Wednesday, April 13, 2016

LOVE

LOVE on Song of Songs 2: 8-17

8 The sound of my lover! here he comes*
springing across the mountains,
leaping across the hills.
9 My lover is like a gazelle*
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!
14 My dove in the clefts of the rock,*
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.”
15 Catch us the foxes,* the little foxes
that damage the vineyards; for our vineyards are in bloom!
16e  My lover belongs to me and I to him;
he feeds among the lilies.
17f  Until the day grows cool* and the shadows flee,
roam, my lover,
Like a gazelle or a young stag
upon the rugged mountains.


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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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