The Song of Solomon (also known as the Song of Songs) is, according to tradition, King Solomon’s celebrated exploration of the passionate and intimate nature of love. Jewish rabbis and Christian theologians have interpreted the love poem throughout the centuries as an allegory of the love between God and humanity. The poem asks an intriguing question: “Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?” (Song of Solomon 8:5a). The single thing about this person that defines her is her posture toward someone she holds very dear. Interpreted allegorically, this is a song celebrating the love of God for Israel and a picture of Jesus’ love for the Church, in addition to the passion shared between a man and a woman in marriage. It has also been interpreted as a picture of our personal communion with God, and when seen in this way, we can ask: Do we recognize ourselves coming up from the wilderness? What would we find if we leaned upon God in this way, and how would we do that?
To lean upon the beloved would be to discover a love that is tender and merciful. It takes a profound work of God to accept that God is relentlessly compassionate toward us. The Father’s nature is to show compassion. The heart of the Father is defined as being tender toward us, such as in the song of Zechariah: “Because of the tender mercy of our God, the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79)
How do we find and lean into this tenderness? Is a generous act or kind word given to you the tenderness of God in your life, or is it just a nice coincidence? Maybe you feel you don’t deserve any tenderness, so God could not be the source of these good gifts. God knows that we may choose to explain away His tenderness in our day to day lives. John Shea wrote, “There are signs of His presence. People find them in the ordinary and in the extraordinary. They are open to argument and refutation but their impact on the ones who receive them can only be welcomed.” We should allow our hearts to be honest about the impact these good gifts, small signs of God’s kindness, have on us. The encouragement found in the allegory of the Song of Songs is to look for the lover of your soul through the lens of His tender mercy toward you.
We would also find ourselves leaning upon a love that is fierce and jealous. Leaning upon her beloved, she says, “…for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave.” (Song of Solomon 8:6b). This jealousy is not the “green-eyed monster” variety, a jealousy that is paranoid and mistrusting. This jealousy is the quality of possessiveness in love that we are supposed to have. Professor Greg Garrett wrote, “Those who passionately love are passionately possessive… exclusivity is not of itself corrupt or oppressive… the term jealousy (in this sense) refers to a proper possessiveness in the setting of a wholesome relationship. Rightly experienced by healthy souls this exclusivity is part of the glory of love and further indicates the seriousness of entering into this relationship.”
That should not surprise us. The same fierce love that would come running over the mountain and the seas, the same fierce love that would wrap itself around us in the very eye of the storm is the same fierce love that sent Jesus to the Cross. He loves us with a passionate, exclusive commitment, and He would have us meet His love with a passionate, exclusive commitment to Him. How do we lean upon His fierce and jealous love? We could begin by asking Him, “Lord, what is standing in the way of my exclusive surrender to you?” Then ask for the strength to put whatever that is down.
Finally, we would encounter a love that is permanent and unquenchable. The song continues, “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm” (Song of Solomon 8:6a). The writer is pointing us to a mutual possession that is permanent. The seal that is described here is upon your heart (a deep and inward sealing) and upon your arm (a seal that is public and external). The poem provides two other images given to the permanence of God’s love: “Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.” (Song of Solomon 8:6c-7a). Here are two opposing elements: fire and water. Who wins when fire and water go up against each other? If there is enough water, the water will always win. But here the fire wins because it is no ordinary fire — it is the flame of the Lord. There is only one express mention of the Lord in Song of Solomon, and this is it.
The “flame of the Lord” is a powerful image because it takes us to two extraordinary times in Israel’s journey with the Lord. First, there was Moses before the burning bush — a fire that was unquenchable [Exodus 3:2-6]. Then there was the parting of the Red Sea — millions of gallons of water were held back while the people of God made good their escape, and the water did not extinguish the pillar of fire that led the way, giving them light by night [Exodus 13:21-22]. The Cross is the supreme symbol of the tender and merciful, fierce and jealous, permanent and unquenchable love of Jesus Christ, the love that is above all loves. The Cross is the absolute reassurance that the allegory in the Song of Songs is undeniably trustworthy: God truly is the lover of our souls.
Now let us be sure to lean on that reality with all our heart.