Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth— for your love is more delightful than wine. – Song of Songs 1:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (September 15, 2016): Song of Songs 1

There is a scene in the Television dramedy “M*A*S*H” where Father Mulcahy enters into the recovery area of the hospital to visit the wounded lying on the cots there. On this occasion he finds one soldier lying on his bed reading the Bible. He praises the man for finding comfort in the pages of the “Good Book” and then takes the Bible from him to see what it is that the soldier was reading. He finds the Bible opened to a passage in the “Song of Songs” (or Song of Solomon as the book has traditionally been known.) Embarrassed, the Father returns the Bible to the soldier and then encourages him to find something “less strenuous” to read.

The interchange between Father Mulcahy and the soldier sums up the church’s uneasy relationship with Solomon’s love drama. The Book itself is set out as a poetic give and take between Solomon and his young Shulamite bride as they admire the one that they love. The language is frank and open. A colleague of mine, one who I worked with for many years, struggled with such a sex-ridden poem’s inclusion in the Bible. In her mind, Solomon’s Song should have been removed immediately from the Holy text. But then again, the poem was not necessarily written for her – or, indeed, for our Western culture. This poem is an Eastern style love drama, and it needs to be understood as such.

Probably the best description of the Song of Songs was written by Pastor and Theologian Ray Stedman. I can’t improve on his words, so here they are.

Now if the book of Job is the cry of the spirit, and Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes the cry of the soul, the Song of Solomon is preeminently the cry of the body in its essential yearning. And what is the essential yearning of the body? For love. Therefore, the theme of this book is love. It is an eastern love song, an oriental love poem, and there is no use denying that. It is frankly and fully that. It is a revelation of all that was intended in the divinely given function that we call sex. It is sex as God intended sex to be, involving not just a physical activity, but the whole nature of man (Ray Stedman).

The Christian Church has accepted the Song of Songs since the beginning of the Christian Church. But over time we did start to see it as an analogy of the relationship between Jesus and the Church. The church, no matter what you might think about it, is the Bride of Christ. And that should be a warning both for those who labor inside of her, and her critics, who are standing on the outside. The Christian Church has, and always will have, a special relationship with the Creator of the Universe. She must be kept pure and full of love – because the love that is found in her should be more delightful than wine.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Song of Songs 2