Context No. 2781 of 4322 · Song of Solomon

Song of Solomon 2:1-17: in context

1I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. 2As a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. 3As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, his fruit was sweet to my taste. 4He brought me to the banquet hall. His banner over me is love. 5Strengthen me with raisins, refresh me with apples; for I am faint with love. 6His left hand is under my head. His right hand embraces me. 7I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, or by the hinds of the field, that you not stir up, nor awaken love, until it so desires. 8The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills. 9My beloved is like a roe or a young deer. Behold, he stands behind our wall! He looks in at the windows. He glances through the lattice. 10My beloved spoke, and said to me, “Rise up, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. 11For behold, the winter is past. The rain is over and gone. 12The flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 13The fig tree ripens her green figs. The vines are in blossom. They give out their fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.” 14My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places of the mountainside, let me see your face. Let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet and your face is lovely. 15Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that plunder the vineyards; for our vineyards are in blossom. 16My beloved is mine, and I am his. He browses among the lilies. 17Until the day is cool, and the shadows flee away, turn, my beloved, and be like a roe or a young deer on the mountains of Bether.

The Song of Songs celebrates love between the bride and her beloved in unembarrassed poetry. I am a rose of Sharon; my beloved is an apple tree among the trees of the wood; his banner over me is love; I am faint with love. He calls to her across the hills: rise up, my love, my beautiful one, for the winter is past, the flowers appear, the time of singing has come. And the refrain that anchors it all: my beloved is mine, and I am his.

First of all this book honors married love as good, a gift woven into creation, tender and sensual and unashamed. The church has long also heard in it the love between God and his people, Christ and the soul. Both readings turn on the same wonder, a belonging that runs both ways: I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine. And the refrain threaded through, do not awaken love before it desires, respects love enough not to force or rush it.

Do I honor love, whether human or divine, enough to receive it as a gift rather than grab at it before its time?

Sources

Song of Songs 2:16: "My beloved is mine, and I am his. He browses among the lilies."
Song of Songs 8:7: "Many waters can't quench love, neither can floods drown it."
Ephesians 5:32: "This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and of the assembly."