LOVE on
Song of Songs 2: 8-17
springing across the mountains,
leaping across the hills.
or a young stag.
See! He is standing behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattices.
10 My lover speaks and says to me,
“Arise, my friend, my beautiful one,
and come!
11 For see, the winter is past,
the rains are over and gone.
12 The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of pruning the vines has come,
and the song of the turtledove is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines, in bloom, give forth fragrance.
Arise, my friend, my beautiful one,
and come!
in the secret recesses of the cliff,
Let me see your face,
let me hear your voice,
For your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.”
that damage the vineyards; for our vineyards are in
bloom!
he feeds among the lilies.
roam, my lover,
Like a gazelle or a young stag
upon the rugged mountains.
*****************&&&********************
Historical Criticism
The
title in Hebrew is “Song of Songs” or “Songs of Solomon”, which means songs by
or about Solomon. The phrase “Song of Songs” means the greatest song according
to the Hebrew idiom for the superlative (Jenson, 2). Solomon is mentioned
several times, and many words are about “The King.” However, Solomon is the
author or not is an unsure matter. Many
people cited the language of Song of Songs to prove it was dated later than the
time of Salomon, but the evidence of language is still vague. The homogeneity of language, style, voice,
perspective, and the chorus seems to argue for a single writer (Jenson, 3).
However, there are many doubts that this book was written by one person at the
same time and in the same place. They explain this by putting the entire book
of Song of Songs for a single literary tradition, probably the ancient Near
Eastern traditions (Provan, online).
To find the key to open the book Song of Songs, the
interpreters have looked to address the passages speaking of wisdom as well as the love songs of Babylon and the ancient
Egyptians, and the wedding song (Exum, 4). The love described in Song of Songs
is understood as the wisdom literature of the Bible, and that is the wise
description of the relationship between the beloved and lover. The Bible also
talks about the wisdom and love is the gift of God to be received with the
heart of thanksgiving and praise. This realization contrasts with the views
over the years that Song of Songs is an allegory on the relationship of love
between God and Israel, or between Christ and the Church (Bergant, 125). It is
also distinguished from the modern explanation of Song of Songs as a drama
(Jenson, 4) extolling the victory of pure love of a young girl, who loves the
shepherd more gracefully than the blandishments of Solomon, who tried to get
her for his harem. Moreover, Song of Songs is as the chain of poems to describe
the love with all outbreaks, natural beauty, power, and its uniqueness, being
experienced in different moments of separation and intimacy, anxiety and
ecstasy, tension and fulfillment. Song of Songs shares the love of Israelite
cultures on the widespread view of multiple images to evoke a pleasure taken
from the natural world (Exum, 13).
It
is not clear to whom this poem is addressed.
It is difficult to know if whether the person or persons to whom these
poems are addressed to is physically present or absent at the time. The historical background maybe distinguished
from the Old Testament theme. The
underlying theme is the great love of God for the people even when they were
forgetful of him. It is noteworthy that
the Song was traditionally read at the time of Passover—because that feast
commemorated the purest expression of God’s love. This love was expressed in the promises to
Abraham and the fathers when he delivered His children out of slavery in Egypt,
and solemnly “betrothed” them to Himself at Sinai.
Literary Criticism
In
verse 8, the author uses of two strong verbs “springing across” and “leaping
across” to emphasize the strength and courage the lover of the woman has for
her. There is a metaphor in verse 9. The receiver is “my lover”; the vehicle is
“a gazelle or a young stag.” She envisioned
her lover as a gazelle or young stag because
these are two animals with beautiful
and agile characteristics, jumping over the hills and mountains as well as this metaphor
which is used to refer to the breast of the woman (Bergant, 136). There
is another synonymous parallelism, which shows that “standing” is parallel to
“gazing” and “peering”; “our wall” is synonymous to “the windows” and “the
lattices.” She was very happy because her love came to visit, but she was detained in
the place of King Solomon. So she only saw her lover through
walls and through the windows.
We understand that God often visits
us through every chance, but we only see him in
a vague way. Verses 10-13 use beautiful images of nature to describe the dialogue
between her and her lover. The winter was over; the rain was definitely
out then. She
said goodbye to the winter and welcomed the spring. She was extremely
happy. She will be no longer living in the cold winter
of darkness and sadness, but she entered a bright and beautiful spring
with flowers, the vines, the song of the turtledove, a picture of blessing and
grace (Robinson, 51). Another beautiful metaphor is “my dove”, together with
synonymous parallelism: “the clefts of the rock” parallel to “the secret
recesses of the cliff”, which shows that, she was confined
in her king Solomon, but spiritually,
as a dove in place
of rock, where no one can come, a permanent
place, not any
hand can put into it. Human beings are weak and simple as doves
(Robinson, 55), but wise and hidden in the rock is Jesus. We
belong to God and take refuge in
God. Although troubles
are going on, we still enjoy a complete
peace.
In
a
flowering vine, there are foxes which are metaphors for the enemies
of the garden, jumping over the high
wall, to get into
the garden. The small foxes that are hard to
find in a large vineyard
could destroy the young fruit. She borrowed
this reality to say that she is cared for, visited, offered advice, and praised; that is a blessing. This is a metaphor for: the
little mistakes and obstacles can damage
her life, such as the foxes’
damage that caused on the vineyard (Longman, 117). In
verse 16, she expressed her sentiments that her happiness is “My lover belongs to me and I to him.”
Even though living in the place of King
Solomon, he does
not belong to her and she does not belong to him. Between him
and her, there is no such correlation.
Her lover was a young shepherd, and he
does not look like thousands of other shepherds: “he feeds among the
lilies.” He belongs to her, and
she belongs to him. There is a parallel between the belonging
and the feeding among the lilies. She
wishes her lover
to visit, consol, encourage, and wake
her until dawn
reveals and the dark goes away. Verse 17 employs one more time the metaphor as
“gazelle or a young stag” to show that she wishes her lover to return to unite with him
(Longman, 117).
Theological Criticism
First
of all, the powerful theme is the embrace of the mutual love and sexuality
between the lover and the beloved that shows the beauty of God’s creation in
the universe. God created them and placed in them the freedom and right to love
and to be loved. As a gift of God, sexuality is expressed to show the intimacy that
cultivates a willingness to be influences by the lover or the beloved, allowing
the voice of body and feelings to be heard, and taking the risk to protect the
love and overcome struggles. As a blessing of God, this mutual love and
sexuality allow human beings to have all feelings of the world inside and
outside of theirs, such as happiness, loveliness, sadness, or loneliness. All
these feelings make their lives so beautiful and meaningful. However, God also
gives them freedom to manage the energy of love and sexuality in order for them
to recognize who they are and the limit to live fully the gift granted by God.
Secondly,
the lover and beloved in this passage are not always together, but being apart
sometimes to challenge the importance of commitment in love. They show a
willingness to accept the reality of being distant. Although the situation is challenging,
they keep looking for each other, taking any chance to meet and share the love.
This commitment is nurtured by a deep love between them that is rooted in trust
and self-independence in the providence of God. The commitment with God is the foundation for
them to continue entering a new form of relationship with one another. The positive
side of this commitment is that there is no doubt and conflict, but trust,
love, and hope for each other. Therefore, this commitment is a blessing for the
maintenance of love and the protection of relationship to develop into a deeper
commitment: marriage.
Finally,
this passage develops another theological importance which is feminism. The
voice of the woman speaks several places in the passage. She is active and
confident to describe and dialogue with her lover. She is natural to express
her love toward her lover. The image of the woman is as equal and positive as
the man in this passage. Her image is a “Return to Eden” that shows the
recovery of the pre-Fall male-female relationship (Davidsion, 8). As a creature of God, she is granted the
freedom to express her voice and the equality to have equal rights as men. In
God’s love, there is no distinction that men or women have more power, but they
receive the same gift from God. There is also no difference whether men or
women should initiate a relationship. The woman in the passage earns a mutual
relationship and love, hence God wants all women to do the same.
Recontextualization
What meanings might the passage
yield today?
In
the ancient Israel, many human expressions are expressed by words: gratitude,
anger, sorrow, suffering, trust, friendship, commitment, loyalty, hope, wisdom,
morality, repentance. Today, love is
also expressed by words about a delicate beauty as one of the most precious
gift of Lord. The voice of love of women is suggesting that love and wisdom
have strength to attract men with a delicate and mysterious charm. Women’s
gentle voice always describes a deep and charming love, the beauty and the joy
of love as well.
Similar
to the lover coming to the woman, Jesus comes to us today; he exceeds any
obstacles to make visits in person to our soul and each family. We try to ask,
are we ready to receive the visit of Jesus or not? Are we aware when the Lord
visits us? We have been through many times, many ways, and opportunities to be
visited by the Lord that we do not know. The woman immediately recognized the
voice of her lover, she rejoiced. God opens the eyes of faith to each of us to
recognize God and opens our ears of faith to hear his soft voice saying
directly to each of our souls.
For
the lover, the greatest joy is to
see his beloved face and hear her voice singing. All creatures
together with us are to sing to honor
God on the grace that God pours upon us. Jesus always sees us as the most beautiful creature on
earth. Although we do not sing like the angels, but I am sure it’s a good song
for God, because our gratitude is of those who are the children. We can sing
through thanksgiving, praising to God, and praying. God is extremely pleasant to listen to us.
God always desires to hear our prayers. When we kneel at the foot of Jesus,
that is the time we are taken to his heart, leaning on his chest, we can even
taste the taste of heaven when we are on earth.
When
God visits us, life
is like “the
vineyards in bloom.” We must be careful to preserve that
awesomeness and watch out for crimes
as small as a cigarette, a glass of wine, an unconscious
word, a foolish action. As small
foxes, small sins
can cause the great sins. When we are in God’s
visitation, we have an awakening soul
and grace. However, we may be interrupted,
interjected by foolish thoughts of our lives.
A small sin that
we see often is easy to stop us progressing. Even though people have many blessings
from the Lord’s visit, but they still can decline
because of the destruction from those “foxes.” We
cannot underestimate the small sins to tolerate
them. The woman shouted,
“Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that damage the vineyards; for
our vineyards are in bloom!”
Hermeneutical Shift
Also
it’s important to put this love song into the context of young adults today
with the concept of mutual love and sexuality.
They know that God cares for them because God created them and gave them
the ability to love and to be loved. Mutual love and sexuality are important
parts of living in the human life. Young adults are encouraged to learn,
respect, and appreciate these gifts from God. Perhaps, in this age, they do not
express their love and sexuality similarly to a specific cultural context and
characteristics that this passage was written. However, this understanding can
help them develop a healthy and mature relationship and sexuality for their
future marriage.
They
must be aware of the
time to develop a serious commitment in love. Young
people nowadays think that they can have sex anytime at anywhere.
There is a problem behind the attitude that sexual
intercourse is natural even when they are not in love.
Therefore, they do not cherish the lover and keep the commitment. This
passage is a timely warning for those who do
not timely respond to exploration steps of affection to
their spouse to keep a faithful commitment. The marital love is for spouses. When in love,
the life of this person is considered
as a separate vineyard of the other. Both are not goods
sold outside the
open market. A small
mistake can still cause a serious problem to a
healthy and beautiful relationship (2:15).
Both need to watch
out “little foxes” that have enough power to destroy the flowers during the
early stage of the marriage.
Love is just priceless.
No one who is
exempt from small things that can extinguish
the flame of love, but the real
love is rooted in a faithful
commitment that is never damaged.
Bibliography
Bergant,
Dianne. Israel’s Wisdom Literature. Fortress Press, 2000.
Burrowes, George. A Commentary on the
Song of Solomon. William S. Martien, 1853.
Exum, J. Cheryl. Song of Songs: a
Commentary. Westminster John Knox Press, 2005.
Jenson, Robert W. Song of Songs.
Westminster John Knox Press, 2005.
Longman, Tremper. Song of Songs.
Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2001.
Provan, Iain. Ecclesiastes, Song of
Songs. Zondervan, 2011.
http://books.google.com/books?id=O9jNG-1nFcUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=A+commentary+on+the+Song+of+Songs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=inlAT578D9Tjggful_mGCA&ved=0CFYQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=A%20commentary%20on%20the%20Song%20of%20Songs&f=false
Robinson, Thomas. Homiletical Commentary
on the Song of Solomon. Richard D. Dickinson, 1877.
Davidsion, Richard M. “Theology of
Sexuality in the Song of Songs: Return to Eden”. Andrews University Seminary Studies 27, No. 1 (1989): 1-19
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