Fragments on the Song of Songs

Your Name Poured Out and the Unkept Vineyard§1

1'Your name is ointment poured out' (Song of Songs 1:3). This also points to the name of the Only-begotten, called upon among all the nations, for all the nations that bear His name give off a sweet fragrance toward Him.

'Therefore the maidens…' (Song of Songs 1:3). Paul too was one of the maidens, for he says, 'I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me' (Philippians 4:13). That is why he loved so deeply, saying, 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?' (Romans 8:35). And how did the maidens draw Him (Song of Songs 1:4)? By following in His footsteps and enjoying the ointments of the Gospel.

As for 'we will run' (Song of Songs 1:4), the words are the maidens', and they mean that we shall walk after the Lord God. In the present words she calls this kingdom a 'chamber' (Song of Songs 1:4).

'They made me keeper…' (Song of Songs 1:6). Perhaps she is accusing herself because she did not keep her own vineyard, but left it for everyone who passes along the road to plunder, for the boar from the forest to ravage and the lone wild beast to graze on (Psalm 80:12–13). Or perhaps she is also glorifying God, because, though she was not able to keep her own vineyard, by neither tilling it nor keeping it she advanced so far that she could keep many vineyards.

That is, by 'the sons of her mother' (Song of Songs 1:6), her mother being the Synagogue, she means the scribes and Pharisees, who fought against those who believed in Christ and commanded them to keep the worship prescribed by the Law; for this is the vineyard. 'But I,' she says, 'did not keep it; for whatever was gain to me, I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ,' as the blessed Paul says (Philippians 3:7).

'Like one who wraps herself beside the flocks of your companions' (Song of Songs 1:7). By His companions she means the apostles, for He said, 'No longer do I call you servants, but friends; for you are friends' (John 15:14–15). By 'one who wraps herself' she means 'one who is veiled', as Paul says, 'To this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart' (2 Corinthians 3:15).

The Synagogue Repents and the Bride Is Praised§2

2So this is the voice of the repentant Synagogue speaking to Christ: 'Make Yourself known to me, so that, while You shepherd the Churches of Your companions, I may not remain with the veil over my heart' (Song of Songs 1:7). 'If you do not know yourself' (Song of Songs 1:8): that is, 'If you do not repent,' He says, 'you will be found behind the nations, since you have no fruits of righteousness but remain fruitless, and behind the flocks that I have gathered to Myself.'

'I have likened you to My mare' (Song of Songs 1:9): that is, 'Having received My faith, O Church, you have been likened to the apostles.' Of them it is said, 'You will mount upon Your horses, and Your riding is salvation' (Habakkuk 3:8); and they were made ready against the chariots of the unseen Pharaoh. 'Your cheeks are like a turtledove's' (Song of Songs 1:10): through the turtledove He shows her modesty toward the Bridegroom, for the turtledove's cheeks are red.

To the Synagogue, on the contrary, it is said: 'You had the face of a prostitute; you were shameless toward all' (Jeremiah 3:3). By the neck (Song of Songs 1:10) He means the soul's readiness to submit; for what a fine ornament is a neck that has learned to bear the yoke of Christ (Matthew 11:29)! In Scripture, silver usually stands for divine teaching, and gold for divine gifts (Song of Songs 1:11). Before Christ came among us, all things were likenesses and, as the Apostle says, a shadow of the good things to come (Hebrews 10:1). But Christ, having risen, has given humankind what is perfect; before the resurrection we had likenesses, drawn from the praises of Him in the Law and the Prophets.

The nard and the bundle of myrrh (Song of Songs 1:12–13) signify the burial of Christ: Nicodemus brought these and wrapped His body in them (John 19:39–40). For breasts the bride has the two Testaments, and between them Christ lodges (Song of Songs 1:13).

The Bridegroom calls her beautiful, no longer only 'among women' as before (Song of Songs 1:8), but now also as one near Him, and so He doubles His praise of the bride (Song of Songs 1:15), praising both her contemplation and her action. By eyes He means the eyes of the mind and heart; and 'of a dove' marks their clear sight, in the sense in which the dove is also taken for the Spirit. He says, then, that the bride has received a mind that sees God alone.

The Lily of the Valleys and the Archer§3

3The eyes are also the Church's teachers, guileless and keen-sighted. 'I am a flower of the plain, a lily of the valleys' (Song of Songs 2:1). Since the bride has received the rain from above and has borne virtue, she compares herself to a flower of the plain; and she shows how much the coming of Christ has helped, since it has shown even the valleys, unfit for any sowing, full of such flowers. For by a valley she means what the demons who once dwelt in it had hollowed out.

'Hem me in with apples' (Song of Songs 2:5): make me safe with the words of the Gospel, for these breathe the fragrance of Christ upon us. 'And may I too,' she says, 'be ranked with His saints'; for as He is an apple tree (Song of Songs 2:3), so those who share His body and partake with Him (Ephesians 3:6) are apples.

'His left hand…' (Song of Songs 2:6). The left hand is the Law, the right the Gospel. Or else the left is the present life and the right the life to come: the right hand that will embrace me when He says to those on His right, 'Come, you blessed of My Father' (Matthew 25:34). It also says elsewhere, 'Length of life and years of life are in the right hand of Wisdom, and in her left are riches and glory' (Proverbs 3:16). Her right hand, then, is the knowledge of divine things, from which comes eternal life; her left is the knowledge of human things, from which come riches and glory. So she says, 'My mind rises above human things, and divine knowledge will cover me.' For it is said again, 'Honor her, that she may embrace you' (Proverbs 4:8).

This shows, then, that the same One is both our Bridegroom and our Archer, and that the purified soul is both bride and arrow. As an arrow, then, He aims her at the good mark; as a bride He takes her up into fellowship in incorruptible eternity, granting through the right hand length of life and years of life (Proverbs 3:16), and through the left the riches of eternal goods and the glory of God, in which those who seek the glory of the world have no share. That is why she says, 'His left hand is at my head' (Song of Songs 2:6), the hand by which the arrow is aimed at the mark.

The Embrace of the Right Hand§4

4And His right hand, taking hold of me and drawing me toward Himself, makes me light for the upward flight; so that, sent there and yet not parted from the Archer, I rather come to rest.

Then she turns her words to the daughters of the Jerusalem above (Song of Songs 2:7; Galatians 4:26). Her words are an appeal, made under oath, to make love abound and grow ever greater, until He who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4) brings His will to fulfillment.

By the left hand, it seems, she hints at the good things of the present life, which she already enjoys; by the right, at the expectation of the things to come, held in promises. Their use, she says, as has been said, lies in promises and hopes. And it is well said that she is embraced by the right hand and that her head rests on the left. For the things of the present life, however useful and admired they may be thought, must be placed beneath the head of the perfect soul, supplying the body only with what it needs, as a pillow does for the head. But the things of the age to come, since they are divine and stand above human nature, she hinted at as surpassing by speaking of the embrace.

Or perhaps, since hands are a symbol of actions, the actions of the left hand signify what belongs to the body and those of the right what belongs to the soul; and these, being on the right, have received the better lot and hold the needs of the body in their embrace. For as the embracing hand is above and holds within its arm what it embraces, so the actions directed toward the goal of the life to come hold fast every irrational movement of the body and keep life well ordered and bound together; and no one is able to plot against the soul that the Bridegroom has embraced.

The Voice of the Beloved§5

5This is to make clear what is brought in dramatically, up to the words, 'Your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely' (Song of Songs 2:14). It is plain that the soul that is the bride of the Word, that is, the Church of Christ, perceives the voice as divine before she understands it. We the faithful experience the same: before we understand the voices of the Law and the Prophets, we are struck by them as full of divine grace.

Such is the phrase 'The voice of my beloved' (Song of Songs 2:8), set before the appearing of the Word from afar. Seeing Him lay hold of great truths without despising even the lesser ones, she says, 'Behold, He comes leaping upon the mountains, bounding over the hills' (Song of Songs 2:8).

Throughout the whole book, some things are said to the Bridegroom as present, and others as of one the bride is seeking. For with hard questions too, at times we search, at a loss for the answer, and at times we enjoy the answer, when the Word, the Bridegroom, shines upon our hearts. Then again we are at a loss over other things, and again He appears to us; and this happens many times, until, made perfect, we find the Bridegroom not only coming to us but also making His dwelling with us (John 14:23). So too the Church longs for Him when she is left to her trials, and He appears to her in His gifts. That is why she says, 'Behold, this One comes leaping upon the mountains' (Song of Songs 2:8).

He comes also upon the nets that the evil one has spread near the Church, and having torn them, He teaches us to tread on them with contempt. To the Church that has passed through every winter of trial (Song of Songs 2:11) the signs in the air are shown, and that summer is near, of which the Psalms say, 'Summer and spring' (Psalm 74:17). For flowers have appeared to her, and the complete cleansing has drawn near, the time of what is called pruning (Song of Songs 2:12).

'Peering through the nets' (Song of Songs 2:9). Perhaps through the fisherman's craft he also meant the apostles. These things, then, the Church hears from the Word, receiving the light of truth through the windows of the Prophets and the nets of the Law, while the wall of teaching in figures still stands (Song of Songs 2:9), I mean the Law, which casts the shadow of the things to come (Hebrews 10:1)…

Seeking Christ at the Tomb§6

6…of good things, and does not show the very image of the realities (Hebrews 10:1). Behind it the truth took its stand (Song of Songs 2:9), close by the place, and afterwards it shines out. Or else he spoke of the cutting (Song of Songs 2:12) as the cutting of the spiritual harvest, of which the Savior says, 'The harvest is plentiful' (Matthew 9:37).

'In the shelter of the rock, close by the outer wall' (Song of Songs 2:14). The outer wall shows safety: once you are there, he says, you will find help of every kind. 'Turn' (Song of Songs 2:17). She asks the bridegroom to leave the fruitless Synagogue and to come to those who have risen to heavenly height from a soul that was once sunken, brought low and given to idols.

'On my bed by night I sought' (Song of Songs 3:1). He means the women who came to the tomb of Jesus at early dawn on the first day of the week and did not find Him (Luke 24:1–3). So by 'on my bed' she means either 'from bed', or she calls the Lord's tomb her own bed, since in it we are buried with Him (Romans 6:4). But she did not find Him, for she heard, 'He is not here; for He has risen' (Matthew 28:6). And the angels who keep watch found her (Song of Songs 3:3), and she asks them too, 'Where have you laid the Lord?' (John 20:13). But when she had passed those she questioned, He met her, saying, 'Rejoice' (Matthew 28:9). That is why she says, 'Scarcely had I passed from them when I found Him, and I will not let Him go' (Song of Songs 3:4). For she took hold of His feet (Matthew 28:9) and heard, 'Do not touch Me' (John 20:17). By her mother's house he means the gathering of the apostles, to which she went and announced the good news of Christ's resurrection (John 20:18).

'Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense' (Song of Songs 3:6). Myrrh, when she has been buried with Him; frankincense, when she has risen with Him and come to share in His divinity. And the soul of the Church is perfumed not only with these, but also with the varied insights of knowledge. For one who divides things with the utmost precision and examines them finely down to the least detail could be called a kind of perfumer, grinding fine and reducing to powder all the fragrant sayings with which the bride is now said to be perfumed.

Perhaps, too, one who lives not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:4), whose heart has in no way grown dull (Matthew 13:15), keeps the fragrance varied and of every kind, and makes a fragrance from all the things now called 'the powders of the perfumer' (Song of Songs 3:6).

The Bride Comes Up from the Desert§7

7One might also say that the holy soul of the Church, once a child bereft of God, comes up from the gathering of the nations, 'from the desert' (Song of Songs 3:6): she leaves behind teachings, words and deeds that are empty of God, and rises to the things of God. Let the spiritual union, precious and divine, be understood as the gold (Song of Songs 3:10). For gold coated the ark in the desert too, inside and out (Exodus 25:11), to make the divine union plain. The purple (Song of Songs 3:10) rests upon the multitude of those called to the kingdom. And whenever anyone believes, he receives into his heart Christ, who is the precious pearl (Matthew 13:46).

And the litter, he says, was made from the daughters of Jerusalem out of love alone (Song of Songs 3:9–10): 'For God so loved the world that He sent His only-begotten Son, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life' (John 3:16).

It is the Church from the nations that says, 'Go forth and see' (Song of Songs 3:11). He calls the day of the Passion 'the day of His wedding', the day on which He took the Church as His bride through His blood (Acts 20:28). Her silence (Song of Songs 4:1) signifies obedience in everything, as in the words, 'Be silent and listen, Israel' (Deuteronomy 27:9). Or else the two fawns, the moral and the doctrinal teaching, are the bride's two breasts (Song of Songs 4:5); those nourished from them look toward God with keen sight. By the lilies he means the fragrance of the apostolic and Gospel words, on which we feed until the end.

'Come from Lebanon, bride' (Song of Songs 4:8). He teaches us where the bride comes from, and that she comes out of idolatry. For Lebanon is a mountain full of idols. From there, he says, you will come; and you will pass through the law, for without knowing the law you were instructed in the mystery of Christ.

'You have given us heart, my sister, bride' (Song of Songs 4:9). That is, you have drawn us to long for you by a single word of confession, which you held rightly, seeing with your inner eyes. For it was by submitting to the ornament on your neck that you made the confession. These words are spoken to her by the friends of the bridegroom, the angelic powers, I mean. For the activity of sight is twofold: one kind sees the truth, while the other wanders among vain things. Since the bride's pure eye is open to the nature of the good alone, while the other lies idle, the friends therefore offer their praise to one of her eyes. They call her sister because of the kinship that comes through freedom from passion, and bride because of her union with the Word.

The Single Eye and the Locked Garden§8

8Since, then, he says, your eye is one in that it looks toward the one, and your soul is one because it is not divided among differing dispositions, and the set of your neck is perfect, for it has taken the divine yoke upon itself, for this reason we confess that you have given us heart by these wonders (Song of Songs 4:9). This is what 'the ornament of your neck' means, namely the Lord's yoke (Matthew 11:29). That is, through yourself you have put into us a kind of soul and mind for perceiving the light. For in you, as in a mirror, we behold the Sun of righteousness (Malachi 4:2). And by saying it twice they lend credibility to what is said.

'A garden locked' (Song of Songs 4:12). It is shut to the world, but open to the heavenly bridegroom. And the spring is sealed (Song of Songs 4:12) with the Holy Spirit, with whom we are anointed after baptism. For the virtues are signified by the spices (Song of Songs 4:14). By the trees of Lebanon he means the prophets. The myrrh and aloes show that Christ, once buried, came into fellowship with the saints who had gone before; for He went down into Hades and brought them up.

'On the cross,' he says, 'accepting death for the sake of mankind'; but the heart keeps watch (Song of Songs 5:2), in that as God He plundered Hades. That is: what has your beloved done, or what do you have from your beloved (Song of Songs 5:9)? By the lips dripping myrrh (Song of Songs 5:13) he means lips that confess His death. 'His legs are pillars of marble' (Song of Songs 5:15). These might also be bases, for those who are being built are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Ephesians 2:20). In due order, after the belly (Song of Songs 5:14), he praises the legs, which he says are pillars of marble set on bases of gold (Song of Songs 5:15).

The Pillars of the Church§9

9The pillars of the Church are men such as Peter and John (Galatians 2:9), who have Christ as their foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11), and He is the one here called gold. They are marble, the men Paul called a bulwark (1 Timothy 3:15), because they are steady and unshaken, and by their shining life and sound speech they bear up and support the common body of the Church.

Moreover, to love God with all one's heart, and one's neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:37–39), is to bear the common body of the Church as on pillars of marble. For whoever has been made perfect in these two commandments (Matthew 22:40) is made a pillar and bulwark of the Church. So the whole body of the Church rests on these two achievements as if on legs, while the golden foundation, the base of faith, sets in their thoughts a steadiness that does not bend or shift and stands firm in every good.

The Church's Faith, Priests and Deacons§10

10I give Him faith, and He gives me the kingdom (Song of Songs 6:3). He pastures in the purity of the Scriptures and of the holy doctrines. Turn your eyes away from those who disobey you (Song of Songs 6:5), and incline them toward me; for they, he says, have stirred up love in me.

'The work of a craftsman' (Song of Songs 7:1): by 'craftsman' he means Christ the Creator; for as He became obedient (Philippians 2:8), so has the Church. He speaks also of her chastity and her submission: her soul is subject to faith, and her body to chastity.

He shows her priesthood too, when he says, 'not lacking mixed wine' (Song of Songs 7:2), that is, the blood of Christ; for this is in the hands of the priests. Her neck (Song of Songs 7:4) he calls the deacons of Christ, because they carry Christ, the head of the Church. For they carry His holy body with a pure conscience (1 Timothy 3:9), confessing His mysteries.

The Royal Priesthood and the Savior's Coming§11

11That is why he called it ivory: such deacons as Paul calls dignified, not given to much wine (1 Timothy 3:8).

'A king bound in the galleries' (Song of Songs 7:5). Or, taken another way, he says that the bond of the peoples' love is brought into a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9). Or else, 'in your delight' (Song of Songs 7:6) means in your love, because some are reckoned even among the righteous themselves.

The breasts are likened to clusters (Song of Songs 7:7), clusters that hold spiritual gladness. Or it means that I bring the confession, and 'His turning is toward me' (Song of Songs 7:10), either at the second coming, or also from the people of the Jews. So the bride's food is made holy, since Christ feasts with her.

That is, the Church prays that the Savior may come to dwell in Judea, by the providence of the One who gives Him to mankind, so that He may nurse at the breast of the Mother of God (Song of Songs 8:1).

The Vineyard, the Gardens and the Bride's Last Prayer§12

12'Finding you' (Song of Songs 8:1): that is, outside Jerusalem, where He was crucified (Hebrews 13:12). Or he means the burial that Joseph and Nicodemus provided (John 19:38–40). By pomegranates (Song of Songs 8:2) he means the saints. 'Its encircling walls are walls of fire' (Song of Songs 8:6): the walls of the Church, he says, are fire.

The spiritual Solomon came to have a vineyard (Song of Songs 8:11), and he means the Church. Baal-hamon means 'among those who have believed'. And who are the ones who have believed, if not those who received His commandments?

The one who sits in the gardens (Song of Songs 8:13) watches over the Churches. The companions listen, and they do not judge; rather, the Son does all the judging (John 5:22). The bride longs to hear, 'Enter into the joy of your Lord' (Matthew 25:21). She also asks Him to cast out the wicked, and by saying 'Flee' (Song of Songs 8:14) she asks Him to come to the saints.