Chapter One

1–7. The Bride, named the Shulammite (Song 7:1), first in a monologue with herself (verses 1–3), and then, addressing the women of Jerusalem (verses 4–7) expresses her passionate love for the Bridegroom and her earnest longing for him. 8–16. The Bridegroom, who has just appeared, praises the Bride with commendation (verses 8–10, 14) and in turn hears enthusiastic praise directed to him from her side (verses 11–13, 15–16).

Song of Songs 1:1. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your caresses are better than wine Song of Songs 1:2. From the fragrance of your ointments, your name is like precious oil poured out; therefore the maidens love you. Song of Songs 1:3. Draw me after you; we will run after you; – the king has brought me into his chambers; – we will be glad and rejoice in you, we will extol your love more than wine; they love you with justice! Seized by the ecstasy of love for the Bridegroom, yielding with her whole being to the impulse and fervor of love, the Bride lives only in the thought of him, strives with all her soul to unite with him, and involuntarily expresses a desire for the Bridegroom to give her a tangible manifestation of love—a kiss: “let him kiss me,” says the Bride of her Beloved, not even naming him by name, for to her loving heart the object of love is too well known, “me with the kisses of his mouth!” (verse 1). Human sexual love is the mutual attraction of two polar opposites. But such polar opposites exist also in the kingdom of nature generally, in political and social life, and in religion; hence the passionate love and attraction to the Bridegroom that the Bride possesses—in a transferred or figurative sense may mean: 1) the yearning of the earth generally and of Palestinian nature in particular toward the sun, as the source of heat, light, and life; 2) the longing of a land, for instance Palestine, toward the King, as the moral sun of the land; 3) finally, and most importantly, the gracious and mystical yearning of humanity or the Church—both of the Old Testament and the New Testament—for union with God and Christ. In that case the Bride’s indicated yearning for union with the Beloved will signify the burning desire of the members of the Church of the Old Testament—the prophets and righteous people generally—to behold Christ Himself (see Matt 13:16-17). Thus Origen and Jerome explain the meaning of the words: “let him kiss me”: “The meaning of these words is this: as long as my Bridegroom will be sending me kisses through Moses, as long as he will be giving me kisses through the prophets? I already wish to touch his own lips: let him come himself, let him himself come down to me” (p. 140). That the thought of the Church or community of believers in its relation to God and the Messiah was already clearly understood by David is evident from the psalm parallel in content to the Song of Songs, Psalm 44 (Hebrew 45), which portrays (especially in its second half, verses 10–18) the gracious and mystical relationship of Christ and the Church (see “Commentary on the Psalter” of Euthymius Zigabenus, translated from the Greek, 3rd edition, Kiev, 1907, pp. 347–363). “For your caresses are better than wine.” These words and all of verse 2, as also verse 3, represent a justification of the passionate desire expressed by the Bride to receive a kiss from her Beloved. But here there is a difference between the Hebrew Masoretic text on the one hand and the Greek, Vulgate, Slavonic, and Russian on the other. The Hebrew dodekha—your caresses—in addressing a man, as the sequence of discourse requires. However, the reading dod—“caress”—most probably represents an intentional, tendentious correction of the original dada, the female breasts, virginal bosoms (cf. Ezek 23:3; Prov 5:19), as it appears in the LXX text: μαστοι σου, in the Vulgate: ubera tua, in Slavonic: “your breasts.” Before the Hebrew scribes stood here a difficulty scarcely surmountable. In accordance with the general view of the Hebrew synagogue concerning the Song of Songs as a depiction of God’s love for the community of Israel, they had to see here an address to a man (God), but the seeming inappropriateness of the word dada in such a context opposed this; therefore they either changed the concrete dada into the abstract “caress” or changed the masculine suffix (ha) to the feminine suffix (h), reading dadayh. Direct evidence of this is preserved in the Mishnah (tractate Avoda Zara, chapter II, § 5). But from the perspective of a broader symbolic and allegorical understanding of the idea of the book Song of Songs, the concrete meaning is entirely acceptable and accepted in the LXX, in the Vulgate, and in the Slavonic, as a symbol of the tenderness of love and the abundance of goods bestowed by the Beloved. The comparison of love with wine indicates the fullness of all kinds of joy and gladness (cf. Ps 103:15). “From the fragrance of your ointments (Archimandrite Makary: your ointments are pleasant to the sense of smell) your name, like precious oil poured out.” Slavonic: “the fragrance of your perfume surpasses all aromas, precious oil poured out—your name.” “Ointments” or “oil,” Hebrew shemen, oil—also a symbol of joy (Prov 21:17), but more often the joy of the higher kind bestowed by grace (cf. Ps 44:8-9; Isa 61:3). “The anointing with oil is the descent of the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit gladdens the heart” (Euthymius Zigabenus, p. 354). Interpreters have been troubled by understanding the Hebrew turak, rendered in the LXX: εκκενωθεν, Vulgate effusum, Slavonic “poured out,” Russian “precious oil poured out.” It is not improbable that the view (Raabe, Professor Olesnitsky) that the root of this word should be sought in the Sanskrit taraka—star, so that the name of the Beloved will unite in itself all that is best in the world of stars. “Many,” we read in Origen and Jerome, “have had perfumes. The Queen of the South brought perfumes to Solomon, and many others possessed perfumes; but whatever perfumes one might have, they cannot be compared to the fragrances of Christ, of which the Bride now speaks: the fragrance of your ointments surpasses all aromas. I think that both Moses and Aaron and each of the prophets had perfumes. But if I behold Christ and perceive the pleasantness and fragrance of His ointments, then at once I will declare my opinion with the words: the fragrance of your ointments surpasses all aromas. The words: precious oil poured out—your name!—are a prophetic mystery.... As precious oil by its pouring forth spreads fragrance far and wide, so the name of Christ is also spread abroad. Throughout the whole earth Christ is glorified, throughout the whole world the Lord is proclaimed. For precious oil poured out is His name. Now the name of Moses is known, his fame once being limited to the narrow confines of Judea.... But as soon as Jesus shone forth in the world, he brought forth with himself from obscurity the law and the prophets, and truly the word was fulfilled: precious oil poured out is your name” (pp. 144–145). The comparison of a good name with fragrant oil and precious oil is found, probably not without the influence of the Song of Songs, also in Eccl 7:1; Hos 14:7-8; Sir 49:1 (the alliteration of the words shem—name and shemen—oil was not without significance here). The concluding words of verse 2: “therefore the maidens love you” partly express a conclusion from what was said before about the perfections of the Bridegroom, partly form a transition from the Bride’s monologue to the words of the chorus of women of Jerusalem—probably the handmaidens of Solomon (cf. verse 4). Verse 3, which constitutes a development and justification of the thought at the end of verse 2, presents a parallel to the latter: the passionate striving of the Bride toward the Bridegroom is expressed not only in her longing for his kisses (verse 1), but also in an active striving toward the closest union with him, and the Bride expresses her ecstasy and impulse of love and attraction to the Bridegroom both to the chorus of court women of Jerusalem that now appears. “When she was asking the father of the Bridegroom and addressing the Bridegroom himself directly, the maidens were not yet present. But during her conversation with the Bridegroom a chorus of maidens enters and is introduced to him by the words of the Bride” (Origen and Jerome, pp. 145–146). “The king has brought me into his chambers.” “He does not say: he brought many into his bedchamber. Many remain outside, into the bedchamber enters only the Bride alone, that she might see the hidden and secret treasures and announce to the handmaidens: the king has brought me into his bedchamber” (Origen and Jerome, there). Meanwhile the handmaidens... upon the Bride’s entering the Bridegroom’s bedchamber and while she is examining there the riches of her husband, while awaiting the Bridegroom’s coming, joyfully sing: we will be glad and rejoice in you. They rejoice in the perfection of the Bride. In virtue there is no envy. This love is pure, without stain.... Then, pointing to the Bride, to the Bridegroom: righteousness loves you. They praise the Bride, giving her from her own virtue the name of righteousness” (there, p. 147). The end of verse 3, moreover, is not read the same in different LXX texts as in Origen—ευθυτης ηγαπησε σε, Slavonic “righteousness loved you.” Vulgate recti diligend te. But the Hebrew meshrim in the expression of the Hebrew Masoretic meshrim agevucha, conveniently can be rendered by the adverb: “with justice” (Russian Synodal translation) or: “by right” (Archimandrite Makary), in analogy with Ps 57:2.

Song of Songs 1:4. O daughters of Jerusalem! I am dark, but beautiful, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. Song of Songs 1:5. Do not look at me, that I am dark, for the sun has burned me: the sons of my mother were angry with me, they made me keeper of the vineyards; my own vineyard I have not kept. Song of Songs 1:6. Tell me, you whom my soul loves: where do you pasture? where do you rest at noon? why should I be like a wanderer beside the flocks of your companions? Song of Songs 1:7. If you do not know this, O most beautiful of women, go yourself in the footsteps of the sheep and pasture your goats beside the shepherds’ tents. The Bride’s remark addressed to the daughters of Jerusalem: “I am dark, but beautiful, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon” (verse 4) has the character of a sort of apology or explanation, perhaps provoked by a mocking remark from one of the “daughters of Jerusalem” regarding the Bride’s direct enthusiastic outpourings of feeling and her expressed certain unfamiliarity with court etiquette. From many features of the Bride’s conversation and circumstance she emerges as a provincial, recently arrived in the circle of Solomon’s court ladies. Explaining her darkness (verse 4) or swarthiness (verse 5), the Bride, first, compares it—in respect of color—to the dark felt (of goat hair) tents of the Kedarites—a people descended from Ishmael (Gen 25:13) and partly nomadic, partly living in open settlements between Petræan Arabia and Babylonia (Isa 60:7; Jer 49:28-29: Onomast. 614); and in respect of beauty and attractiveness—to the curtains or pavilions of Solomon (probably royal pavilions of Solomon during his out-of-town summer journeys, like the tents of modern Arab sheikhs). The cause of her darkness or swarthiness is indicated (verse 5) in the action of the sun. “She is beautiful, and one can even point out how the Bride is beautiful. But we ask, how is she, being dark and without whiteness, beautiful? She has brought repentance for her sins, conversion has given her beauty, therefore she is hymned as beautiful. But since she has not yet been cleansed from all the filth of sins, has not yet been washed in the water of salvation, she is called dark; yet she does not remain forever in dark color. She becomes white when she strives for greater things and from low places begins to ascend to higher, and then it is said of her: who is this rising, becoming white?” Song 8:5 (Origen and Jerome, p. 147). Similarly, the Midrash explains the opposition of darkness and beauty in relation to the manifold transgressions and uprisings of the Israeli community in the Old Testament, for example, concerning the resistance of the Hebrews to God in Egypt (Ezek 20:8) and—their purification by the blood of the Paschal Lamb and circumcision (Ezek 16:9), and the opposition of weekdays and the Sabbath, ordinary days of the year and the day of atonement, the present age and the age to come (Der Midrasch Schir-ha-Schirim, ubers. v. A. Wunsche, Leipz. 1880, p. 30). But the opposition of the Bride as a provincial to the “daughters of Jerusalem” allows one to see in her not only the Jewish synagogue, but also that “pagan barren church” which around the time of Solomon showed a particular striving for religious and every other kind of union with Israel (the visit to Solomon by the Queen of Sheba (1 Sam 10:1-9), who, according to the opinion of Blessed Theodoret, was an image of all well-disposed and honest pagans, who were justified without the law according to the Apostle Rom 11:14-15. Blessed Theodoret, Commentary on 3 Kings, question 33. See Commentary on the Bible, vol. II, p. 413), because of which Solomon prayed to Jehovah, that in the temple built by him God would be pleased to receive the prayers of pagans also. (1 Sam 8:41-43). “When the voice of the Savior is heard, saying: ‘the Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and will condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon: and behold, a greater than Solomon is here’ (Matt 12:42), then be attentive to the mysteries offered in these words. From the ends of the earth the Queen of the South comes, the Church, and she condemns the people of this generation, namely the Jews, devoted to flesh and blood. She comes from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, not the one glorified in the Old Testament, but the one who in the Gospel is greater than Solomon,” Origen and Jerome, p. 149. In that case the opposition of outward deformity (pagan life) and inner beauty (the souls of the best pagans) stands out with special distinctness. Further, explaining why the sun had particularly destructively affected her outward appearance, the Bride points out that her “mother’s sons” (that is, half-brothers, Lev 18:9, or even full brothers, Gen 27:29; Deut 13:6) out of ill will gave her strange and alien work—to guard another’s vineyard, neglecting her own (verse 5). Only at the end of the book does the Bride speak of the wholeness and full belonging to her of her vineyard (Song 8:12). The history of the non-Christian world, both in Judaism and in paganism, is full of examples of how those near by blood often turned away true worshippers of God and zealous pursuers of God’s righteousness from the royal path of their elevated strivings toward low and unworthy affairs. The Midrash in explanation of the words: “they made me keeper of the vineyards” says: “they made me, says Moses, a judge of the disputes of the daughters of Jethro, and ‘my own vineyard I have not kept,’ that is, I did not have the opportunity to undertake the cause of my brothers in Egypt” (p. 34). Origen makes application from this place to the early history of the Christian Church: “Look at Paul, the persecutor of the Church, and you will understand how the son of her mother was hostile to her. The persecutors of the Church repented, and her opponents, returning again under the banner of the sister, preached the faith which they had previously opposed” (p. 150). After addressing the court women, the Bride turns her thought and whole being again toward her Beloved with renewed force of passion, and, despite his absence, speaks to him as if he were present, namely begging him to reveal to her the place where he pastures, where he rests at noon with the flocks, so that she might not be a wanderer (Archimandrite Makary: as if “covered,” which more accurately corresponds to the meaning of Hebrew ata, cf. Gen 38:4; Lev 13:46 etc.) beside the flocks of his companions (verse 6). To this comes a response not free from irony from the “daughters of Jerusalem,” that, since she is not informed concerning her Beloved, let her for the time remain with the flocks of other shepherds (verse 7). It is clear that the innocent Bride naively supposes Solomon to be staying with the flocks, even pasturing them, and this is precisely what gives the court ladies of Solomon occasion for their unfriendly irony. This is very reminiscent of the usually unfriendly attitude of the Jews toward proselytes. Only such God-enlightened men as the prophets: Elijah, Elisha, Jonah and others understood and realized the idea of the union of Israel with all the rest of humanity, at least with its best representatives (1 Sam 17:8-28; Luke 4:25-26; 2 Sam 5:1-19 etc.).

Song of Songs 1:8. To my mare in Pharaoh’s chariots I have likened you, my beloved. Song of Songs 1:9. Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments, your neck with jewels. Song of Songs 1:10. We will make you golden ornaments with silver accents. Solomon, who has appeared unexpectedly, praises his beloved with commendations, comparing her to the cavalry of Pharaoh in respect of elegance, beauty, and liveliness, and adorning her with all manner of precious ornaments. “What then is the meaning: ‘to my mare in Pharaoh’s chariots I have likened you’? I know that the rider of these is the Bridegroom, as the prophet says: ‘and his ride is salvation’ (Hab 3:8). So you are like my mares in Pharaoh’s chariots. As much as the horses belonging to Me, the Lord, Who drowned in the rivers of Pharaoh, his captains and horsemen, his horses and his chariots (Exod 14), differ from the horses of Pharaoh, so much you, Bride, are better than all the daughters” (Origen, p. 153). In verse 9 (Hebrew 10) the Hebrew battorim in ornaments, the LXX (reading: kattorim) render as ως τρυγογες, Slavonic (your cheeks are beautiful) “like doves,” Vulgate sicut turturis. In aesthetic respect the latter reading has an advantage over the former, though the parallelism of discourse speaks for the Masoretic reading. Regarding verse 10, Origen remarks: “After this the Bridegroom is on his bed, he has rested like a lion, like a young lion he has fallen asleep (Gen 49:9), in order afterward to hear: who will awake him. Meanwhile, during his sleep, the companions of the Bridegroom—the Angels appear and comfort the Bride with these words: we cannot make you golden ornaments, for we are not as rich as your Bridegroom, who has given you a golden necklace” (p. 154).

Song of Songs 1:11. While the king was at his table, my nard gave forth its fragrance. Song of Songs 1:12. A bundle of myrrh is my Beloved to me, between my breasts it remains. Song of Songs 1:13. As a cluster of henna blossoms, my Beloved to me in the vineyards of En-gedi. Verse 11 was understood by proponents of the so-called “shepherd hypothesis” as the Bride’s address not to Solomon, but to another (Ewald, Weigerter, and others) her beloved—an unknown shepherd, interpreting the verse thus: while the king was absent (on a hunt, at war, in camp) and did not burden me with his caresses, I was happy with the memory of my distant friend. But in fact the text speaks not of absence but of the presence of King Solomon at his own table (LXX: εν ανακλισει αυτου, Vulgate in accubito suo. Slavonic “at his repose”). So the verse should be seen as the Bride’s speech concerning her love precisely for Solomon, and this love is presented figuratively under the aroma of nard. Nard (see also Song 4:13-14) is a fragrant plant found in northern and eastern India of the Valerianaceae family (Valeriana Nardostachys tatamansi), from which a strongly fragrant and very precious oil was prepared (John 12:3 sq.), with which people were anointed at feasts in the East. In the Bride’s mention of the fragrance of nard (verse 11), Origen and Jerome see a typological depiction of the anointing of the body of the Savior by Mary with nard myrrh shortly before His sufferings (pp. 156–157). But the source of her love’s fragrance the Bride represents as her Beloved, that is, Solomon, whom she compares to a bundle of myrrh at her bosom (verse 12) and to a cluster of henna blossom, resembling a grape cluster in the gardens of En-gedi (verse 13). Myrrh (Hebrew mor) or smyrna (Greek)—a strongly fragrant resin of yellowish-white and reddish color, in liquid and solid form; obtained from a tree (Balsamodendron Myrrha Nees) growing in India, Egypt, and Nubia, but perhaps cultivated by Solomon also in his gardens (cf. Song 4:6, see Eccl 2:5). It was used for incense and anointing at feasts and in the bedrooms of wealthy women (Song 5:5; Ps 44:9; Prov 7:17), and as a cosmetic means was placed (in powder) in the folds of clothing (Ps 44:9). Then, as with the Egyptians, myrrh was used among the Hebrews in embalming (for the preparation of the dead), at least in the time of Jesus Christ; corpses of the deceased were anointed with myrrh. A particularly high-quality sort of myrrh among the Greeks was called σταχτη (see Song 1:13 according to the LXX and Slavonic Song 1:12). Henna (Hebrew kofer, Greek κυπρος) (cf. Song 4:13), in Arabic Al-henna, a fragrant plant in Egypt, Persia, Arabia, East India, botanically Lawsonia alba. The flowers of henna resemble clusters of grape bunches, are of a whitish-yellow color, and have a fragrance reminiscent of reseda; favorite flowers of the Eastern woman. From the dried and ground petals are prepared the most common cosmetics used in the ancient and modern East. The henna bushes were probably planted by Solomon in the gardens of En-gedi. En-gaddi or En-gedi (I. Josh 15:62; Ezek 47:10; 1 Sam 24:1; Onomast. 401), now Ain-Jidi, is a city in the southeast of Palestine, on an oasis near the western shore of the Dead Sea (See Commentary on the Bible, vol. II, pp. 337 and 402).

Song of Songs 1:14. Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are like doves. Song of Songs 1:15. Behold, you are beautiful, my Beloved, and lovely! And our bed is green; Song of Songs 1:16. the beams of our houses are cedars, our rafters are cypresses. The tenderness of feeling toward the Bridegroom expressed by the Bride (verses 11–13) evokes in him (verse 14) an ecstasy at the contemplation of her beauty, wherein he compares her—in respect of her purity, mobility, and attractive simplicity and innocence—to doves (cf. Song 5:12, cf. “my dove” Song 2:14). (According to the Midrash, the pious Israelites in their visits to their temple on feast days and in many other respects are compared to doves, pp. 49–50). Origen says: “Why does the Bride not say: ‘behold, you are beautiful, my neighbor,’ but only: ‘behold, you are beautiful’? And why does he not merely say: ‘you are beautiful,’ but ‘you are beautiful, my neighbor’? The Bride, if she is far from the Bridegroom, is not beautiful; she becomes beautiful when she is united with the Word of God. And it is right that she is now taught by the Bridegroom to be completely near to him and not to depart from his side” (p. 160). (The Midrash explains this by the fact that the Beloved (God) has other peoples besides Israel, while the Bride—Israel—considers only Him worthy of love, p. 51). In verse 15, the Bride “hearing such praise concerning herself, in turn renders praise to the Bridegroom, by her laudatory speech not attributing to him what he does not have, but truly understanding and contemplating his beauty” (Origen and Jerome, p. 161). Namely, enraptured by the attention of the king, the Bride praises the beauty and loveliness of her Beloved, and calls him, with the aim of full enjoyment, to the bosom of nature, where the bed is green, the beams of the houses are cedars, and the rafters are cypresses. “Investigating what kind of trees these are, and observing that cedar is a tree that does not rot, and cypress has a very pleasant fragrance, strive you too to construct your house so that it might be said of you: the beams of our houses are cedars, and our rafters are cypresses.” (Origen and Jerome, p. 162). * * * Notes Slavonic: “into his bedchamber.” But neither the Hebrew heder nor the Greek ταμετον necessarily denote a bedchamber; they have a more general meaning: inner chambers (cf. 2 Sam 13:10). Hebrew kedar, like kidron, expresses the notion of darkness, blackness “Become white” λελευκανθισμενη is read in Song 8:5 only according to the LXX and Slavonic text.