{"id":4271,"date":"2009-02-14T06:20:59","date_gmt":"2009-02-14T06:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2009\/02\/valentines-day-and-the-song-of.html"},"modified":"2009-02-14T06:20:59","modified_gmt":"2009-02-14T06:20:59","slug":"valentines-day-and-the-song-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2009\/02\/valentines-day-and-the-song-of.html","title":{"rendered":"Valentine’s Day and the Song of Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Song of
\nSolomon<\/b> is a love song between lovers and for lovers. Perhaps it was a
\nplay or designed to be dramatically played before others. Perhaps it
\nwas designed for the king’s courtiers as entertainment. Perhaps it is a
\nrecord of poems between two lovers. However we explain its original
\ncontext, its rhetoric and poetry evoke even to this day what love is. <\/p>\n

I thought I’d record some initial suggestions today about what love is like from this great Song of Songs.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First, love leads lovers to poetic expression. Simply saying “I love
\nyou” isn’t always enough — sometimes the poetic fire flashes and the
\nlover must erupt into evocative language: “Tell me, my soul’s beloved,
\nwhere do you graze?” (1:7) Now she could have asked “What is your
\naddress?” No, she evokes his earthy vocation along with his sexual
\nenergy and we are left wondering what she means. That’s poetry.<\/p>\n

Second, love leads lovers to delight in one another. As I read the
\nSong I am continually impressed with their delight in one another —
\nthey’ve got something between them no one else knows and something no
\none else can share. Their eyes are attached; their hearts yearn for and
\nknow one another; what they share is theirs and theirs alone. They
\nbring one another deep pleasures and joys.<\/p>\n

Third, love leads lovers to playfulness with one another. If you get
\ntoo serious and too reverent with the Song of Songs you’ll ruin it —
\nit records delightful linguistic play between two lovers. I love the
\nquestion of 1:7 because of the response it gets in 1:8 — and I tend to
\nthink the response is said by the women of Jerusalem — they
\nwomen\/chorus say what is obvious: “You want to know where your man will
\nbe at midday? Well, think about it Ms. Beautiful. He’s a shepherd.
\nHe’ll be where the sheep are.” I think this is playful; it’s not
\ndirections for a lost lover.<\/p>\n

Fourth, love leads lovers to trustful words. She sticks her neck
\nout; he does too. The choir participates in the trusting relationship.
\nThey say things to one another that are vulnerable, risky, and
\nheart-felt — for words like this to work the listener must not only
\ndelight in such words, but the listener must be ready to come back with
\nwords as delightfully trustful and vulnerable.<\/p>\n

And what to do if you and your lover are not right now capable of
\nthis?<\/p>\n

I suggest you ask yourself these questions: Does your love for your
\nloved one evoke imagination of that person’s presence? Does your love
\ncreate dialogues that spar in degrees of admiration? Do you wait for
\nlove to mature? Do you see your love as delightful?<\/p>\n

1. The evocative power of imagination. This woman is intoxicated
\nwith her love for her shepherd-lover. His absence leads her to dream
\nabout him and to imagine his embraces. She imagines him as myrrh and
\nhenna blossoms and she imagines lying with him in a verdant wooded
\nlocation, and she imagines herself as a rose and lily — and his love
\nas sweet fruit. We are unsure when we read this section if the woman is
\nin the presence of the man or if she only imagines him.<\/p>\n

2. The need for admiration dialogues: they banter back and forth
\nbetween themselves almost vying for who can say the nicest line or
\ncreate the most poetic expression for the other. “Look at you!,” he
\nsays, “Your eyes are doves.” She relishes this and echoes back, “Look
\nat you! … our bed is verdant.”<\/p>\n

3. The importance of letting love happen: her words to the daughters
\nof Jerusalem are not strict moralistic teaching so much as profound
\nwisdom. Love comes; you can’t control that, but you should wait for it,
\nnurture it, be ready, but don’t rush it. (So I read 2:7.)<\/p>\n

4. Most importantly, we watch — a bit like voyeurs — as this
\ncouple tenderly, emotively, and erotically toys with one another in
\nloving delight of the person and body of the other.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Song of Solomon is a love song between lovers and for lovers. Perhaps it was a play or designed to be dramatically played before others. Perhaps it was designed for the king’s courtiers as entertainment. Perhaps it is a record of poems between two lovers. 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