A Valentine Vision

The Song of Songs

The poem begins, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth.” It’s a wild and randy story. The girl’s lover is a king with sixty wives and eighty concubines. The girl, naturally, is enraptured by the king’s attention. He is equally enthralled with her. Here's how he sees her:

How beautiful you are my treasure
Oh, how beautiful
Your eyes behind your veil are dancing coals.
Your hair cascades in leaping ebony waves.
Your teeth are gleaming white
Your lips are scarlet ribbons
Your neck is elegant beyond words
Your breasts are alive and exquisitely formed
Your mound holds me the night long
All beautiful you are my precious one
There is no flaw in you.
You have stolen my heart
Stolen it with one glance.

A stone-hearted objective commentator standing outside the story could read this list and observe that most men in love would be equally rapturous about their love interest. There’s nothing special here. But once you step into the story, this rapture is breathtaking and “accurate.”

There is some action in the poem, though the plot is far from clear. Mostly, it is a celebration of a starry-eyed, lusty romance. The poem ends with the king inviting her to talk to him. He wants to hear her voice. She responds by inviting him to roam the landscape of her body.

What are the lessons of this gently erotic love poem buried in the heart of the Bible?

The first lesson of this poem is God’s involvement with all of life–including sex. Many religious traditions teach that humans can reach the very highest spiritual development only after transcending sexual desire and enjoyment. However, the Bible pictures married sexual intimacy as the very pinnacle of God’s creative intention. Genesis one ends with Adam and Eve entering Sabbath naked with no obligations for 24 hours. Genesis two ends with Adam and Eve becoming one flesh.

We do not achieve spiritual nobility by scorning our sexuality. Rather we live holy lives by focusing our sexuality in appropriate ways.

Second lesson: Human hunger for God is a mirror of divine hunger for humanity. The Shulamite girl longs for the King’s kisses. He delights in her beauty. It is a story of mutual romance. So God’s story cannot be told without us–without his people. God pictures himself as a lover–actively seeking to win the heart of his beloved. What we do affects God. When we do right, it gladdens his heart. When we worship, it brings him joy.

A third lesson: “I am dark but beautiful.” Song of Songs 1:5.

In the Shulamite’s world, a tan was a mark of poverty and low social standing. She had been forced by her family to work as a shepherd. She spent months outdoors in the intense Palestine sun. She was dark–in her eyes–ugly. Now, in the glow of romance, she sees herself through her lover’s eyes. She's beautiful.

If she persisted in seeing herself as undesirable she would have been casting aspersions on the judgment of her lover. He has a harem full of women. He is not desperate or blind or stupid. He would not choose as his lover an unworthy woman. So whatever the color of her skin or the opinions of her brothers or the women in the market place, now as the darling of the king, she sees herself as beautiful, desirable, worthy.

So with us. Jesus loved us so much he would rather die than live without us. That’s romance. He has utterly romantic plans of placing you on his throne and naming you with his name. (Rev. 22) We denigrate Jesus’ judgment if we hate or berate ourselves.

Don’t spend time putting yourself down. To paraphrase Ellen White: “God wanted you else he would not have sent his son on such an expensive errand to redeem you.” (D.A. 668) There is something special about you that holds Jesus’ attention. Something that happens in the chemistry between you and Jesus that happens ONLY between you and him.

The message of Song of Songs is: God is a lover. And you are his beloved. He filters his vision with the lenses of romance, magnifying your loveliness. He loves you because he sees something irreplaceably special about you. Honor his vision. Look through his eyes.