Commentary on the Song of Songs 1 part 8/9

and then in this way we journey on to the active virtue.

But now, since the beauty of the Bride has become perfect, beginning from below at the active virtue, he ascends to contemplation, praising the comeliness of the Bride.

And first he praises her steps and her sandals, then the graceful lines of her thighs, that is, each of the things done;

and after the thighs, the navel.

For 'Thy navel,' he says, 'is a turned bowl that lacketh not mixed wine.' Let us set alongside, if it seem good, the things spoken by the God of all through Ezekiel the prophet concerning the navel of Judea.

For triumphing over her licentiousness and publicly exposing her great impiety—as we have also expounded in the first discourse—He says to the prophet:

Thus saith the Lord to Jerusalem:

Thy root and thy nativity are from the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite.

And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut. To her, then, He says, 'Thy navel was not cut'; but to this one, 'Thy navel is a turned bowl that lacketh not mixed wine.' For she who was born out of Egypt did not cut her own navel, but as though through a kind of root she drew from Egypt the wickedness of impious teaching.

But this one did not simply cut her navel, but so deepened the cut as to pluck out the whole root of idolatry, so that she is likened to a turned bowl, and continually holds the mixture of gladness, and never lacks the joy that comes to her from godliness.

But also, 'Thy belly is a heap of wheat, hedged about with lilies.' That is, the storehouses of thy soul are full of the hidden mysteries, whose fragrance alone is known to those still imperfect and infants.

For it is hedged about with lilies, he says, so that by the hedge we may understand what is hidden, and by the lilies the fragrance flowing thence in every direction.

'And thy two breasts are like two twin fawns of a gazelle.' For the springs of thy teaching, bringing forth new streams, teach keenness of sight and spiritual contemplation; for the gazelle is named for keen sight, and the fawn is significant of what is new.

'And thy neck is as a tower of ivory.' For it has been freed from being black and has been made white, having received my yoke;

and it is fearful to the enemies as a tower, and desirable to friends as one that shines.

'And thine eyes are as pools in Heshbon, in the gates of the daughter of many.' Aquila, interpreting this, has set 'reckoning' in place of 'Heshbon.'

inasmuch as from many gates—that is, mouths (for figuratively he named the mouths gates)—they receive the streams.

'Thine eyes are as pools in Heshbon, in the gates of the daughter of many.' For the contemplations of thy soul and the multitude of thy godly reasonings are like pools receiving waters from many places, since from many mouths thou dost receive the streams of teaching.

Indeed, the blessed Isaiah also, prophesying concerning the birth of the Lord, and having said in the person of the Spirit that 'I went to the prophetess'—that is, to the Virgin—'and she conceived in the womb and bore a son,' goes on to say:

And the Lord said to me, Call his name, Quickly-spoil, Swiftly-plunder;

him who is figuratively called the king of the Assyrians—that is, the devil.

Fittingly, therefore, he says to the Bride:

'And thy head,' he says, 'is as Carmel'—that is, filled with all good things.

For this the God of all also says, through the prophet, reproving the ingratitude of the Jews:

And I brought you into Carmel, to eat the fruit thereof and the good things thereof. Thy head, then, he says, resembles Carmel, which brings forth every kind of good, and bears every fruit for me the husbandman.

And there is added: 'And the braid of thy head is as purple, a king bound in the galleries.' For thy hair that of old was loosed, and for this cause was likened to the flocks of goats that appeared on Gilead;

but now they have been braided—and not only braided, but have also received a wondrous dye, and resemble a king clothed in purple and running to and fro on every side.

He calls the braiding of hair, likened to royal purple, the teaching that is presented with harmony and empurpled with the blood of Christ;

for a king clad in purple robes does not so shine as the teacher of godliness who weaves the proclamation of the knowledge of God and offers it to the nurslings of the truth.

How fair art thou, and how sweet art thou, O love, in thy delights!

Thy stature is likened to the palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.

For thou hast become fair, though before thou wast not fair;

and being full of all unpleasantness, thou hast suddenly appeared sweet;

and thou hast attained these things by delighting thyself in love;

for having loved the Bridegroom who loved thee, and having esteemed as delight thy love toward him, thou hast despised all things together;

wherefore thou hast become fair and sweet, but also thy stature is likened to the palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes. For thou hast not only beauty, but also height likened to a palm tree.

And thy breasts resemble the clusters of this palm. For being lofty and exalted, and reaching to the heavenly vaults, thou dost condescend to the weak, and dost hold out thy breasts and the nipples of thy teaching to those who have need of teaching;

for indeed the palm tree has its clusters bending downward.

I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will lay hold of the heights thereof; and thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine, and the smell of thy nose as apples.

And thy throat is as good wine, going down smoothly for my kinsman to uprightness,

sufficing for my lips and my teeth.

It is possible from this to learn accurately how the Bride longs for the Bridegroom, and desires the ascent, and imagines the height, and, according to the blessed Paul, does not reckon that she has attained, but presses on that she may attain;

and she forgets the things that are behind, but reaches forth unto the things that are before. But it must be inquired how the Bridegroom is both a palm tree and a vine;

and how he bears no fruit of the palm, yet brings forth the clusters of the vine.

For in place of 'I will lay hold of the heights thereof,' he has set 'I will lay hold of the branches thereof'; and the branches are the fruits of the male palms;

which, being set upon the female palms, make the fruits of those trees both lasting and ripe.

The Bride, therefore, hastens to receive from the Bridegroom the means of godly offspring, and says:

I said, I will go up to the palm tree, and I will lay hold of the heights thereof—or, as Aquila has it, of the branches thereof. And thy breasts shall be as clusters of the vine. For thou art the true vine, from which the saving wine, being cultivated, is pressed out in the spiritual wine-vats, from which the cup is filled that maketh drunken as it were most excellently.

And the smell of thy nose resembles the fragrance of the apple. For even the vessel of thy sense of smell itself sends forth to me a fragrance likened to apples.

But what we have said concerning the apples at the beginning of the book is sufficient.

And thy throat is as good wine, going down smoothly for my kinsman to uprightness, sufficing for my lips and my teeth. For the teaching offered from thy throat proves better than any fragrant wine and every earthly gladness—the teaching which thou dost bring forth, my kinsman, desiring to set straight the souls that have believed in thee;

and this suffices for me and is enough, that I may on the one hand bring forth and proclaim, using my lips as instruments;

and on the other hand guard and keep, setting my teeth in place of a rampart.

To these things there fits also that which was spoken by the blessed Paul:

sufficing for my lips and my teeth, that I may bring forth some things and guard others—

I am my kinsman's, and his turning is toward me.

For I have dedicated myself to him, and have abhorred every alien fellowship—Greek, Jewish, heretical;

for he too has set me before all others, and has his turning toward me;

for having before no place to lay his head, he has now found where he may lay his head;

and having many concubines, and queens, and maidens, he sets me before them all.

But I cannot bear to enjoy communion with His holy things alone.

'Come, my kinsman, let us go out into the field, let us lodge in the villages.'

'Let us go early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine has flowered, if the cypress-blossom has budded, if the pomegranates have flowered.'

'There will I give you my breasts.'

'The mandrakes have given forth their fragrance, and at our doors are all manner of fruits, new and old; these, my kinsman, which my mother gave me, I have kept for you.'

The bride urges the bridegroom to take thought also for the lowly and humble souls, which she figuratively names 'field' and 'villages,' as being humble and small.

For she does not say, 'let us go out into the city,' but 'let us go out into the field, let us lodge in the villages, let us go early to the vineyards, let us see if the vine has flowered.' 'Let us visit,' she says, 'those who have but now received the preaching.'

'If the cypress-blossom has budded.' Let us see also those who are better still, who have put forth not only leaves but the very flower itself, which here she has called 'cypress-blossom.'

'If the pomegranates have flowered.' 'Whether there has come to be,' she says, 'in any a beginning of love.'

For we must go about everywhere and bring to bear all fitting care.

'For by doing this I shall render you service.'

'There,' she says, 'I will give you my breasts.' For you make your own the things that are done to those little ones, and you say:

'Inasmuch as you did it to one of these least of the little ones, you did it to Me.' — 'The mandrakes have given forth their fragrance.' The mandrake is known to induce sleep, as the sons of the physicians say.

Since, then, we have been commanded to mortify our members that are upon the earth—not that we should hand over the members themselves to death, but that we should render them dead to evil operations—she has fittingly set the mandrake here, and she says:

that men sleep to sins;

and just as those who have drunk mandrake do not perceive the movements of the body,

so those who drink the cup of pious teaching are diligent to lull the passions to sleep.

And not only did the mandrakes give forth their fragrance, but also at our doors are all the fruits.

For those who have received our teaching bear fruit of every kind.

'And I, both new and old, whatsoever my mother gave me, have kept for you, my kinsman.'

To these things are like the words written by the blessed Paul to Timothy:

'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith;

henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will render to me in that day.' And again, that which was spoken by the Lord in the Gospel, that 'Every scribe who has been made a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a man who brings forth out of his treasure things new and old.' CHAPTER 8

'Who will grant you to me, my kinsman, sucking the breasts of my mother? Finding you outside, I will kiss you;

and indeed they shall not despise me.'

'I will take you, I will bring you into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me;

I will give you spiced wine to drink, and the juice of my pomegranates.'

For according to His humanity He too received all the grace of the Spirit.

'For the child Jesus,' it says, 'grew, and waxed strong in Spirit, and the grace of God was upon Him.' The bride, then, marvelling at His ineffable love for mankind, says: 'You also sucked the breasts of my mother.'

But that we may preserve the sequence of the sayings and their harmony, beginning a little further back, let us go through the meaning in summary. 'I have received,' she says, 'not only the new but also the old things of my mother, and these I will keep for you.'

'And you, out of great love for mankind, endured to take up my very nature and to suck the same breasts as I, that in this also you might show your brotherhood.'

'And you sucked not out of need, but to teach me how I ought to suck, and through what teat to draw the grace.'

'for you did no sin, neither was guile found in your mouth;'

'nor indeed that you might receive the grace of the all-holy Spirit;'

'for you were full of it;'

'but to show me what are the gifts of baptism, and in what manner I am able to suck the grace of the Spirit.'

'for you were full of its graces;'

'but that you might show me what is the gift of baptism.'

'Who will grant you to me, my kinsman, sucking the breasts of my mother? Drawn by this love of yours for mankind, finding you outside, I will kiss you, and indeed they shall not despise me;'

'I will take you, I will bring you into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me;'

'I will give you spiced wine to drink, and the juice of my pomegranates; for drunk with love for you, not only in the bridal chamber and in the marriage-bower, but even in the marketplace and in public, finding you I will embrace and kiss you tenderly;'

'and those who behold me will not blame me for doing this, for they know the flame of love.'

What is the house of the Spirit (for it was the Spirit that begot the bride), if not the divine temple, which imitates the Jerusalem above, where those who enter converse with the bridegroom with boldness, having received the dignity of the bride? 'And there,' she says, 'I will give you spiced wine to drink, and the juice of my pomegranates.' By 'spiced wine' she calls the teaching that is seasoned with divine grace and, as it were, perfumed, and possessing fragrance.

And by 'juice of pomegranates' she calls the benefit that is born from the fruits of love.

Having said these things to the bridegroom, the bride also converses with the maidens, and she says:

'His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.'

'For I am above the threat of punishment, and I gather the blessings of your right hand;'

'therefore he places his left hand under my head, and with his right hand he embraces me.'

'I have adjured you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the powers and by the might of the field, that you stir not up nor awaken love, until it please.'

'For you must continually kindle it and rouse it, that you may ardently long for him, and, as he himself wills, may attain to perfection.'

When these things had been said by her, those women, beholding all her surpassing excellence, in astonishment say:

'Who is this coming up, made white, leaning upon her kinsman?' And they do not say 'white,' but 'made white;'

For concerning the bridegroom the bride says, 'my kinsman is white,' and she did not say 'made white;'

But she, having been made black (for the sun had looked askance upon her), was made white, and partook of the bridegroom's whiteness.

And just as, being light, He made her light and named her so; and being holy, He made her holy; and being resurrection, He deemed her worthy of resurrection;

so also He imparted to her of His own whiteness.

'Who is this coming up, made white, leaning upon her kinsman?' For, being led by Him and, as it were, guided by the hand, she makes her ascent and departure into the heavens toward her beloved, through her firm faith in Him.

After these things the bridegroom, conversing, says:

'Under the apple tree I awakened you; there your mother travailed with you, there she who bore you travailed.' We shall learn the meaning of these words if we call to mind what was said by the bride at the beginning of the writing.

'As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my kinsman among the sons;

in his shadow I desired, and sat down, and his fruit was sweet to my palate.' Since, then, the things given to us in the present are a shadow of good things to come—for 'now,' says the blessed Paul, 'I see as in a mirror, as in an enigma, but then face to face'—and the bride desired to sit in the shadow of the bridegroom, that is, in the pledge now given (and she called him 'apple tree' for the reasons we have stated), the bridegroom necessarily says:

'Under the apple tree I awakened you; there she who bore you travailed with you.' For, having believed the preaching concerning our Saviour, we approached the divine baptism, and having approached, we obtained regeneration.

For the grace of the Spirit travailed with us; and the history of the Acts bears witness.

For when the most divine Peter had made his address, and had brought the preaching concerning the Saviour to those who had come, the writer says that, 'having heard the word, they were pricked to the heart, and said to Peter:'

'What shall we do, that we may be saved?' And he said to them:

'Believe, and let each of you be baptized in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall receive the promise of the Holy Spirit.' Fittingly, then, the bridegroom says to the bride:

'there she who bore you travailed with you;' and the doubling is not set down without purpose;

for wishing to show who the mother is, he called to mind the childbearing.

After these things he exhorts her, saying:

'Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm;'

For love is strong as death, jealousy is hard as Hades; the coals thereof are coals of fire, even the flames thereof.

The sparks thereof are as sparks of fire, coals of fire, even the flames thereof.

Some of the copies, instead of 'coals of fire, the sparks thereof,' have 'sparks of fire'; they have 'the wings thereof are wings, coals of fire, even the flames thereof.'

The Bridegroom therefore says to the devout souls, whom the divine Scripture addresses as bride:

Set me as a seal upon thy heart, and upon thine arm; naming as 'heart' the contemplative part of the soul, and as 'arm' the practical part.

Wherefore also, from among the people, the right arm and the breast-piece were set apart for the priests.

Our Saviour therefore wishes us to have him instead of a seal, both when we converse and when we reason, and to stamp with his own impress the things we say and the things we do.

For thus shall they be royal coinage, not counterfeited, but bearing the royal stamp.

And this, he says, is easy for thee to do, if thou acquire the love that is toward me.

For it is strong as death. And just as death, after the divine sentence, prevailed over all,

so also this love masters all things, and proves mightier than death itself.

For if thou acquire this love, thou wilt not endure that another appear more honoured than thyself, and that thou be without freedom of speech, while she enjoys communion with me.

For jealousy is hard and difficult to contend with, like Hades; and he called it 'Hades' from the opinion that possesses it, applying to it also this appellation of death.

And love is so strong that first it is winged, and about its wings it has flame of fire, and sparks that are sent forth.

And what could be mightier than that which is thus set ablaze? And its fire is not among those that can be quenched.

For much water, he says, shall not be able to quench love, neither shall the rivers drown it.

And to this all the saints bear witness, both those who shone forth in the Old and those in the New.

For as to Abraham's love toward God, neither his sojourn in a foreign land, nor the constraint of famine, nor the seizure of his wife, nor the offering up of his child, nor the strife over the wells, had strength to quench it;

nor the grievous things that befell Isaac;

nor the unceasing toils of Jacob, and the sorrows throughout his life.

What is more grievous than the trials of Joseph, who was sold by his brethren, was deprived of a loving mother and father, of his ancestral home, of freedom, and of prosperity; who served in slavery contrary to his worth, and for the sake of chastity became the victim of slander, and was consigned to prison, and endured ten thousand terrible things? Yet than all these his love toward God was shown to be greater.

And, that I may leave the other saints aside for the present, blessed Paul alone suffices to teach us of love's strength, inasmuch as he above all had experience of it.

It is written: For thy sake we are put to death all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

But in all these things, he says, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. These things then are sufficient to show the victory of love;

but what follows proclaims it yet more clearly.

For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And, that he may show it mightier than all things, both visible and invisible, he fashions in his discourse that which is not a creature, and again sets it in comparison, and shows the love toward God to be stronger than it.

Fittingly therefore the Bridegroom says:

Much water shall not be able to quench love, neither shall the rivers drown it.

If a man should give all his substance for love, they would utterly despise him. And those who are bereft and stripped of love will utterly despise the one who gives all his substance for love.

Wherefore also blessed Paul said:

Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat; we are made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things unto this day. For indeed this is the affliction of those who are dizzy;

for they who are not steady think that everything is whirling around;

so also those who are bereft of love blasphemed those nurtured in love as senseless and foolish.

Yet even this did no harm to love, but rather made it more fervent.

The apostles, being reviled, blessed; and being defamed, entreated; and having become as it were the filth of the world, said they were the offscouring of all things unto this day.

Our sister is little, and she has no breasts; what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?

If she is a wall, let us build upon her battlements of silver;

if she is a door, let us enclose her with a board of cedar.

I consider that the holy prophets who shone forth in the Old Testament, beholding the small stature of the bride's spiritual age, and that her breasts were still imperfect and hidden, inasmuch as they were the matchmakers and heralds of the marriage, spoke these things within themselves, saying: The king is henceforth about to take the bride, our sister; but she is little and destitute of breasts;

for she does not yet possess fruitfulness, nor is she able to supply the milk of teaching, nor to hold out perfect nourishment to those in need;

we must therefore consider what is to be done.

And since she is about to be joined to the great King, and to be as it were a wall of his house, keeping house within and guarding it, and to have the character of a door watching over the things stored up, let us build up, as on a wall, battlements of silver, that is, rational ones that shine forth in reason.

For the oracles of the Lord are pure oracles, silver tried in the fire, proved in the earth; that, standing upon them, she may cast at the enemies and drive away the plotters.

And as upon a door let us set for her boards made of cedar, which do not admit the rottenness of sin;

To these things the bride replies, taking courage in the Bridegroom's munificence and abundance:

I am a wall, and my breasts are as towers.

I was in his eyes as one that finds peace.

For having foreknown me, he also foreordained me, and knowing that I would seek peace, and pursue it, and pursuing it lay hold of it, he named me the peaceful one, and Shulamite, and made me a wall unbroken, terrible to the adversaries;

and my breasts, that is, the moral and theological teaching, he raised to a height, and made them like a tower, that from thence, warring against the Bridegroom's enemies, I might destroy them.

And not only am I a wall, as I said, but also a vineyard.

For a vineyard, he says, came to Solomon in Baal-hamon;

he let out his vineyard to keepers;

each was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver.

Now Symmachus rendered the phrase 'in Baal-hamon' as 'in the possession of a people';

and Aquila, 'in that which has a multitude.'

This vineyard, then, God of old entrusted to Israel.

But since they not only stoned and slew the servants who were sent to demand the fruits, but even crucified the heir himself, according to the Lord's own word the vineyard was taken away from them, and given to a nation bringing forth its fruit.

And the keepers and husbandmen and guardians are those honoured with the priesthood, who were appointed to supply at once the watering that comes from spiritual teaching and the guarding of the vineyard.

And he says that the man shall bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver; and the number of the right hand signifies unity;

and this makes clear the salvation of the fruit-bearer;

for he who planted the vineyard receives from it no other fruit than the salvation of the very one who was planted and bears fruit.

My vineyard, which is mine, is before me; the thousand are for Solomon.

What he says is of this sort (for what is obscure must, so far as is possible, be made clear):

And the vineyard, he says, is mine, and the fruit is mine.

For the thousand pieces of silver that are thought to be rendered to my peaceable Bridegroom, that is, to Solomon, are before me;

for he will give them back to me again.

For now indeed he demands fruit, longing for my salvation, and desires to see me saved.

My vineyard, which is mine, is before me; the thousand are for Solomon, and the two hundred are for those who keep its fruit. The keepers receive a wage for the vineyard, and a fixed wage.

And since they guard the five senses of the vineyard — sight, and taste, and smell, and hearing, and touch — they necessarily receive the two hundred, which are the fifth part of the thousand;

for those who guard the divine vineyard are worthy to obtain the recompense from the planter.

Therefore not only the Bridegroom, but the Bride herself also, will grant recompense to these.

And the blessed Paul says:

'If anyone's work which he has built upon it endures, he shall receive a reward.' And to those who had labored in the vineyard, when evening had come, the master of the house commanded that a denarius be given to each.

For if he who offers a cup of cold water to one of the least of these little ones shall by no means lose his reward, how much more shall he who guards the vineyard enjoy the recompenses that come from the vineyard.

And the vineyard itself will furnish, through the five senses, its obedience, and will fill up the two hundred;

which, coming to be five times as many, exist as the distributors of those who guard them in active operation;

for the number one thousand manifests the perfection in Christ, being a monad in need of nothing;

so that it bears in itself the principle not only of the potentiality but also of the actuality thereof, since it begins from the monad, and is made manifest through the monad, and is productive of the monad;

for the thousand and the ten thousand are recognized by the element of the monad.

But the number two hundred, again, signifies the restoration of our nature into itself through the working of the commandments, as it multiplies tenfold, according to the decad of the commandments, that which is composed of four times five;

and thence indicating the twentieth number, compounded of the matter and the form of our nature.