Origen of Alexandria

In his own words on Song of Solomon

• Song of Solomon 1:1

  Therefore, in this book, which had to be written about the love of the groom and the bride, it is well written so that neither "son of David" nor "king" nor any of those things is used as the groom's name, because it could be understood to pertain to the corporeal realm. Thus, rightly let the bride now made perfect say about him, "Although we knew Christ at some time according to the flesh, now we however no longer know him in this way," lest someone think that she loved something corporeal or enfleshed and lest some fault be believed to be brought into her love. Therefore, it is only "the Song of Songs of Solomon" and not "of the Son of David" or "the king of Israel" and no other understanding at all of a fleshly name is mixed among them.

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS, PROLOGUE

• Song of Solomon 1:1

  But even here it does not escape notice that some write the title of this book as "Songs of Songs," which is not written correctly, for it is not a plural but a singular "Song" that is written here: "Song of Songs."They take it to mean that this "Song" is "of the Songs of Solomon," as if he designated this one alone from his rather many songs. But how will we accept an interpretation of this kind, when the church of God has not accepted any songs of Solomon outside the canon that must be read and, when among the Hebrews, from whom the eloquence of God seems to have been brought to us, no other song is held canonical other than these three books of Solomon that are canonical among us?

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS, PROLOGUE

• Song of Solomon 1:1

  This book seems to me to be an epithalamium, that is, a marriage song, written by Solomon in the style of a drama, which he sang like a bride who is getting married and burning with a heavenly love toward her husband, which is the Word of God.…Let us come to the things that must be discussed: first, to examine a few things about love itself, which is the main reason for this writing, and next about the order of the books of Solomon, in which this book seems to have been placed in the third place. Then we will examine the title of the book itself, why it is given the superscription "Song of Songs."

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS, PROLOGUE

• Song of Solomon 1:1

  And let us first attempt to investigate concerning the reason why it is that, although the churches of God have received three volumes written by Solomon, the book of Proverbs was put first among them, then second the book which is called Ecclesiastes, and the volume of the Song of Songs is reckoned in the third place.… We can call these moral, natural, and contemplative.… Now the moral discipline is called that through which the honest morals of living are applied and practices that tend toward virtue are prepared. It is called the natural discipline where the nature of each and every object is discussed so that nothing is done contrary to nature in life, but each thing is considered in its uses for which it was made by its Creator. It is called the contemplative discipline by which we pass over visible things and contemplate something about the divine and heavenly matters and view them with that mind alone, because we are passing over their bodily appearance.Some wise men of the Greeks taught things that they had taken from Solomon, on the grounds that he had taught them through the Spirit of God in a time and age long before them.… Solomon found these things before them and taught them through the wisdom that he received from God, as it is written, "And God gave Solomon understanding and very much wisdom and a breadth of heart like the sand on the shore of the sea. And wisdom multiplied in him above all the ancient sons of men and above all the wise men of Egypt." Therefore, since Solomon wished to distinguish and separate those three disciplines (i.e., the moral, the natural and the contemplative), which earlier we said were the general disciplines, he published them in three books, with the individual books connected to the one following, each one in its own order. Therefore, first in Proverbs he taught the moral topic by writing down the practices of life in succinct and brief adages. But he covered the second topic, which is called "natural," in Ecclesiastes, in which he discusses many things about the world, separates the empty and vain items from the useful and necessary, and admonishes us to leave vanity and pursue the useful and proper things. He handles the contemplative topic in this book, which is now held in our hands, that is, in the Song of Songs, in which he instills into the soul the love of heavenly affairs and the desire for divine matters, all under the guise of a bride and groom, thereby teaching how to arrive at fellowship with God through the paths of charity and love. This book is located last so that someone would come to it when he has been cleansed in his morals and has learned the knowledge of and distinction between corruptible and incorruptible things. This is so that he may not be offended in any of those figures by which the love of the bride for her heavenly bridegroom (which is really the love of the perfect soul for the Word of God) is described and formulated. For once those things have been dealt with, by which the soul is purified through its acts and morals and is led to the distinguishing of natural matters, one comes competently to dogmatics and to mystical matters and ascends to a contemplation of the Godhead with a sincere and spiritual love.

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS, PROLOGUE

• Song of Solomon 1:2

  One must remember what we admonished beforehand in the preface, that this book has the appearance of a marriage song and is composed in the style of a drama. But we have said that a drama is where certain characters are introduced who speak—where some arrive suddenly, others withdraw or come near—and thus everything takes place in the interchanges of the characters. Therefore, this will be the appearance of the entire book; in accordance with this, an historical exposition will be applied by us with all our might. But nonetheless, according to what we have indicated in the preface, a spiritual understanding is established underneath the guise of bride and groom; it is either about the church speaking to Christ or about the soul being joined to the Word of God.Therefore, now let a certain bride be introduced in the guise of an historical account. She will have received from her most noble groom some engagement and dorwry gifts most befitting her title. But as her groom makes a delay for a long time, she worries out of a desire for his love and grows weary as she lies at home and does everything, as much as possible, to see her groom sometime and to enjoy his kisses. Because she sees that her love is kept waiting and cannot acquire what it longs for, she turns to prayer and begs God, since she knows that he is the Father of her groom.… These are those matters, composed in the style of a drama, that an historical explanation covers. But let us see if an inner understanding can aptly be applied in this manner. Let it be the church desiring Christ, her husband … and thus let this church be as one person who speaks for all.

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 1:1

• Song of Solomon 1:2

  But now let us consider first, what are the songs, of which "Songs" this is said to be a "Song." Therefore, I think that they are those songs, which formerly were being sung through the prophets or through the angels. Indeed, "the law" is said "to have been delivered through angels by the hand of an intermediary." Therefore all those things which were announced to them were the excellent songs of the groom given through friends; that one song is what now the groom himself had to sing as a marriage song when he was about to receive his bride. In this song the bride does not wish to be sung to through the friends of the groom, but she desires to hear the words of the groom himself when he is then present. Thus she says, "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth." Thus, it is rightly honored above all songs, for the other songs, which the Law and the Prophets sang, seem to be sung to the bride when she was still a child and had not yet entered the passageway of adulthood, but this song seems to be sung to a woman who is now grown and very strong and who is now capable of manly strength and the perfect mystery.

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS, PROLOGUE

• Song of Solomon 1:3

  Let it not escape our notice that in some manuscripts we find written "because your discourses are better than wine" instead of what we read: "because your breasts are better than wine." Although it evidently seems to have meant those things which we have discussed in our spiritual interpretation, nonetheless we preserve in all matters the things written by the seventy translators, because we are certain that the Holy Spirit wanted the outlines of the mysteries to be concealed in the divine Scriptures and not to be revealed and out in the open.

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 1:3

• Song of Solomon 1:4

  But because this item is referring either to the church coming to Christ or the soul clinging to the Word of God, what else must we believe the bedroom of Christ and storehouse of the Word of God to be, in which he leads either his church or the soul clinging to him, except the hidden and concealed mind of Christ itself?

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 1:5

• Song of Solomon 1:5

  "I am dark and lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the coverings of Solomon." In other manuscripts we read, "I am black and lovely." Again in this passage the character of the bride is introduced as the one speaking, but she is not speaking to those young women who are accustomed to run with her, but "to the daughters of Jerusalem." Although they have derided her for her hideousness, she seems to answer them and say "I am indeed dark" or "black" as far as the color is concerned, "O daughters of Jerusalem," but I am "beautiful, if someone should examine the internal liniments of the limbs." For he also says "tents of Kedar," which is a great nation. They are "black" and the very name of the people "Kedar" means blackness or darkness. But also the "coverings of Solomon" are black and nonetheless the blackness of the coverings did not seem unsightly to the king in all his glory. …This covers the historical drama and the quasi-story that has been set forth. But let us return to the mystical interpretation. This bride who speaks represents the church gathered from the Gentiles; but the "daughters of Jerusalem," with whom she hold this discourse … are the daughters of this earthly Jerusalem, who see the church from the Gentiles, although they see her as lowborn because she cannot ascribe to herself the noble quality of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.… Responding to these things, she says, "Indeed I am black, O daughters of Jerusalem," inasmuch as I am not a descendant from the stock of famous men and I did not receive the illumination of the law of Moses, but I have my beauty with me. For also in me there is that first quality, namely that I was created in the image of God; and now that I have drawn near to the Word of God, I have received my beauty. … I am indeed "black" because of the baseness of my ancestry, but I am "beautiful" because of my repentance and faith. For I received the Son of God in me, I received the Word made flesh. I drew near to him, who is the image of God, the firstborn of all creation and who is the splendor of the glory and the image of the substance of God, and I was made beautiful.… But this can be said about each and every soul that is converted to repentance after very many sins: it was "black" owing to its sins, but "beautiful" because of its repentance and the fruits of repentance.

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 2:1

• Song of Solomon 1:5

  Thus some such process also happens to us who are in generation. We are dark at the beginning in believing—hence in the beginning of the Canticle of Canticles it is said, "I am very dark and beautiful," and we look like the soul of an Ethiopian at the beginning—then we are cleansed so that we may be more bright according to the passage, "Who is she who comes up whitened?"

  HOMILIES ON JEREMIAH 11:6.3

• Song of Solomon 1:6

  We understand how the bride is both black and beautiful. But if you too do not repent, beware lest your soul be called black and foul and you be made foul by a double ugliness: black because of your past sins and ugly because you persevere in your vices.

  HOMILIES ON THE SONG OF SONGS 1:6

• Song of Solomon 1:6

  Therefore, that visible sun does indeed blacken and burn those bodies upon which it settles at noon, but it preserves in its brightness those bodies that are placed far off and far away from its overhead position. It does not at all burn them, but gives light to them. But, in contrast, the true spiritual sun, which is the sun of righteousness in whose wings healing is said to be, illumines them and surrounds them with every brightness because he has found them of an upright heart and at the zenith of his radiance, but he does not look "askance" as much as "look down upon" those who "approach him askance," since their own fickleness and instability causes this trouble for them.For the world was made not through that visible light, because it too is part of this world, but through that true light, by which light we are said to be despised, if we approach it in a crooked way.

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 2:2

• Song of Solomon 1:6

  "Do not look at me because I have become dark, because the sun looked down upon me." …And so people have existed in this way in all that nation of the Ethiopians, to whom a certain natural blackness resides owing to the succession of fleshly seed, because in those places the sun burns with harsher rays and, once the bodies have been burned and blackened, they remain so as the innate flaw is passed down, generation to generation. But the blackness of the soul belongs to a contrary arrangement; for the soul is burned not by the sun looking at it but by the sun's looking down upon it; it is obtained not by birth but by neglect; and thus, just as it is acquired by ignorance, so it is driven out and repulsed by diligence.

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 2:2

• Song of Solomon 1:8

  Therefore, this is what the present passage teaches the soul under the guise of a woman, so that she may know herself.…And for this reason, where she has neglected knowledge, it is is now necessary that she "be borne about by every wind of doctrine to be deceived by errors," so that now she pitches her tent now by that shepherd, that is, a teacher of the word, and now by another shepherd. And in this way she is borne about as she shepherds not sheep, which is a simple animal, but goats, namely lascivious and restless feelings that lead to sin, while she has sought out various teachers and cultivated them for this very purpose. And this will be the punishment of the guilt of that soul, which was not eager to know itself and to follow that shepherd alone, who "lay down his life for his sheep."

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 2:5

• Song of Solomon 1:9

  But let us now see whether he is saying in the mystical interpretation that "the chariots of Pharaoh and his four-horse chariots" which he himself leads and drives to persecute God's people and to oppress Israel are the souls that have been placed under that spiritual "Pharaoh" and under spiritual wickedness. For it is certain that the temptations and tribulations that the demons stir up against the saints they stir up through some souls that have been made fit and convenient for this purpose. By mounting these "chariots" they irritate and assault either the church of God or some individuals among the faithful.

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 2:6

• Song of Solomon 1:15

  But this beauty of the "cheeks," that is of modesty and chastity, is compared to "turtledoves." They say that the nature of turtledoves is of such a sort that neither the male woos more than one female nor the female puts up with more than one male, so that if it should happen that one is cut off and the other survives, marital love would be snuffed out along with the spouse. Therefore most aptly the image of a turtledove is applied to the church, because it does not know any husband after Christ, or because a multitude marked by continence and modesty much like turtledoves flit about in her.

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 2:7

• Song of Solomon 1:15

  Our eyes [are not] such as the eyes of Christ's beautiful bride must be, of which eyes the bridegroom says, "Your eyes are doves." He is hinting, perhaps, at the perceptive power of spiritual people, because the Holy Spirit came upon the Lord as a dove, and the Lord is in each one. Nevertheless, even in our condition, we will not hesitate to examine the words of life that have been spoken, and to attempt to grasp their power which streams forth into him who has apprehended them with faith.

  COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 10:173

• Song of Solomon 2:4

  "Bring me into the wine cellar." The Bridegroom had stopped outside and was welcomed by the bride. Truly he had rested on her bosom. Many young maidens are not such as to be worthy of having the Bridegroom as their guest: "to the crowds" outside, he "speaks in parables." How I fear that many of us are maidens! "Bring me into the wine cellar." Why do I wait outside for so long? "See, I stand at the door and knock. If someone opens to me, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me." "Bring me in." Even now the divine Word says the same words: see that the Christ says, "Let me in." He speaks also to you, catechumens, "Let me in," not simply into the house but "into the wine cellar," that your soul might be filled with the "wine of delight," the wine of the Holy Spirit. Thus, "bring into" your "house" the Bridegroom, the Word, Wisdom, the Truth. Thus it can also be said of those who are not yet perfect, "Bring me into the wine cellar."

  HOMILIES ON THE SONG OF SONGS 2:7

• Song of Solomon 2:6

  But turn yourself quickly toward the life-giving Spirit and, while avoiding physical terms, look keenly at what is the "left hand" of the Word of God and what is the "right hand" and also what is the "head" of his bride, namely of the perfect soul or of the church, and let not the carnal and changeable sense of the word take hold of you.For this here is the "right hand" and "left hand" of the groom, that is said concerning Wisdom in Proverbs, where she says, "Long life is in her right hand, but in her left hand are riches and glory."

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 3:9

• Song of Solomon 2:8

  But first understand that before he appeared to the eyes of the bride, the groom had been recognized by her by his voice alone, but afterwards he appeared to her sight, leaping on top of certain mountains near that place in which the bride tarried, and passing over the hills and mountains not so much in steps as much as in some big leaps like a stag or a roe and coming with all haste to his bride.But when he came to the house where his bride stayed, note that he stood behind the house for a little while so that he would indeed be perceived to be present but nonetheless not yet willing to enter the house openly and plainly, but first wished to look at the bride through the windows in the guise of love, as it were. But note that certain nets and traps had been placed near the bride's home so as to capture her or another of her companions from the daughters of Jerusalem, if by chance they should have ever left. The groom came to those nets, confident that he would not be captured by them, but having been made stronger than them, he tore those nets asunder, and once he had torn them, he walked on top of them and even looked through them; and after he had done this task, he said to the bride, "Arise, come, my neighbor, my bride, my dove." But he says this to show to her by that very act how she, with faith in him, ought to despise now the nets that her enemy had stretched out against her, and not to fear the snare, that she now sees have been torn asunder by her groom. Furthermore, in order that he may call the bride forth to hasten to him, he says to her that now all the time that seemed dire has passed away and the winter, which seemed to have arisen as her excuse, has departed and the useless rains have gone away and now the time of flowers has come.… Therefore, if we also wish to see the Word of God and the groom of the soul as he leaps over mountains and jumps over hills, let us first hear his voice and, when we have heard him in all matters, then we will be able to see him according to thoese things which the bride is said to have seen in this present passage. For although she herself also saw him earlier, she nonetheless did not see him as now, leaping over the mountains and jumping over the hills, nor even leaning through her windows or looking through the nets, but rather it seems that she had seen him earlier in the time of winter.… For if you were to consider how in a the space of a brief amount of time the Word of God has run throughout the world that had been seized by false superstitions and called the world back to knowledge of the true faith, you will understand how "he leaps over the mountains"—namely, he overpowered all the great kingdoms by his leaps and he inclined them to accept knowledge of divine religion—and how "he jumps over the hills"—since he quickly subdues lesser kingdoms and leads them to the piety of true worship.

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 3:11

• Song of Solomon 2:10-12

  Each one of the blessed will first be obliged to travel the narrow and hard way in winter to show what knowledge he has acquired for guiding his life, so that afterwards there may take place what is said in the Song of Songs to the bride when she has safely passed through the winter. For she says, "My beloved answers and says to me, 'Arise and come away, my love, my fair one, my dove; for lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.' " And you must keep in mind that you cannot hear "the winter is past" any other way than by entering the contest of this present winter with all your strength and might and main. And after the winter is past and the rain is over and gone, the flowers will appear that are planted in the house of the Lord and flourish in the courts of our God.

  EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM 31

• Song of Solomon 2:14

  "Because your voice is sweet." And who would not profess that voice of the catholic church confessing the true faith is sweet, but the voice of the heretics is rough and unpleasant, which does not speak the teachings of truth but blasphemies against God and iniquity against the Most High? Thus also the appearance of the church is comely, but that of the heretics is ugly and foul—that is, if there is someone who knows how to test the beauty of the face, that is, if there is some spiritual person who knows how to examine all things. For among the unskilled and unregenerate people the sophistries of the lie seem more beautiful than the teachings of the truth.

  COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 3:15

• Song of Solomon 3:6

  They also bring "frankincense," translated as "whitening," since they reject every dark condition, so that the words are fitting for them: "Who is she who comes up all white?" For in this way they will be able to bring praise to the house of the Lord, not having a spot or a wrinkle or any such thing which brings dirt on the church of Christ.

  FRAGMENTS ON JEREMIAH 11

• Song of Solomon 4:5

  And in the song of the bride, hair, teeth, lips, cheeks, the neck, and breasts, are praised by the bridegroom. The bride is either the soul of man, which enters into marriage with Christ, or the church. The parts of the body are interpreted figuratively: if they are said of the soul, then they apply to its powers.

  FRAGMENTS ON LUKE 186

• Song of Solomon 5:12

  In doves, the eyes are signified. For when it says, "doves over the abundance of the waters," it means this kind of bird when it comes to the waters. There it is accustomed to suffer the attacks of the hawk and to detect its hostile arrival in flight when it sees the shadow of its wings in the waters. And so it escapes the deceit of imminent peril by the keen vision of its eyes. For if you could thus look out for the snares of the devil and avoid them, you would offer "doves" as a sacrifice to God.

  HOMILIES ON LEVITICUS 3:8.4

• Song of Solomon 6:8

  Scripture recounts that some of the patriarchs had many wives at the same time; others took other wives when previous wives had died. The purpose of this is to indicate figuratively that some can exercise many virtues at the same time; others cannot begin those which follow before they have brought the former virtues to perfection. Accordingly, Solomon is reported to have had many wives at the same time.

  HOMILIES ON GENESIS 11:2