Scripture Daily

Context No. 1881 of 4322 · Song of Solomon

Context · Reflection

Song of Solomon 8:1-5: in context

1Oh that you were like my brother, who nursed from the breasts of my mother! If I found you outside, I would kiss you; yes, and no one would despise me. 2I would lead you, bringing you into the house of my mother, who would instruct me. I would have you drink spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate. 3His left hand would be under my head. His right hand would embrace me. 4I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires. 5Who is this who comes up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother conceived you. There she was in labor and bore you.

The Song of Songs draws toward its close with images of longing and belonging. The beloved wishes she could show her love openly, without shame; she longs to be near her beloved. And then a question is asked, as a figure comes into view: who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? It is a picture of the two together, the one making her way up out of the wilderness, leaning on the one she loves.

The image of one coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved has long been read by the tradition as a picture of the soul making its way home through the wilderness of this life, leaning on Christ. The wilderness is where we live, a hard and often barren stretch between where we began and where we are going, full of difficulty, weariness, and want. And the picture the Song gives of how to make the journey is not of striding through it in our own strength, but of leaning, leaning on the Beloved, supported by the one we love, dependent on him for the strength to go on. There is a whole spirituality in that image of leaning. We are tempted to think we must get through the wilderness of this life on our own strength, self-reliant, upright, unsupported; and the wilderness wears us down until we cannot. The Song shows another way: to lean on the Beloved, to make the journey supported by Christ, drawing our strength from him rather than from ourselves. This leaning is not weakness to be ashamed of but the very posture of faith: dependence on Christ, resting our weight on him, letting him bear us up through the hard stretches. Underneath are the everlasting arms, Scripture says; and the one who leans on those arms is upheld. My grace is sufficient for you, Christ says, for my power is made perfect in weakness. To come up from the wilderness leaning on the Beloved is to travel not by our own strength but by his, supported, upheld, dependent, and it is the way home. We are not asked to cross the wilderness alone and unaided; we are invited to lean, to make the journey resting our weight on Christ, who carries us through what we could not cross on our own.

Am I trying to get through the wilderness of this life in my own strength, self-reliant and unsupported until it wears me down, or can I take the posture the Song pictures, coming up from the wilderness leaning on my Beloved, making the journey supported by Christ, drawing my strength from him and resting my weight on the one who carries me through?

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