For thou hast had five husbands: and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband. This thou hast said truly.
Augustine of Hippo
(lib. lxxxiii. Quæst. qu. 64) The five husbands some interpret to be the five books which were given by Moses. And the words, He whom thou now hast is not thy husband, they understand as spoken by our Lord of Himself; as if He said, Thou hast served the five books of Moses, as five husbands; but now he whom thou hast, i. e. whom thou hearest, is not thy husband; for thou dost not yet believe in him. But if she did not believe in Christ, she was still united to those five husbands, i. e. five books, and therefore why is it said, Thou hast had five husbands, as if she no longer had them? And how do we understand that a man must have these five books, in order to pass over to Christ, when he who believes in Christ, so far from forsaking these books, embraces them in this spiritual meaning the more strongly? Let us turn to another interpretation.
Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.