Look! It is Solomon’s carriage, escorted by sixty warriors, the noblest of Israel, all of them wearing the sword, all experienced in battle, each with his sword at his side, prepared for the terrors of the night. – Song of Songs 3:7-8

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 23, 2019): Song of Songs 3

Gothic author Poppy Z. Brite writes that “the night is the hardest time to be alive and 4am knows all my secrets.” The truth that none of us want to admit is that you don’t have to believe in ghosts to hear them breathing in the darkness. Every creak of the house is evidence that there is someone present where the light is absent. The darkness hides all of the shadowy secrets that we don’t want the world to know. Four a.m. knows more about us than we want it to understand.

In truth, our fear of the dark is a holdover from ancient times. Oh, in our modern world, there are still places where I would not advise you to go when the sun surrenders its time on the surface of our planet to the lesser lights in the sky. But we have worked hard to destroy the night, sometimes to the point where the moon is almost the only light that reigns in our night sky. And yet that effort to drive back the night still has not taken away our fear.

It wasn’t that long ago that our world was a lot darker, and even more dangerous. During the era of Solomon, criminals routinely used the night as a cover to hide their actions. They routinely attacked night travelers, taking what they could and then disappearing once again into the darkness. And a wedding caravan was even more vulnerable because the robbers might assume that they could gain jewels or they might even decide to hold the couple the couple and gain a heavy ransom from the friends of the Bride and Groom.

There was reason to fear the night. But not for the Bride. As she watched her betrothed approach, he came with sixty of the best soldiers that Israel had to offer. They were not only carrying weapons as they came, but these men knew how to use their weapons. And the bride knew that at this moment, they did not just come to protect Solomon. They belonged to her as well. It was an expression of the oneness of life and shared existence that should exist between married partners. “She and Solomon were so identified with each other at this state that there was a perfect oneness between them. What was his, was hers. What he enjoyed, she enjoyed. This is union” (Watchman Nee). And not even the night, or the secrets that 4 a.m. might know, could destroy the life that resulted from that union.    

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Song of Songs 4