Listen! My lover! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills. My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Look! There he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.
My lover spoke and said to me, "Arise, my darling, my beautiful one, and come with me. See! The winter is past; the rains are over and gone. Flowers appear on the earth; the season of singing has come, the cooing of doves is heard in our land.
The fig tree forms its early fruit; the blossoming vines spread their fragrance. Arise, come, my darling; my beautiful one, come with me."
(Lover)
My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places on the mountainside, show me your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.
(Beloved) My lover is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies. Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn, my lover, and be like a gazelle or like a young stag on the rugged hills.
In the year AD 90, the council of rabbis convenes at Jamnia. Jerusalem is in ruins, devastated around them, so the council has to meet in the little village of Jamnia, miles to the east of Jerusalem; Jews are no longer allowed even to go near the once-great city. The rabbis are convening to make decisions about which, of all the texts of their faith, will be included in the canon. They come to the Song of Songs. Discussion is heated, often loud and angry. The Song of Songs is pornography, it’s about sex, and even reading it might be considered breaking religious law. As well, nowhere is Yahweh mentioned, in the entire book. Never mind that Solomon was a great king, this is too much.
One rabbi leaps into the discussion, insisting that since there is no sacred history, no ethics or morals, the book should never be included, it is too dangerous. But a senior rabbi defends the book, for if it is about love, then it is about God. Surely the relationship between two lovers is something given by God.
Days and days of debate, many different texts examined, always the rabbis come back to this book. In the end, the Song of Solomon becomes part of holy Hebrew scripture.
In less than two hundred years after this council, Rabbi Akiba would say that "all the ages are not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel." In the Christian church, Song of Solomon was at the top of the list for eight hundred years, and the subject of uncountable commentaries.
It is true that God's name is never mentioned; there are no sacred principles or history. So why is the Song of Songs included? Remember what it was like? Remember when you could pick out the voice of the one you loved, even in a room full of people? Remember when you heard that voice on the other end of the phone and your heart leapt? Remember lying awake at night wondering if you were imagining things, afraid you might be wrong? Remember sitting with daisies pulling out the petals “He loves me, he loves me not.”???
Listen to the text again, because it is two voices, the lover and the beloved.
(Read text)
I couldn’t help thinking of the song from “My Fair Lady” - the young man who suddenly finds himself smitten by Eliza. He sings “I have often walked down this street before, but the pavement always stayed beneath my feet before. All at once am I several stories high, knowing I’m on the street where you live.” Did you ever do that? Walk down the street where you knew the object of your affection lived, just in case you might catch a glimpse?
It has been suggested, in an effort to quash any suggestion of sex in the Bible, an effort to take the ‘raciness’ out of it, that this text is really a metaphor for the love of God for us. No, I think not. - and that does a disservice to the passage. It was put in for a reason.
In the United Church, the introduction to our wedding service says “This is a holy place; it is holy because love is here, and wherever love is, God is there also.” So the Song of Solomon, while it doesn’t mention God outright, is a love poem, an expression of profound sensuality and mutual love between two people, and where love is, God is there.
My colleague in Owen Sound, David Shearman says “the passage is an intimate conversation between two lovers, and it is as if we are eavesdropping on a passionate duet which warms not only the two participants in the conversation, but us, as well.”
Sometimes we forget that God has created us as people who seek and need love. The creation story of Adam and Eve in Eden is a story of human need for love. One of the driving forces in our lives is to find a person, that special person who will share our hopes, dreams and lives. We seek someone who will understand when we are down, when we fail, and will hold us in their arms when nothing else will give us comfort.
Rev. Isabelle Davis comments “The Church too often either fails to acknowledge this aspect of who we are, or makes us feel guilty about our sexuality, the place most people learn about love is in the media. We seek out music that tells of love, we watch movies that are love stories, we read books about love. And too often, it has been made into casual sexual encounters, or something to be taken lightly. Very seldom this gift of love, this passionate love, is seen as a gift from God.”
The Song of Solomon is love poetry, celebrating the relationship of lovers in creation, reminding us of God’s role in creating. The imagery of the garden recalls the creation of the garden of Eden; it recalls the creation of man, or “ish” and “‘ishsha”, woman - something which took place while the man was asleep. Together they reflect the image of God.
There is a very clear social commentary here. In a world in which sexuality is reduced to a lowest common denominator, where children are used and exploited, where women are treated as less than valuable - here is a song of praise to all of humanity.
This is the very basis and foundation of the human experience, and that’s why it is found in Scripture. German theologian Dorothee Solle suggests that the openness and intimacy of the relationship found in this passage is not just between two lovers, whether they are human or divine, but that it opens our hearts and minds to other people; the world. And in that world we find we have far more solidarity with each other than we could ever imagine. She says that in this song, “nature, animals, men and women, partake of the joy, the abundance, the fullness of life.” But it does not stop there - because as we learn to live in joy in our mutual love, that love spreads and ripples around us, so others become part of the joy of creation. Love is not diminished, but increased. Loving and being loved is a transformative experience that leads us into praise of the One who makes joy possible, and helps us to develop our capacities for love. May it be so.
Sources:
1. Sermon “The Duet”, by Rev. David Shearman, Owen Sound ON.
2. Sermon “An Old-Fashioned Love Song”, by Rev. Isabelle Davis
3. Sermon “The Invitation” by Rev. Thomas Hall.
4. Dorothee Solle “To Work and to Love: A Theology of Creation”, Philadelphia, Fortress Press, 1984, 150.
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