A Series on Song of Songs - #3
Speaker Notes
Song of Songs 2:1-9 Is Love Real?
She
2 I am a rose of Sharon,
a lily of the valleys.
He
2 Like a lily among thorns
is my darling among the young women.
She
3 Like an apple[c] tree among the trees of the forest
is my beloved among the young men.
I delight to sit in his shade,
and his fruit is sweet to my taste.
4 Let him lead me to the banquet hall,
and let his banner over me be love.
5 Strengthen me with raisins,
refresh me with apples,
for I am faint with love.
6 His left arm is under my head,
and his right arm embraces me.
7 Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you
by the gazelles and by the does of the field:
Do not arouse or awaken love
until it so desires.
8 Listen! My beloved!
Look! Here he comes,
leaping across 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 through the windows,
peering through the lattice.
“The Brothers Karamazov” by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1880:
… Brother, in these past two months I’ve sensed a new man in me, a new man has arisen in me! He was shut up inside me, but if it weren’t for this thunderbolt, he never would have appeared. Frightening! What do I care if I spend twenty years pounding out iron ore in the mines, I’m not afraid of that at all, but I’m afraid of something else now: that this risen man not depart from me!
…
It’s for the ‘wee one’ that I will go. Because everyone is guilty for everyone else. For all the ‘wee ones,’ because there are little children and big children. All people are ‘wee ones.’ And I’ll go for all of them, because there must be someone who will go for all of them. I didn’t kill father, but I must go. I accept! All of this came to me here … within these peeling walls, And there are many, there are hundreds of them, underground, with hammers in their hands. Oh, yes, we’ll be in chains, and there will be no freedom, but then, in our great grief, we will arise once more into joy, without which it’s not possible for man to live, or for God to be, for God gives joy, it’s his prerogative, a great one … Lord, let man dissolve in Prayer!
“On Ascetical Life” by Saint Isaac of Nineveh, 1989:
8. A person in who grace abounds loves righteousness and so rejects the fear of death. The soul of such a person finds many reasons why one should endure afflictions because of the fear of God. Those things which are harmful for the body and which are reluctantly sustained by nature and consequently cause pain are considered as nothing when compared with what is awaited. The person’s mind is fully persuaded that no one can know truth without gaining experience of suffering; also that God provides very carefully for man, so that he is not abandoned to chance. Those especially who have gone out in search of Him and who have borne suffering for his sake see this clearly, in colors as it were. When, however, lack of faith is planted in our heart, all of these things are experienced as contradictions and not for the sake of testing. The Taunts that trust in God does not “pay off” and that God is not so concerned for you as He is thought to be, which are frequently buzzed by those who lie in wait and shoot their arrows from ambush - these taunts are not worthy of response.
Song of Songs 2:10-13
10 My beloved spoke and said to me,
“Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, come with me.
11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me.”
The Lorica of Saint Patrick (ca. 377):
…
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ in breadth, Christ in length, Christ in height,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation
Salvation is of the Lord
Salvation is of the Lord
Salvation is of Christ
May Thy salvation Oh Lord be ever with us.
David is a Theologian and Ethicist.