Behold My Beloved
Today’s scripture selection: Song of Solomon 1-2
Key verse: Song of Solomon 2:8
“The voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.”
According to tradition and Scripture – King Solomon wrote over a thousand songs (see First Kings 4:32) and spoke thousands of parables. The Song of Solomon or the “Song of Songs” is one that has long been studied. Some love it – some think it’s too racy to be in the Bible. You can decide that one for yourself.
But I see it in a lovely parable; a celebration of marriage as it should be; and a reflection of God’s love for us.
One particularly interesting interpretation of the Song says it is a sort of “Cinderella” story – about a poor girl; a worker in the vineyards. Her work forces her into the fields where she meets a young shepherd. It’s love at first sight, but as these stories go – he must leave – promising one day to return. One day the word comes that King Solomon is arriving in the fields and wants to see the girl. You guessed it – the shepherd boy has returned as a king – and takes his “first love” home with him.
Whatever you think of such interpretations; they open the mind – and the heart – to the possibility of pondering just how deeply God loves us and how human love is (or at least should be) a reflection of divine love.
So I invite you to turn to this love poem of the Bible. As oriental poetry goes, it’s really pretty tame.
And it provides us with a lovely picture – of true love – human and divine.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank you for the depth of your love. AMEN.
