雅歌註釋 第 1 章 第 5/9 段

But it was not Solomon who ruled to the ends of the world, but Jesus Christ, who according to His humanity sprang from Solomon, and who is also called Solomon because of His peaceable, gentle nature, and because He bestows peace.

Now then, since we have learned who Solomon is, come, let us take up the interpretation.

'Behold, the bed of Solomon.' Let us understand the bridegroom's bed to mean the divine Scriptures.

For in them the bride, as it were, reclining together with the bridegroom and receiving the seeds of His teaching, conceives, and is with child, and travails, and brings forth spiritual profit, so as to cry out with the prophet:

'we have wrought thy salvation upon the earth.' – 'Sixty mighty men,' it says, 'are round about it, of the mighty men of Israel.'

'All holding swords, being expert in war;'

'every man his sword upon his thigh, because of fear in the nights.' I consider that the number sixty is set here not to indicate this quantity, but that by this name are signified the saints who distinguished themselves under the Old Testament.

For they say that ten is the perfect number;

and that six is the number befitting those under the Law.

'For six days,' it says, 'thou shalt labour.' They say, then, that those who were made perfect under the Law stand round about the bed, tracing their lineage from Israel, being mightier than all others, holding swords, versed in the experience of war, and bearing other swords upon their thighs.

'Because of fear in the nights,' it says. Symmachus rendered this more clearly, saying, 'because of nightly terrors.' These mighty men, it says, guard His bed, protecting the bride against the incursions of the adversaries.

the refuting word, and that which is hidden and mystical;

and the refuting word ready at hand, but the mystical one stored within in the sheath.

'King Solomon made himself a litter of the woods of Lebanon.'

'The pillars thereof he made of silver, and the couch thereof of gold;'

'love from the daughters of Jerusalem.'

Here again let us understand the litter to mean the holy apostles, who bore the name of the Lord before nations and kings, and the children of Israel;

for indeed concerning the blessed Paul, Christ says this to Ananias:

'Go, for this man is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before nations and kings, and the children of Israel.' And the divinely-inspired Paul himself cries out:

'Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me?' These men the blessed Habakkuk also calls horses:

'and thy riding is salvation.' And again:

'Thou didst mount thy horses upon the sea, troubling many waters.' And by 'sea' he calls the nations, which were then troubled when the apostles were preaching;

wherefore also the unbelievers said concerning them:

'These that have turned the world upside down are come hither also, whom Jason hath received.' Therefore those whom Habakkuk named horses, we find called a litter in the Song of Songs.

So then King Solomon made himself a litter of the woods of Lebanon. The divine Scripture often calls Jerusalem, and the multitude of the Jews, 'Lebanon';

and this we demonstrated in the preface of our discourse from the prophetic writings.

Since, then, the blessed apostles traced their lineage from those people, it fittingly says that the litter was fashioned of the woods of Lebanon.

'And the pillars thereof,' it says, 'he made of silver.'

And we find that they too are called pillars;

for the blessed Paul, writing to the Galatians, says:

'Peter, and James, and John, who seemed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship, that we should go unto the nations, and they unto the circumcision.' And they say that the couch thereof is of gold.

'Its ascent is of purple'; for to those who are beginning, it is fitting to be ruled as subjects, but to those who have been perfected, to be led as a bride to the bridegroom.

'And within it, a pavement of stone;'

for the divine oracles resemble pearls and precious stones, according to the prophet who said:

'The judgments of the Lord are true, and altogether righteous, more to be desired than gold and much precious stone.' And again:

'Behold, I have desired thy commandments above gold and topaz.' And 'the kingdom of heaven,' according to the Lord's word, 'is like unto a merchant seeking goodly pearls.' And elsewhere He says:

'Cast not your pearls before swine.' Having shown that the litter of the king is such, they urge the daughters of Jerusalem to go forth to the contemplation of the bridegroom, to behold the crown set upon him, and they say:

'Go forth, and behold Solomon, O daughters of Zion, with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals, and in the day of the gladness of his heart.'

'O daughters of Jerusalem and Zion.' And that Zion here means the heavenly one, the blessed Paul taught us, saying:

'But ye are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels in festal assembly, and to the Church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven.' – 'You then,' they say, 'O daughters of Zion and Jerusalem, go forth and behold'; for it is impossible for us to behold unless we have withdrawn ourselves from the affairs of this life.

'Behold the king crowned with love;'

for thus he loved the world, that being in the form of God, he counted it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant.

Thus he loved the world, that he was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb dumb before its shearer;

and he redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us.

'Greater love than this can no one show, than that a man lay down his life for his friends.' Thus, then, his mother crowned him.

And by 'mother' he calls Judaea, according to His humanity, which gave him this crown against its will.

For she crowned him with thorns, as one dishonouring him;

but he, through the thorns, received the crown of love.

For he willingly endured the dishonour, and voluntarily approached the passion;

wherefore also he called that day the day of his espousals, and the day of the gladness of his heart.

the fellowship of the marriage came to pass.

For after supper, it says, he took bread, and having given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying:

'Take, eat of it, all of you;'

for this is my body, which is broken for you for the remission of sins;

'do this in remembrance of me.' Those, then, who eat the members of the bridegroom, and drink his blood, obtain his nuptial fellowship.

These things having been thus spoken by them, again the bridegroom, conversing with the bride, says:

'Behold, thou art fair, my companion;'

'thine eyes are doves, beside thy silence.'

Astonished at her beauty, he says a second time:

'Behold, thou art fair.' Then part by part he describes her beauty;

and he names her eyes doves, commending their spiritual contemplation;

And because they do not gape after things perceptible to the senses, but seek the things above, where Christ is, according to Paul, seated at the right hand of God. And he marvels also at her well-timed silence.

For we find this praised even among the ancients as well;

wherefore also in the Psalms we hear:

'I set a guard upon my mouth while the sinner stood against me.' And in singing psalms we say:

'Set, O Lord, a guard upon 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 making no answer.

The bridegroom therefore praises the bride's well-timed silence, inasmuch as he himself also made use of it at the proper time.

And he praises also her hair;

he marvels too at her teeth, and says:

'Your hair is like flocks of goats which have come up from Gilead.'

(2) 'Your teeth are like flocks of the shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of them bearing twins, and there is not a barren one among them.'

Now we are to understand neither hair by the hair nor teeth by the teeth;

but by 'hair' rather that which is, as it were, superfluous and bodily in the bride;

for hair is dead and without feeling;

and it signifies that, 'Even in those matters wherein you must needs mingle with human affairs, even in those you possess what is praiseworthy and seemly, and you resemble the flock of goats that grazes upon Mount Gilead and becomes conspicuous by reason of the height of the mountain.'

And concerning this mountain the prophet Jeremiah says:

'Is there no balm in Gilead, or is there no physician there?' And it must be inquired whether the Word here is perhaps hinting darkly at the flock of goats as those who come from sin to repentance, and for this reason graze upon Mount Gilead, that they may obtain healing remedies and cure; and it shows that the lowly parts of the bride, her outermost members, and those that are as it were dead and without feeling, are compared to the right achievements of that flock.

And your teeth are so pure, and so free from all superfluous discourse, from buffoonery and foolish talk, from lying and shameful speech, that they resemble the flocks of the shorn that have laid aside all that is superfluous, which have come up from the washing.

And I hold that the flocks of the shorn signify—as the bridegroom intimates—those who through baptism have shorn away sin, and have been cleansed 'by the washing of water in the word,' according to the blessed Paul,

those who have been counted worthy of the saving baptism.

And those flocks are 'all of them bearing twins, and there is not a barren one among them';

for I do not liken you to those who, after the saving baptism, run back again to wickedness;

but rather to those who guard the gift bestowed upon them, and beget the twofold virtue, that which is in contemplation and that which is in action.

Having thus praised these parts of the bride, he passes on to the rest and says:

'Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your speech is comely.'

For she too, having received the spies sent out by Joshua the son of Nun, became through them worthy of eternal life;

and she too received the scarlet thread as a sign of salvation;

for she was commanded to let this down through the window, so that when the Israelites had entered into the city, the sign, once seen, might deliver her from those who were slaying, and procure salvation for her.

This sign the bridegroom beholds lying in the mouth of the bride, as it were in the window, and says:

'Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your speech is comely.' For she has received the dyeing that comes from my blood, and she brings forth words of truth, angling for her hearers and binding them as with a cord;

for your comely speech charms them and enchants them, and does not allow them to depart, but compels them to sit close by your lips.

He praises also the apple of her cheek;

for 'Like the rind of a pomegranate,' he says, 'is your cheek, apart from your silence.' And it signifies the blush that arises in her from modesty;

on account of which she also keeps silence at the proper time, hiding at the proper time the more mystical words, as the rind of the pomegranate hides its seeds.

'A thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the darts of the mighty.'

Now the word 'Thalpioth' Aquila rendered as 'battlements';

For he does not gape toward the earth like the brute beasts, nor bow down toward the belly, imitating swine, but is uplifted and on high, bearing a thousand bucklers and all the darts of the mighty.

But the number is set down not to denote a fixed quantity, but a multitude;

for your neck, which bears your head and your mouth, possesses all the teachings of the others, figuratively called darts, with which you overcome all your adversaries.

It has also many bucklers, with which you fence yourself round and quench the fiery darts of the evil one;

for you are girded about with the whole armour of the Spirit, and easily wound those who set themselves against you, possessing all the darts of the mighty;

convicting them now through the prophets, now through the apostles, and laying bare their weakness.

'Until the day breathe, and the shadows be moved.'

In accordance with what has been said, we understand these words also;

and again we know the breasts to be the streams of teaching, which are offered fittingly to each age, giving milk to some and supplying solid food to others.

And he calls them fawns of a gazelle, since, according to the blessed Paul, 'Now we know in part, and then we shall know fully, even as also we have been fully known.' And because now we know in part and prophesy in part, the breasts of teaching are called fawns of a gazelle;

when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. And he says that these feed among the lilies, that is, partake of fragrant herbage;

and this is the teaching of the Spirit.

But according to Symmachus, he says 'they feed among the flowers';

for the breasts of the bride feed and shepherd those who have been counted worthy to become a flower of the Spirit, offering to them the waters of teaching, until the day breathe and the burning heats cease, that is, this toilsome life;

and the shadows be moved—the present affairs, which are likened to shadows, as has been said before.

Having thus praised the members of the bride, he says: 'I will get me to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.' Since, he says, you are so comely, so beautiful, so radiant in loveliness, so wounded with love for me, I accept the death on your behalf, and I will get me to the mountain of myrrh;

but I will rise again, and return to the hill of frankincense.

And we have already said before that by the myrrh he intimates death, and by the frankincense the divine nature.

It must therefore be inquired for what reason he has set 'mountain' for death, but 'hill' for the divinity.

Because it is great, and unspeakable, and beyond the reach of men's understanding, that he who subsisted in the form of God counted it not a thing to be grasped to be equal with God, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, and being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself even unto death, yea, the death of the cross.

But to return to his own proper glory, and to be glorified with the glory which he had before the world was, was not great nor toilsome, but even exceedingly easy.

'Now is my soul troubled'; and, 'Father, if it be 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 cause came I unto this hour.' This too he intimates here when he says:

'I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.' For each of these I do willingly, being neither forced nor constrained by anyone;

'For I have power to lay down my life, and I have power to take it again.'

'For no one takes it from me;'

'I lay it down of myself, that I may take it again.' (7)

'You are all fair, my neighbour; you are all fair, and there is no blemish in you.'

These words resemble the sayings of the blessed Paul;

for he too says concerning the bridegroom:

'That he might present the Church to himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing;'

'but that it should be holy and without blemish.' And she who has become the bridegroom's neighbour has become without blemish and fair, having received the flashings of light from thence, and having become radiant with light out of the Light.

And may it be granted us, beholding as in a mirror with unveiled face the glory of the Lord, to be transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit; with whom, together with the Holy Spirit, be glory to the Father, unto the ages of the ages.

For we have need of prayer, of prayer diligent and earnest, that our eyes may become doves, seeing spiritually, and passing beyond the veil of the letter, and clearly articulating the hidden mysteries.

may He enlighten us, sending forth the rays of His grace, and reveal the hidden meaning.

Now at the end of the treatise preceding this one we heard the Bridegroom marveling at the beauty of the Bride, bestowing praise upon each several part, and thereafter extolling her as a whole, as one without blemish;

for, according to the blessed Paul, the choir of souls made perfect in virtue has neither spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing.

But here he calls her from Lebanon, addressing her as bride, and says:

and thou shalt pass over from the beginning of faith, from the head of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards.

These words seem to me to resemble those spoken to the Bride in the forty-fourth Psalm:

Hearken, O daughter, and behold, and incline thine ear, and forget thine own people and thy father's house; and the King shall desire thy beauty, for He is thy Lord. For there too the word offers her exhortation and counsel, and enjoins her to forget her own people and her father's house, since the King would not otherwise desire her beauty unless this came to pass.

By her people and her father's house he means the old customs, concerning which the blessed Paul says:

For we ourselves also were once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

But when the kindness and love toward man of God our Savior appeared,

not by works of righteousness which we ourselves had done, but according to His great mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which He poured out upon us richly, and what follows.

But in this treatise he calls her from Lebanon and from Sanir;

by Lebanon signifying idolatry, and by Sanir—which is interpreted 'way of lamps'—the manner of life under the Law.

For the Law is a lamp that shines in the night;

but Christ is a sun, as one shining in the day.

But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise, and healing shall be in His wings. And he adds also Mount Hermon, thereby likewise indicating the Law:

As the dew of Hermon that cometh down upon the mountains of Zion—that is, the teachings of the Law bestowed upon the mountains of Zion.

And by 'mountains' we must understand those who are perfect in virtue, as being lofty and eminent, and by their divine mindedness raised on high.

Accordingly the Bridegroom calls some from Lebanon, as those who had been taught to devote themselves to idols;

and others from Sanir and Hermon, as those who receive the dew of the Law and are enlightened by the divine commandments.

From the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards: by 'dens of lions' he designates the most audacious and most frenzied of the Jews;

and by 'leopards' the wise men of the Greeks, who by the variegated character of their discourses and the artifice of their sophistries, cloaking their falsehood, made it appear plausible to the foolish.

Having thus called the Bride, and gathered her from the various mountains, and wrought her salvation through faith, and beheld the beauty that thereupon came to her, he says to her:

My sister, my bride, thou hast ravished our heart with one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck.

The words 'thou hast ravished our heart,' Symmachus rendered 'thou hast emboldened us.'

And what he says is of this sort:

Thy two eyes are indeed marvelous and spiritual, and fittingly called doves;

yet he who contemplates divine things, who has been taught to speak of God, who beholds the hidden mysteries, astounds me beyond measure.

And I marvel at all the ornaments of thy neck;

and by these he hints at active virtue, since the neck, bearing the yoke of the divine commandments, draws and cleaves the furrows of righteousness;

I praise, then, the other ornaments of virtue as well that shine upon thy neck, but I am beyond measure delighted with, and marvel at, the one; and, struck by the beauty both of the single necklace and of the eye that beholds divine things, I have been wounded by love of thee.

But let us inquire what that one ornament is which is set upon the neck and surpasses the others, and let us learn from the blessed Paul that there abide faith, hope, love;

but the greatest of all these is love. And again:

But love is the fulfilling of the Law. And elsewhere:

The whole Law and the prophets hang upon this: Thou shalt love thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbor as thyself. This, then, is the necklace of the Bride which the Bridegroom marvels at.

For Symmachus put 'necklace' in place of 'chain.'

And he marvels also at her one eye, not disparaging the other;

for he has already bestowed praise upon both;

but knowing that the contemplation of things intelligible is more marvelous than the apprehension of things perceptible.

The phrase 'thou hast ravished our heart' stands for 'thou hast roused us to love of thee and to affection for thee;'

having such an eye, and wearing such a necklace.

How fair are thy breasts, my sister, my bride! how fair are thy breasts made by wine! and the smell of thy garments is above all spices.

For from the spiritual wine and the mystical draught thy breasts have acquired the greater comeliness;

and we have already said that the breasts are the founts of teaching.

And the smell of thy garments is full of all seemliness, and has become more fragrant than all spices;

for thou hast put me on, the Bridegroom;

and Isaiah is witness, foretelling and saying:

Let my soul rejoice in the Lord;

for He hath clothed me with the garment of salvation, and put upon me a robe of gladness. These thy garments send forth so great a fragrance as to overcome the virtue of the Law—figuratively called 'spices'—by the sweet savor that everywhere runs forth from thy garments.

And he calls her not only bride, but also sister, since the blessed Paul also says:

That He might be the firstborn among many brethren. And the Lord Himself, having risen, said to the women standing by the tomb:

Go, He says, and tell My brethren, and Peter:

Behold, I go before you into Galilee. She is therefore both His sister, and His bride, and His neighbor;

neighbor, according to the words, 'My soul cleaved after Thee;' bride, as receiving from Him the seeds of teaching, and bringing forth the fruit of godliness;

sister, as clothed with the same nature as He, according to His humanity.

He therefore continues to recount her praise, and says:

Thy lips drop as the honeycomb, O bride;

honey and milk are under thy tongue, and the smell of thy garments is as the smell of frankincense.

It is necessary to set alongside these the apostolic teaching which says:

For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the one body, being many, are one body;

for by one Spirit we all, the whole of us, were baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free, and we were all made to drink into one Spirit;

for the body is not one member, but many. And a little later he says: If they were all one member, where were the body? And again: Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. Therefore the Church, composed of many members, fills up one body;

let us understand, then, that some of her members are eyes, some ears, some lips;

wherefore the Bridegroom also says to her:

Thy lips drop as the honeycomb, O bride;

honey and milk are under thy tongue.

having not only honey but also milk, and offering to each the suitable nourishment—to babes what is fitting for them, and to the perfect what is proper for them.

And the honeycombs of the honey, borne upon the lips of the teachers, are the divine Scriptures, having as their honey-forming and comb-shaping bees the holy prophets and apostles;

for they, flying about the meadows of the all-holy Spirit, having as it were fashioned the honeycombs of the divine Scriptures for us, and filled them with the honey of teaching, transmitted the benefit to us.

And the letter resembles the wax, while the meaning hidden within it resembles the honey.

The lips of the godly teachers let fall drops of this honey.

They also offer milk, borne from their tongue, to those who have need of milk;

and again he continues, marvelling at the bride's garments, and says:

'And the scent of thy garments is as the scent of frankincense.' We have said before that the Bridegroom himself became a garment to her;

and the blessed Paul is witness, saying:

'As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.' Now the Bridegroom is both God before the ages, and man born in the last days of the holy Virgin;

and, remaining what he was, he took upon himself our nature, and clothed the bride who of old had been stripped bare.

'The scent of thy garments is as the scent of frankincense;' for she has put on Christ, who is God and man;

and frankincense is a symbol of the knowledge of God, since under the old law it was offered to God.

'A garden enclosed is my sister, my bride; a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed.' He calls her a garden, as bringing forth not one fruit of godliness and virtue, but many and varied fruits;

and enclosed, as being fenced round about and safe from all plotting;

for 'the gates of hell,' he says, 'shall not prevail against her.' For she is not like that vine transplanted out of Egypt, 'which all they that pass by the way have plucked, and the boar out of the wood hath ravaged, and the wild solitary beast hath devoured;' but she is fenced about and walled, and resembles an enclosed garden, having fruits many and of every kind, yet not admitting thieves, but fleeing the hands of those who plot against her.

'And she is also a fountain sealed;'

for these waters are not set before all, but before the worthy;

concerning this fountain the Lord also speaks in the Gospels, saying:

'Whosoever shall drink of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst unto eternity, but it shall become in him a fountain of living water springing up unto life everlasting.' Fittingly, then, he calls her a fountain sealed, as being set before not all, but the worthy.

For the divine mysteries are set before not the uninitiated, but the initiated;

not before those who wallow in lawless deeds after their initiation, but before those who live in strictness, or are cleansed through repentance;

and he says not only, 'A garden enclosed, and a fountain sealed,' but also:

'Thy shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with the fruit of choice tree-crops;'

'Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of Lebanon;'

'myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.'

'A fountain of gardens, a well of living water, and streams flowing rushing down from Lebanon.'

'All these things,' he says, 'thou hast sent to me, and hast offered to me at the time of the wedding;'

and first, the orchard of pomegranates, which was not lacking in the other choice tree-crops either;

namely love, since under one rind countless grains lie together in the same place, united to one another, yet do not press one another out nor destroy one another, remaining sound unless some rottenness should arise in their midst;