June 19, 2023 - Song of Solomon 1-4

The Song of Solomon is a celebration of the love between a man and a woman. It is full of descriptive statements such as “Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead” (4:1). And, of course, the portrayals often are much more intimate than that. I believe it is appropriate to see this depiction of human love as analogous to the love that Christ has for his church and his church for him. Yet, we should not miss the fact that, at the end of the day, the Song of Solomon does indeed celebrate the love between a man and a woman, a love and a relationship that has been known and approved from the beginning. Adam, thinking about Eve and describing so many other future relationships, declared, “A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). In the Proverbs, it is stated, “He who finds a wife finds a good thing” (Proverbs 18:22). Could we paraphrase this a bit? The one who finds the Lord, the Savior, finds a good thing! Bernard wrote about the love we have toward the One who has saved us.

Jesus, the very thought of thee

with sweetness fills the breast;

but sweeter far thy face to see,

and in thy presence rest.

O hope of every contrite heart,

O joy of all the meek,

to those who fall, how kind thou art!

How good to those who seek!

But what to those who find? Ah, this

nor tongue nor pen can show;

the love of Jesus, what it is,

none but his loved ones know.

Jesus, our only joy be thou,

as thou our prize wilt be;

Jesus, be thou our glory now,

and through eternity. -- Bernard of Clairvaux (12th century)