Theodoret of Cyrus — Commentary on Scripture

Song of Solomon 3:6-7 · 2 passages

Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?

We must enquire why on earth they call the bridegroom Solomon. Solomon means “peaceable,” as you can find in the Chronicles. God said to David, when he wanted to build the new temple, “Lo, a son is born to you; he will be a man of repose, and I shall give him peace from all his enemies round about, because his name is Solomon, and I shall give peace and tranquility to Israel in his days. He will build a house for my name, and he will be a son to me, and I shall be a father to him, and I shall assure the throne of his kingdom in Israel forever.” …It was not Solomon who had dominion to the ends of the world but he who sprang from Solomon in his humanity, Jesus Christ, and was called Solomon on account of his peaceable and gentle nature and his being the cause of peace.

“Lo, it is Solomon’s bed.” Let us understand the bridegroom’s bed to be the divine Scriptures. When the bride reclines on them, as it were, along with the bridegroom, and receives the seeds of teaching, she conceives, bears, is in labor and gives birth to spiritual benefit.

Song of Solomon 4:7-8

Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

We require prayer, in fact—attentive and earnest prayer—for our eyes to become like doves with the gift of spiritual sight, getting beyond the veil of the letter and distinguishing clearly the hidden mysteries. It is not possible by any other way, you see, to come to know the meaning of the divine Scripture, especially the Song of Songs, than having the very one who inspired those composers illuminate our vision by sending rays of grace and give a glimpse of the hidden sense.

Song of Solomon 4:10-12 · 3 passages

How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse! how much better is thy love than wine! and the smell of thine ointments than all spices!

He calls her “a garden,” not as though bearing a single fruit of piety and virtue, but as one producing many and varied fruits; and “locked” as though sealed off and proof against intrigue.… She is also “a fountain sealed.” She is not available to everyone but to those thought worthy of these streams; the Lord in the sacred Gospels also says of this fountain, “Whoever drinks of the water I shall give will not thirst forever, and instead there will be in them a spring of living water gushing up to life eternal.” Properly, then, he refers to her as “a fountain sealed” for not being available to everyone but to those thought worthy. The divine sacraments, after all, are available not to the uninitiated but to the initiated, not to those wallowing in iniquity after initiation but to those living an exact life or purified through repentance.

“Fragrance of your garments like the fragrance of frankincense.” We said before that the bridegroom himself became her garment, and blessed Paul confirms it in the words, “All of you who were baptized into Christ put on Christ.” Now, the bridegroom is both God eternal and was born a man from the holy Virgin in the last days. While remaining what he was, he took as well what is ours, and clothed the bride who was formerly left naked—hence his saying to her, “fragrance of your garments like the fragrance of frankincense.” She is clothed with Christ, who is both God and man. Now, “frankincense” is a symbol of the true doctrine of God, since under the norms of the old law it was offered to God.

“Your lips distill a honeycomb, bride; honey and milk are under your tongue.” Here it refers to the teachers of the church, offering religious teaching and, as it were, carrying honeycomb of bees on its lips, and distilling drops of honey, containing not only honey but also milk, and providing to each the appropriate nourishment, both suited to the infants and adapted to the mature. Now, honeycombs borne on the lips of the teachers are the divine Scriptures, which contain bees that make honeycombs and produce honey, the sacred prophets and apostles. These latter fly about the meadows of the Holy Spirit, as it were constructing the honeycombs of the divine Scriptures, filling them with the honey of doctrine and dispatching them to us for our benefit. The letter resembles the honeycomb, while the sense hidden in it resembles the honey; the lips of pious teachers release the drops of this honey. Also, milk flowing from their tongue reaches those in need of milk.

Song of Solomon 4:13-15 · 2 passages

Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard,

“Pomegranate” is to be taken figuratively as love, since countless seeds are contained together within the one skin, pressed together without squeezing or ruining one another, remaining fresh unless one of the seeds in the middle goes bad. You can also gain a different insight from the sections in the middle: we see many ranks also among the saved, one of virgins, one of ascetics, one of those drawing the yoke of marriage, and of the affluent, one of those living a life of poverty, one of slaves in love with godliness, one of masters exercising lordship lawfully. The pomegranate, too, then, has walled off compartments, as it were, separating its seeds into certain divisions. This is the reason he compares the presents of the bride to “an orchard of pomegranates.”

[This garden] also contains “a spring” and “a well of water alive and babbling from Lebanon.” It contains not only the gospel teaching that flows openly but also the “well” of the law, which is “a well of water alive” that also holds hidden streams that babble, emit a sound and flow from Lebanon. The way of life according to the law blossomed in Jerusalem, which is figuratively called Lebanon, but this well changed direction toward the Lord’s bride, the church, and though hidden, it flows with a babble and irrigates the orchard of the church.

Song of Solomon 5:10

My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand.

The bride instructs the young women who had enquired as to the features of the bridegroom, saying, “My nephew is white and ruddy,” mentioning “white” first and “ruddy” second. He was always God, but he became man as well, not by abandoning what he was or being turned into a man but by putting on a human nature. So he is “white” as God: what could be whiter than light? Now, he is the true light, according to the Gospel saying, “He was the true light, which enlightens every person coming into the world.”He is not only “white,” however, but also “ruddy.” After all, he is not only God but also man. Now, the term ruddy suggests earthly; hence also in Isaiah the divine powers, on seeing him ascending from earth to heaven, pose the question, “Who is this coming from Edom, the red of his garments from Bozrah? He is charming in his vesture, overpowering in his strength.”

Song of Solomon 5:12

His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.

“His eyes like doves on pools of water,” once again here by mention of the “eyes” admiring his keen sight. Hence her saying they are like doves “on pools of water” reminds us of the dove coming down on him in the Jordan. … Hence the bride says, “His eyes like doves on pools of water”: his eyes are constantly upon the source of baptism, awaiting those being saved and longing for the salvation of everyone.

Song of Solomon 5:15

His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.

“His form is like choice incense, like cedars.” Here again she makes reference to the fact of two natures, calling the divine nature “incense” since by the law incense was offered to God, and by “cedar” referring to the human nature in its not being affected by the rottenness of sin, the cedar of all trees not going rotten.

Song of Solomon 6:5

Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me: thy hair is as a flock of goats that appear from Gilead.

“Turn your eyes away from me because they set me all aflutter.” What he means is something like this: the beauty of your eyes, the sharpness of your vision and the clarity of your thinking have drawn me to love of you; but do not gaze at me immoderately lest I take harm from it. After all, I am inaccessible and incomprehensible, surpassing all comprehension, not only human but also angelic. Even if you wish to surpass limits and pry into what is beyond your power, you would not only find nothing but would also impair your sight and render it dull. Such is the nature of light, after all: as it illumines the eye, so it penalizes intemperance with damage.

Song of Solomon 6:8

There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.

Let us examine why on earth he mentioned “sixty queens” but “eighty concubines.” The number sixty contains six tens, and while the ten signifies perfection, the six represents the number of the world’s creation: in six days the God of all formed the whole creation. Accordingly, by “sixty queens” he referred to the souls in this world who were made perfect in virtue and who longed for the kingdom. The bride lives a way of life above this world, she is outside it, flies beyond it, is totally the bridegroom’s and has him constantly in mind, whereas these latter souls live in this world and practice the perfection of virtue to the extent possible while longing to attain the kingdom. But it is through fear that they obey the laws, and so they were called “eighty.” The divine Scripture, remember, speaks of the time of judgment as the eighth. In describing judgment in the Psalms, blessed David used the title “On the eighth” and began this way, “Lord, do not censure me in your anger, nor chastise me in your wrath,” and shortly after, “Because in death there is no one to remember you, in hade…

Let us examine why on earth he mentioned “sixty queens” but “eighty concubines.” The number sixty contains six tens, and while the ten signifies perfection, the six represents the number of the world’s creation: in six days the God of all formed the whole creation. Accordingly, by “sixty queens” he referred to the souls in this world who were made perfect in virtue and who longed for the kingdom. The bride lives a way of life above this world, she is outside it, flies beyond it, is totally the bridegroom’s and has him constantly in mind, whereas these latter souls live in this world and practice the perfection of virtue to the extent possible while longing to attain the kingdom. But it is through fear that they obey the laws, and so they were called “eighty.” The divine Scripture, remember, speaks of the time of judgment as the eighth. In describing judgment in the Psalms, blessed David used the title “On the eighth” and began this way, “Lord, do not censure me in your anger, nor chastise me in your wrath,” and shortly after, “Because in death there is no one to remember you, in hades who will confess you?” Thus [he brings] out that at the time of judgment no place for repentance will be given to those who have sinned and have not had a change of heart.

Song of Solomon 6:10 · 2 passages

Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?

“As beautiful as the special moon.” The experts in these matters say the moon gets its light from the sun’s rays and gets partial light when a small part of it faces the sun. When it is directly opposite and is in full view of the sun, it is completely lit up as though reflecting its face like a kind of mirror and leaving no part of its bulk unlit. The church of Christ likewise, therefore, the congregation of the souls made perfect in virtue, “with unveiled face seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror,” in the words of blessed Paul, “is being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, as a work of the Lord, the Spirit.” And it becomes so completely luminous as to resemble a moon, and a “special moon,” that is, full moon.

The bride, however, is not only “like a special moon,” but also she will shine in the future life “like a sun,” astounding all with its brightness. They will marvel not only at her light but also at her orderliness. There is nothing disordered about the Lord’s bride, nothing undetermined; she gives practical directions like a kind of plumb line, and regulates her own life by use of norm and rule.

Song of Solomon 6:11

I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded.

By “nut plantation” they refer to the present life, which is harsh, troublesome and laborious but contains hidden in itself the fruit of virtue. The fruit of the nut has a bitter skin on the outside, the second one is tough and resistant, and the edible part is hidden as though deposited in a kind of inner chamber and is not extracted without effort. Such also is the present life, containing as it does harsh pain and grief, containing hardship and effort which, however, are not fruitless, not useless, holding the fruit hidden within them. Hence blessed Paul also says, “Our life is hidden with Christ in God; but when Christ our life is revealed, then we too shall live in him.”

Song of Solomon 6:13

Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.

Just as the work calls Solomon—our Lord, in other words—“peaceable,” so too it calls his bride “peacemaker” for attaining peace from him and being freed from the former conflict. The bridegroom’s attendants, then, on seeing her driven from the chariot and under attack, comfort her in the words, “Return,” peacemaker, “return, return, and we shall look upon you.” That is to say, “Do not be afraid of your pursuers but hold fast the doctrine, proclaim the message of the doctrine, have no fear of the chariot, do not be afraid of war, called peacemaker as you are. In fact, if you persist in your preaching, we shall see your kingdom.”

Song of Solomon 7:5

Thine head upon thee is like Carmel, and the hair of thine head like purple; the king is held in the galleries.

“The hair of your head like purple, a king caught in its tresses.” Your hair was previously loose and hence was compared with the flocks of goats emerging in Gilead, whereas now it is caught up, and not only caught up but also wondrously dyed, resembling a king clad in purple and hastening in all directions. By the comparison of her fastened hair to royal purple he refers to the teaching proposed in orderly fashion and colored with the blood of Christ. A king clad in purple is not so resplendent as the teacher of religion who carefully composes the proclamation of the knowledge of God and offers it to the devotees of truth.

Song of Solomon 8:1-4

O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! when I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.

“I shall lead you into my mother’s house and into the chamber of the one who conceived me.” Now, what is the house of the all-holy Spirit (of whom the bride was born, after all) if not the divine temple, which resembles the Jerusalem on high, where they enter to speak with the bridegroom, having received the status of bride? And there, she says, “I shall give you some spiced wine to drink and some juice from my pomegranates,” by “spiced wine” referring to the teaching redolent of divine grace, as it were spiced and proving to be fragrant. By “juice of pomegranates” she refers to the benefit deriving from the fruits of love.

Song of Solomon 8:5

Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? I raised thee up under the apple tree: there thy mother brought thee forth: there she brought thee forth that bare thee.

“Who is this coming up all covered in white, leaning on her nephew?” They do not say “white” but “all covered in white,” being black, remember. While the bride said of the bridegroom, “My nephew is white,” and did not say “covered in white,” being such by nature, she on the contrary was covered in black (the sun looked on her, remember) and is now covered in white and shares the bridegroom’s whiteness. And just as being the light he both made her light and called her so, and being holy he made her holy, and becoming resurrection he accorded her resurrection, so he also gave her a share in his own peculiar whiteness. Hence on seeing her, the young women say, “Who is this coming up all covered in white, leaning on her nephew?” Guided by him and as it were led hand in hand, she makes her ascent into heaven and her departure to her beloved through her firm belief in him.