You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride; you have stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. – Song of Songs 4:9

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 19, 2026): Song of Songs 4

They are called “Consanguinity Laws,” the regulations that govern how close a relative you are allowed to marry. Most societies and cultures have either laws or taboos about marrying a close relative. And with good reason. The problem is that marrying someone with a very similar gene pool can have adverse effects on health. Recessive traits are more likely to become dominant in a child whose parents share similar genetic backgrounds. Couples who are related to each other are recommended to have genetic counselling to explore some of the problems that such a union might produce.

As a result, many cultures have incorporated regulations concerning such marriages into their laws. In the United States, it is the individual States that enact these laws. As a result, they vary from state to state. Marrying close relatives, such as siblings, parents, or children, is widely prohibited. The variance arises with the union of first cousins. In some states, such as California or New York, marrying a first cousin is legal, while in states like Virginia and Tennessee, such unions are prohibited. In Canada, marriage between first cousins is legal, although it is not generally culturally accepted.

I have mentioned elsewhere in this blog that there has been some inbreeding in my family. My paternal grandparents shared the same surname. When they married, my grandmother’s maiden name did not change. She was Fanny Mullen all of her life and didn’t have to change her last name when she married my grandfather. They were eighth cousins, a relationship distance commonly declared acceptable by law, but some in the family disagreed on cultural grounds. Culturally, some people believed that even eighth cousins were too close to permit marriage. My grandparents paid no heed to those complaints.

But the cultural aversion is so great that it often intrudes into relationships between unrelated people. I recall one friend remarking that his relationship with another woman had been so close since childhood that he never considered dating her. The reason? He said, “It would be like dating my sister.” Even though the woman wasn’t his sister, the taboo seemed to be still in place.

It hasn’t always been that way. And so, Solomon writes, “You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride.” The words are probably enough to produce a collective “Eww” from most siblings. But in Solomon’s day, it was a common description of your bride. The love a brother held for a sister was supreme. Nothing could top the dedication of a brother to his sister. Not even a wife. However, in this case, Solomon is so much in love with his bride that he argues she has become “like a sister” to him. And there is no collective “Eww” that was ever expected.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Song of Songs 5