Beloved
2I was asleep, but my heart was awake.
It is the voice of my beloved who knocks:
“Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled;
for my head is filled with dew,
and my hair with the dampness of the night.”
3I have taken off my robe. Indeed, must I put it on?
I have washed my feet. Indeed, must I soil them?
4My beloved thrust his hand in through the latch opening.
My heart pounded for him.
5I rose up to open for my beloved.
My hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with liquid myrrh,
on the handles of the lock.
6I opened to my beloved;
but my beloved left, and had gone away.
My heart went out when he spoke.
I looked for him, but I didn’t find him.
I called him, but he didn’t answer.
7The watchmen who go about the city found me.
They beat me.
They bruised me.
The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.
8I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem,
If you find my beloved,
that you tell him that I am faint with love.
Friends
9How is your beloved better than another beloved,
you fairest among women?
How is your beloved better than another beloved,
that you do so adjure us?
Beloved
10My beloved is white and ruddy.
The best among ten thousand.
11His head is like the purest gold.
His hair is bushy, black as a raven.
12His eyes are like doves beside the water brooks,
washed with milk, mounted like jewels.
13His cheeks are like a bed of spices with towers of perfumes.
His lips are like lilies, dropping liquid myrrh.
14His hands are like rings of gold set with beryl.
His body is like ivory work overlaid with sapphires.
15His legs are like pillars of marble set on sockets of fine gold.
His appearance is like Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
16His mouth is sweetness;
yes, he is altogether lovely.
This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
daughters of Jerusalem.
Friends
1Where has your beloved gone, you fairest among women?
Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?
Beloved
2My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to pasture his flock in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
3I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.
He browses among the lilies.
This passage presents a very similar story to that of chapter 3. The maiden is again pictured in her bed trying to sleep, but this time she is awakened by her lover knocking at the door. The woman seems to either be making an excuse or teasing her beloved who tries to unlatch the door. The woman’s heart pounds at the thought of her beloved, and so she runs to open the door, but just as soon as she opens the door her beloved is gone! So she leaves her room searching again in her pajamas, calling and searching the streets. She is again spotted by the watchman, but this time instead of helping her with her search, they beat and strip her. She tells the daughters of Jerusalem to tell him she is weak with love and then goes on to tell them what she finds so special about him, including some very interesting descriptions. How would you like to have eyes that “sparkle like doves?” Finally at the beginning of chapter 6, she finds him in his garden.
As you have probably already figured out, the Song carries the theme of seeking and finding. The woman seems to always be seeking out her beloved. It is often in the Song that the woman finds her beloved, only to have to seek him again.
There are two possible meanings for this text I would like to explore with you. The first pictures God as the male figure. Sometimes God is difficult to find. Sometimes when we feel like we need God the most, he seems the furthest away. And while we may not like the sound of this, it is often in these times of intentional searching that our faith is strengthened and our passion is increased for God. Saint Teresa of Avila claimed that she too felt this pain in her prayer life when she felt God was absent.
The other interpretation pictures God as the woman and humanity as the beloved. The passion and determination of the woman to find her beloved highlights the passion of God’s love to find humanity. A love that would even endure being stripped, beaten, and bruised, just for the chance of finding the beloved.