Song of Solomon 2:8-13

Song of Solomon 2:8-13

⁸ The voice of my beloved!

Look, he comes,

leaping upon the mountains,

bounding over the hills.
⁹ My beloved is like a gazelle
or a young stag.

Look, there he stands

behind our wall,
gazing in at the windows,
looking through the lattice.
¹⁰ My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away;
¹¹ for now the winter is past,
the rain is over and gone.
¹² The flowers appear on the earth;
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
¹³ The fig tree puts forth its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my fair one,
and come away.

The theme of Song of Solomon 2:8-13, which is part of a larger section that extends to verse 17, is an exchange between two lovers. The Song itself is a reminder of the power of sexual desire. It can give life or death. It can heal and destroy.

Scott Peck, in The Road Less Traveled, suggests that sex motivates us consciously or unconsciously when we fall in love. If the relationship continues long enough, we will fall out of love. Sexual love needs time to mature into real love as a couple works at building an enduring relationship. Otherwise, all sexual attractions end in disappointments and disaster.

The Song is a reminder of the human fear of isolation, aloneness, and separation that forms the foundation of much our anxiety. We long for an encounter that will address our anxiety. Yet, we avoid a genuine encounter when lose ourselves in work, pleasing others, popularity, and wealth. We long for an encounter with something greater than ourselves. Yet, we focus upon and cling to finite things. Our longing may result in the false encounters created by addiction to drugs, alcohol, sexuality, or religion. We might even submerge our individual longing into those of the crowd and identify with its customs and beliefs. Such attempts to overcome our fear of aloneness are futile because they seek fulfillment in finite things. As important and valuable as finitude is, it derives its meaning from a connection from the Infinite and Eternal. The finite can only be a partial answer to the longings of the human heart. It ought not to surprise us that we find a hint of the answer to our longing for an encounter in love.[1]

This Song is but one of multiple similar songs within the collection that speaks of love between a man and a woman. In this case, her boyfriend is approaching her home. He has nobility, vigor, and gracefulness. He seems wary of coming too close. The instinct that the Song concerns romantic love and the divine reflection of that love is an important one. The Song is an ode to erotic love that describes what could have been, and can be again. The passionate longings of its characters give us important insights into the nature of human desire and the nature of God's desire for us. The Song does not mention the name of God, a characteristic it shares with Esther. Yet, as part of the canon, we as readers find hints of the divine. God does not simply tolerate us - weak and fallible creatures that we are. Instead, God has a passion for each one of us and a hunger to be intimately involved with us. The references to vineyards and gardens in the Song may refer back to the Garden of Eden. That story did not end happily. It ended with alienation and separation.

This Song suggests restoration of the intimacy that existed there, between man and woman and between humanity and God.[2] At the same time, the collection of songs expresses the elusiveness of love, the blessedness of beauty, the importance of devotion, and that love is lasting until death. In the Song of Solomon, we find love woven with play, imagination, and delight — a nudity that is both exalted and desired. Moreover, there is no guilt found anywhere regarding the body or sexual desire. Considering this song invites us to consider the good gift of God that sex is. As a gift from God, this little Song invites us honor our sexuality. It hints at the discipline we need as we experience sexual desire. It hints at the genuinely enjoyable nature of our sexuality. It suggests that our desires are strong enough that they may occur outside of a committed relationship. When we consider the rest of Scripture, we need to remember that the happiness of a home outweighs the momentary nature of sexual desire. We need to note the close connection between God and Eros. This Song stands as a long description of the rapture, the unquenchable yearning and the restless willingness and readiness, with which both partners in the covenant hasten towards an encounter. With this covenant in view, man and woman must hasten toward an encounter in spite of any hindrance and restriction.[3]

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[1] Eric Fromm, The Art of Loving, 78

[2] Phyllis Trible has written an important modern commentary on the Song of Solomon. Entitled “A Love Story Gone Awry” (in God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality, Fortress Press, 1978).

[3] Church Dogmatics, III.1 [41.3] 313-5.