Tell me, you whom I love, where you graze your flock and where you rest your sheep at midday. Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your friends? – Song of Songs 1:7

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 16, 2026): Song of Songs 1

I pumped gas at a full-service station when I was in High School. I worked a couple of nights a week and then a full shift on Saturday. I remember one Saturday, a girl I knew came to see me. I should make it clear that we were just friends, and she was a couple of years younger than I was, but looked older than her chronological age. I don’t know what she was doing in the area, but she came to the service station with her youngest sibling, a few-month-old brother entrusted to her care. She sat in a chair in the customer waiting area while I performed my duties, and we spoke as I worked. She didn’t stay long, and I don’t remember what we talked about. What I do remember about that day is one of my customers congratulating me on my strong, healthy-looking son. My friend smiled and said, “Thank you,” and the customer left. I didn’t get a chance to set the customer straight, and my friend seemed to think that the idea that her brother was our son was the most hilarious thing she had ever heard. This was the only time I remember her ever coming to see me at work. She was probably just looking for a way to pass the time.

Song of Songs is a dialogue between a bride and groom and their friends. Some of the words are spoken to each other, while other portions of this play are spoken directly to the audience or to the onlookers of this relationship. Traditionally, Solomon has been considered the groom, while the bride has remained anonymous; however, some have argued that Abishag, the woman who slept with King David to keep him warm late in his life, may be the woman in this drama.

Here, the woman asks where her beloved keeps his flocks. She identifies with Solomon not as a king but as a shepherd, the business of his grandfather. She intends to tell her beloved that who he is does not factor into her love. She would love him if he were merely someone involved in the family business.

However, she also makes it clear that she is not after any shepherd, or by extension, any King. The only one she wants is her beloved. Similarly, it is nice to believe that my friend didn’t want to talk to anybody; she came to the service station knowing that I would be there. The bride in our story refers to “the veiled women” who might approach the flocks of his friends. They were working women, prostitutes, looking to connect with anyone who had the funds to afford them. But this woman wants to be with no one but her beloved. She only wants to spend time with him, and no one else, even if she has to take care of the sheep to find that time with her beloved.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Song of Songs 2