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Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies John 11:25 |
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| Archived Manna: | |
Dear
Friend,
If you do not already have a habit of gathering daily manna the first thing in the morning (we can look at the example given to us in Exodus 16 and find the pattern for make it a habit. Establish your life and your schedule to allow you the necessary time to do your daily collection first thing every morning to give you the strength to make it through the day. And remember that today’s manna will not be sufficient for tomorrow; tomorrow’s manna must be collected tomorrow morning. Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Today's Passage : Today'sPassage: solomon(1) BibleVerse:Song of Solomon 2:1-7, 10-15 "Im the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys. The Beloved Like a lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters. The Shulamite Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods, So is my beloved among the sons. I sat down in his shade with great delight, And his fruit was sweet to my taste. The Shulamite to the Daughters of Jerusalem He brought me to the banqueting house, And his banner over me was love. Sustain me with cakes of raisins, Refresh me with apples, For I am lovesick. His left hand is under my head, And his right hand embraces me. I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, By the gazelles or by the does of the field, Do not stir up nor awaken love until it pleases. long medieval angel The Beloved’s Request - The Shulamite My beloved spoke, and said to me: “Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away. For lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come, And the voice of the turtledove Is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth her green figs, And the vines with the tender grapes Smell so delicious. Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away! “O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, In the secret places of the cliff, Let me see your face, Let me hear your voice; For your voice is sweet, And your face is lovely.” Her Brothers Catch us the foxes, The little foxes that spoil the vines, For our vines have tender grapes. " Message:
Today, while we are studying the historical Solomon in 1 Kings, we divert to look at another of Solomon’s written works. The Song of Solomon is unlike his other credited writings or, for that matter, anything else one can find or would expect to find in the Bible. It is a dramatic love poem, spoken by three voices: a young unmarried woman, probably in her mid-teens, who works in the fields; a young handsome prince; and, occasionally, a chorus (somewhat akin to the chorus of a Greek drama) that plays different roles. The tone is saturated with naive romanticism and a subtle physicality. There is even some gently erotic double-entendre, although mild by today's standards. It might be rated “PG-13”.
Shulamite Bride
The plot is not well-developed, but one gets a general impression of a powerful prince seeing a beautiful girl in the field. They fall in love, and must overcome obstacles to be married. But Song of Solomon is primarily lyrical, not dramatic: a hymn to the beauty and goodness of physical love, leading to and fulfilled within marriage.
Remembering when this was written — around 950 B.C. — the skill and subtlety of the poet are remarkable. The delicate nuance with which the poet evokes intense sensuous awareness, while avoiding any crudity, clearly shows through the translation.
Aside from the flood of amorous metaphor and imagery, there is thematic material. In the passage above, we see two comments on when a woman should give herself to love. A maiden should not awaken love “until it pleases”; when a girl is not in love or not ready for love, she should guard her innocence and her heart. When the time comes, however — when “the flowers appear on the earth and the time of singing has come” — she should not hesitate. (Poetry readers might remember Robert Herrick's famous line: “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, which inspired the Waterhouse painting above.)
The last paragraph is slightly humorous today; the brothers are on the watch for the “little foxes that steal grapes”, i.e., men who would falsely seduce their sister. They threaten any man who might court her, one obstacle which true love will overcome.
The girl is a Shulamite, and is meant to evoke Abishag, the most beautiful woman in Palestine. (1 Kings 1:1-4)
Theologically, the poem is important to counteract the prudishness that is so often found among Christians. We have said several times that everyone has parts of the Bible that they do not want to hear, and this is the part that Victorians would not have wanted to hear. The sensual enjoyment of physical love with one's spouse is God's will for us.
Many scholars have taken the book as a metaphor of God's love for Israel; this seems forced and far-fetched, considering the undeniable sensuousness of the metaphor, e.g., “Your two breasts are like two fawns,/ Twins of a gazelle,/ Which feed among the lilies.”
Meditation : Prayer : Now to him who by his power within us is able to do far more than we ever dare to ask or imagine — to him be glory in the Church through Jesus Christ for ever and ever, Amen. |
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