst of a place of trial;

for the life of man upon the earth is a place of trial (a temptation).

I prefer the fragrance of the blossoming cluster.

And if the cluster now in flower is such, we must consider what it will be like when it is ripening; and if the ripening cluster is better than this, we must ponder what it will be like when full-ripe and fit for the winepress.

For I hold that the same one, in proportion to the spiritual stages of growth, is to some in flower, to others in the sour unripe grape, to others half-ripening, to others full-ripe, and by the perfect is drunk;

'For his cup that inebriates is as the strongest.' When these things had been said by the Bride, the Bridegroom again converses with her and says:

'Behold, thou art fair, my nearest one;'

'thine eyes are doves.'

He is amazed at her comeliness.

And before all things he praises her eyes, and says:

'Thine eyes are doves,' that is, spiritual;

for in the form of a dove the Holy Spirit descended and dwelt upon the Bridegroom.

'But God hath revealed them unto us through his Spirit.' The Bride answers again and says:

'Behold, thou art fair, my kinsman-beloved, yea, comely toward our couch that is overshadowed.'

Up to the present, then, she had continued marvelling at his fragrance;

but now she is also amazed at his beauty, having been enlightened in her eyes and having acquired them as spiritual, so as even to be named those of a dove;

wherefore she says that 'Fair and comely is my kinsman-beloved.' And by 'couch,' as I suppose, she calls the divine Scripture;

on which both the Bridegroom and the Bride, taking their rest, hold communion with one another according to spiritual fellowship.

And he gives the seeds of the word;

and she, receiving them, conceives, and is with child, and travails, and cries out with the prophet:

'For what the cloud became to Israel, this is to us the help of the Spirit.'

And both may be found in the divine Scripture, which happens to be for us not only a couch, but also a house, and a table, and food;

and it not only provides fragrance, but also promises incorruption, and freedom from suffering, and immortality.

And if anyone should wish to call the churches everywhere on land and sea the 'houses' of the Bride, he will not stray from the truth;

the cedars and cypresses being understood figuratively;

the former as being more honourable, like beams;

for the beams bear the roof;

the latter as being inferior, being named 'panellings' (fretwork ceilings).

Being thus praised by the Bride, the Bridegroom teaches that she has not yet beheld his true beauty, but has still only delighted in the shadow of that beauty.

'For I,' he says, 'am the flower of the plain, the lily of the valleys.'

'Thou hast beheld,' he says, 'my human comeliness;'

since 'No man hath ever yet seen God.'

'For I became the flower of the plain, that is, I took on an earthly body, and sprang up in the earth, being pre-eternal and exalted—or rather, immeasurable.'

'I became a lily, not of the mountains, nor of the hills, nor simply of the plains, but of the valleys.'

For not only to the living did he preach salvation, but also to the dead the resurrection, having descended into the lower parts of the earth, that he might fill all things.

for to those also he both promised and accomplished the return to life.

Then, since he had addressed himself by such names, he says to the Bride:

'As a lily among thorns, so is my nearest one among the daughters.'

the beauty of the daughters, who are so named because they were deemed worthy of the calling, but had deprived themselves of being among the chosen.

For 'many', he says, 'are called, but few are chosen.' By this name too the prophet Isaiah names the bride, saying:

'Rejoice, O thirsty wilderness';

'let the wilderness be glad, and let it blossom as the lily.' For she who is called the bride was formerly a wilderness, and barren, and waterless, having no shady resting-couch;

'Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.' This too the prophet knew—for he was a spiritual man—when he said:

'As the lily among the thorns, so is my neighbour among the daughters.' And here he seems to call the churches of the heretics 'daughters', on account of his own calling of them, and not on account of their own choice.

And those he likens to thorns, but this one to a fragrant lily, which both has an outward brightness and bears the gold-coloured flower set round about within it.

And such is the soul that is clothed with the brightness of righteousness, and carries about within, hidden in its inner chambers, the spiritual gift of wisdom and knowledge.

The bride makes answer to the bridegroom, and says to him:

'As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons.'

'In his shade I desired and sat down, and his fruit was sweet to my throat.'

And great is the difference between the apple and the lily.

For the one gladdens only the sight and the smell, but the apple, besides sight and smell, also affords delight to those who wish it, through taste.

For it is edible, and is eaten;

for this reason the bride is named a lily, but the bridegroom an apple.

For the one is eaten and becomes food to the bride;

but she is not eaten, but has only her fragrance.

'As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons.' And he calls them 'sons', just as there 'daughters'—those who were deemed worthy of the calling, but rendered themselves unworthy of the election;

whom the bride says to resemble trees of the wood, and fruitless trees.

But the bridegroom she names an apple, which is smooth to the touch, sweet to the taste, fragrant to the smell, most pleasant and gracious to the sight, and most delightful to the hearing;

for as soon as we hear of it, we bring all the senses to bear upon the word.

In his shade the bride says she desired to sit, and that she has done this;

and after this she says that she also partook of the fruit, and that it appeared most sweet in her throat;

for she wishes to flee the rays of wickedness, which know how to scorch, lest she become black again;

and the 'shade' of the bridegroom is the things now seen 'in a mirror and in a riddle', according to the blessed Paul;

'For now', he says, 'I see as in a mirror, and as in a riddle;

but then face to face;

now I know in part, but then I shall know fully, even as also I have been fully known.' Therefore she says:

'In his shade I desired, and sat down, and his fruit was sweet to my throat.' For indeed, sitting under the shade, I gather the fruit and partake of it;

and those who have been initiated bear witness, they who delight in the members of the bridegroom.

'Bring me into the house of wine;

surround me with apples, for I am wounded with love.'

And I think that by 'the house of wine' she calls the divine winepresses, concerning which the prophet says:

'How lovely are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!'

'My soul longs and faints for the courts of the Lord.' For having entitled the psalm 'Concerning the winepresses', he added these words;

for as winepresses he calls the Churches of God, in which the spiritual wine is pressed out and, as it were, trodden in the press, and gladdens the souls of the godly, according to the prophecy which says:

'Set love in order upon me'—that is, teach me the manner of love, so that I may not love father or mother above the bridegroom, or field, or vineyards, and so appear unworthy of the bridal chamber.

For he himself declared, saying:

'He who loves father or mother above me is not worthy of me;

and he who loves sons and daughters above me is not worthy of me.' And the ancient law also, which was given to Adam, ordained such things:

'For this cause a man shall leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.'—Set love, therefore, in order upon me, that I may be joined to my bridegroom, and may prefer him above father, and mother, and all the rest.

'Establish me with perfumes'—that is, Confirm me with the fragrance of the bridegroom, and support me, that nothing may shake me;

continually bringing to me that sweet savour, lest, taking forgetfulness of the bridegroom, I wander after other things.

But also, 'Surround me with apples'—instead of, Load me with the fruits of the bridegroom;

so that, sitting under his shade, and smelling his perfumes, and laden with his fruit, I may keep his memory unforgotten;

'For I am wounded with his love.' For indeed he is a chosen arrow, and wounds the souls that are stricken by him.

'His left hand is under my head;

and his right hand shall embrace me.'

But let us not fall again into bodily notions, when we hear of 'left hand' and 'right hand';

for indeed concerning wisdom—which is a possessed quality, and not a substance—Solomon says that 'Length of days, and years of life, are in her right hand;

and in her left hand riches and glory.' And concerning the 'embrace' one may again find it said in the Proverbs: 'Love her, and she will keep thee;

fence her round about, and she will exalt thee;

honour her, that she may embrace thee.' Taking, then, our starting-points from these, let us understand those matters also in a more spiritual way, believing that what is called the 'embrace' is the communion of the divine Word and the godly soul;

and the 'left hand' and 'right hand' are to be understood as taken from our own standpoint.

And that we may not leave it uncontemplated, let us understand it thus.

God knows how both to do good and to chastise, apportioning both to those who deserve them.

Understanding, then, the beneficent grace by the 'right hand', and the chastising by the 'left', let us hear the bride saying:

'His left hand is under my head'—that is, I am above the chastisements, I am not subject to them, because I have drawn near to the bridegroom and have been mindful of his service.

'His right hand shall embrace me'—instead of, He shall adorn me with his benefits, and fill me with them, as it were enfolding and embracing me, and fulfilling my desire.

And this the blessed Paul too indicated when he said that 'So shall we ever be with the Lord.' May it be granted that we too take no experience of his chastising power, nor taste of the punishments that have been threatened, but enjoy the gifts that have been promised, by the grace and loving-kindness of the bridegroom Christ our Lord, to whom be the glory and the might unto the ages of ages.

'I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and forces of the field, if ye stir up and awaken love, until he please.'

Those who love bodies are eager to enjoy the objects of their desire alone;

and those who attempt to plunder what is reserved for themselves, they drive away with much vehemence.

But those who love spiritually, and long for God, invite all men to share with them in that love;

and she does not merely invite, but even compels, and lays upon them the constraint of an oath, that they may stir up and awaken love, until the bridegroom please.

And she plainly names these 'daughters of Jerusalem' of the heavenly Jerusalem;

concerning which the blessed Paul says:

'But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.' And by the 'field' she names the world;

or the holy prophets and apostles, who, being filled with the divine Spirit, and traversing the inhabited world, drove out the God-opposing and God-hating demons, and planted godliness in the souls of men.

The bride, then, having come into the enjoyment of the bridegroom, and having learned by experience that unspeakable delight, cries out and says:

'I have adjured you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and forces of the field, that you should not stir up nor awaken love until it please'; that is, Do not permit the love toward God to fall asleep within you;

but rather rouse it, and set it aflame, and cast upon it, as it were oil, the remembrance of His benefits;

lest it be said concerning us also:

'They slept their sleep, and found nothing.' For if you do not proclaim from day to day His salvation, and do not remember His wondrous works which He did, but forget His benefits,

love will be quenched, and, as it were, put to death.

You ought therefore continually to kindle it, and to rouse it, and to raise its flame on high.

And the measure of this love you are to make the will of the Bridegroom.

Do not, then, cease rousing it and kindling its fire until the Bridegroom declares it to have its full measure.

To these things are like the words written by the blessed Paul to the Corinthians, and through the Corinthians to us all:

'Watch, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong;

let all your things be done in love.' And at the end of the Epistle he says:

'If any man love not the Lord Jesus, let him be anathema.' Thus do those who love fervently love the One who has saved them, so that they abhor those who are unwilling to love Him as bodies that are stinking and rotten.

'Did I not hate them, O Lord, that hate You? and was I not grieved with those that rise up against You? I hated them with perfect hatred: they became enemies unto me.' But concerning those who love Him he says:

'How precious to me are Your friends, O God! how greatly have their beginnings been strengthened.' Thus to love those who love their friends the blessed men were taught by the God of all.

For He Himself first said to Abraham:

'I will bless them that bless you, and curse them that curse you.' And He says also to Israel:

O daughters of Jerusalem, to stir up and to awaken the love toward the Bridegroom, until He Himself shall will it.

Conversing thus with the maidens, and urging them on to a like love, she comes to a perception of the Bridegroom's presence, and says:

For having become accustomed to His sacred words, she recognizes His voice;

just as the Lord too says in the holy Gospels:

'My sheep hear My voice. But a stranger they will not follow, because they know not the voice of strangers.'

The bride therefore knows the voice of the Bridegroom;

she knows the difference between an adulterer and a bridegroom.

And the voices of adulterers, and of wolves, and of hirelings she abhors;

but the words of the Bridegroom and Shepherd she longs for.

'The voice of my beloved!' And she does not endure to remain seated, but rises up, and watches eagerly, and looks all around, and, seeing Him, cries out:

'Behold, here he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding upon the hills.'

'My beloved is like a gazelle or a young hart upon the mountains of Bethel.'

It is worth inquiring why in the world she likens Him to a gazelle and a young hart, and what the mountains of Bethel are, and what the leapings, and what the boundings, and what are the hills and the mountains upon which these things take place.

They say that the gazelle is named after its own keenness of sight, and that it received this appellation on account of seeing sharply.

They say also that harts are destroyers of creeping beasts, and that serpents and vipers and all other such creatures they eat as though they were grass, and thereby carry off no harm at all.

And again she says that He is like a young hart, inasmuch as He crushed the heads of the dragons upon the water, and shattered the head of the dragon, and, like a sword, slew the crooked serpent and destroyed the dragon that is in the sea;

and gave to His own disciples authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy;

and who did no sin, but took away the sins of the world, and, as it were, devoured them like serpents.

And she likens Him to a young hart;

since He is called not only Man, but also Son of Man, and not only Lion, but also a lion's cub;

for 'He couched,' it says, 'he lay down as a lion, and as a lion's cub.' And it is likely that she also hints that, while still of but small bodily stature, He devoured the power of the devil like so many serpents, and immediately upon being born drew the magi, the devil's underlings, to worship Him.

According to the Law, both the gazelle and the hart are among the clean animals;

but the gazelle is placed before the hart, as bearing, through its keenness of sight, a type of faith.

For 'he that comes to God must first believe that He is, and that He becomes a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.'

And the divine Scripture calls them harts also:

'God, who girds me with strength, and made my way blameless;

making my feet like hart's feet.' 'For my way became blameless,' it says, 'because my feet were made ready like a hart's.'

'For I was able to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.'

And now in the twenty-eighth Psalm he says:

treading down the death-dealing serpents, and those who plot against the souls of men;

through whom the barren thickets—the deceit of idols—were laid bare;

through whom in the temple of God everyone declares glory.

Such things the blessed prophet Habakkuk also says:

'The Lord my God is my strength, and He will make my feet like a hart's, and will set me upon the high places, that I may conquer in His song.' But it is time to return to the matter before us.

'Behold, here he comes, leaping upon the mountains, bounding upon the hills.'

For by 'mountains' and 'hills' she named the groves and sacred precincts of the demons that of old were upon the mountains, upon which, leaping and bounding by the wisdom of His words and the power of His miracles, He prevailed and rendered them utterly nothing.

Indeed, Symmachus too, interpreting this more clearly, says: