Wilder Shores of Love
Loving Foolishly
She asks in the first blog,
Are we supposed to love lavishly? Are we supposed to lose our senses and make foolish decisions? Is that how God designed us?
My first encounter with Song of Songs in any meaningful way was in a college course entitled, "Women of the Bible." I have taken several courses pertaining to the Bible but never as a Christian. Thus, while looking back at my writings from that time, I must keep in mind that I learned about the Bible from a place of academic interest while also finding it very attractive. I did not, however, believe it to be a living text as I do now.
I commented on Sarah's first blog "I have always interpreted Song of Solomon to be more of a warning about that kind of thing," meaning, "Losing our senses and making foolish decisions." Sarah responded to me in her second blog that my comment made her "really curious" and she wrote:
1) Christianity is foolishness (I Corinthians 1:18)2) We can look pretty foolish when we follow God (see... the entire Bible. But really, any of the disciples will do.)3) The two major commandments are about loving God and loving others (Matthew 22:37-39)
It stands to reason then that, at some point, we will look foolish for loving someone. But looking foolish for loving someone is not always the same as loving foolishly.
I appreciate Sarah's summarizing of these point, agree with them and find that last sentence particularly interesting. But it calls into question this book, once again, about the young Shulammite who adores a young man and engages with him in a romantic and sexual way. Is she looking foolish for loving someone, or is she loving foolishly? Is she loving foolishly in a Corinthians kind of way (surely that's an adjective by now) or is she loving foolishly in a destructive way?
As you may imagine, this course I took dealt with issues of feminism and the portrayal of women in the Bible. Also, most college courses pertaining to this subject begin with the default premise that women are not fairly or adequately represented in the Bible. I'd like to write a series of blogs on this subject because I don't agree with that perspective.
When last I visited this subject, I wrote that "I read Song of Songs with a certain horror for the book's young subject." I am certainly not a Bible scholar and do not have any insider's knowledge on how the Jewish community has interpreted this book through the ages. From a brief examination, it appears that the Jewish tradition holds this book as exceedingly holy ("Holiest of Holies," says one rabbi). Certainly, there is great beauty in the text. Sarah quotes some of that poetry in her blog. Near the end of the book are the famous lines,
Place me like a seal over your heart,
like a seal on your arm;
for love is as strong as death,
its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
like a mighty flame.
Many waters cannot quench love;
rivers cannot wash it away.
If one were to give
all the wealth of his house for love,
it would be utterly scorned. (8:6-7)
However, its very placement between Ecclesiastes and Isaiah, a book of fatalism and a book of prophecy respectively, leads me to ponder its reputation as a depiction of the love affair between God and Israel (or Christ and the church, as Christians have interpreted it). Ecclesiastes is an assertion of the inherent futility of finding lasting meaning on earth where everyone ultimately dies; Isaiah prophesies devastation but also the birth of the Messiah and the deliverance of Israel.
Solomon may have written this book or he may have been written to in this book; scholars disagree.
Ecclesiastes
One thing that interests me is the thread of the vineyard, a recurring theme throughout the Bible which appears in each of these three works. In Ecclesiastes, the vineyard is referenced in the context of an earthly pursuit, not only as a means to "cheering [oneself] with wine" but as a "great project" and means to earthly wealth.
1 I thought in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good." But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 "Laughter," I said, "is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?" 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly~~my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven during the few days of their lives.
4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well~~the delights of the heart of man. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.
10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.
11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun. (ch 2)
This is just one tiny portion of a similar theme recurring throughout the many pages of this book. Solomon ponders upon all matters of earthly pursuits such as wealth, creativity, etc. and asserts their "vanity" and "meaninglessness." It is one of my favorite books of the Bible and kept a door of the Bible open to me when I struggled substantially in the past with this type of existential crisis of the meaninglessness of it all. I find that Solomon's ponderings of the world color my interpretation of Song of Songs, as it is also known as Song of Solomon and somehow has a hand in it, either as an author, a character, or the subject of criticism, as some scholars have suggested.
Song of Songs
In Song of Songs, the vineyard appears in a different context. The young Shulammite, the subject of the book, uses the metaphor of the vineyard as a reference to her own body and awakening sexuality.
6 Do not stare at me because I am dark,
because I am darkened by the sun.
My mother's sons were angry with me
and made me take care of the vineyards;
my own vineyard I have neglected. (ch 1)
A few more occurrences of the vineyard as the sexually awakening body appear. The couple is embracing one another ("His left arm is under my head"), possibly consummating their relationship, and seemingly content in the first 13 verses of chapter 2. Then, in verse 14, the book takes on a different tone. The character of the young woman begins to look for her lover in the "hiding places on the mountainside," entreating
Show me your face,
let me hear your voice;
15 Catch for us the foxes,
the little foxes
that ruin the vineyards,
our vineyards that are in bloom.
After that, she rather wistfully states, "My lover is mine and I am his; he browses among the lilies." Where has the subject of her earthly love gone?
Chapter 3 is markedly different from the previous chapters. She searches until she finds him:
1 All night long on my bed
I looked for the one my heart loves;
I looked for him but did not find him.
2 I will get up now and go about the city,
through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
So I looked for him but did not find him.
3 The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
"Have you seen the one my heart loves?"
4 Scarcely had I passed them
when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go...
Chapter 4 is a reunion, a very passionate statement from her lover about each of her physical features, slightly to the point of absurdity although something we perhaps can relate to if we have ever been in these throws of physical passion:
1 How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes behind your veil are doves.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
descending from Mount Gilead.
2 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep just shorn,
coming up from the washing.
Each has its twin;
not one of them is alone.
3 Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon;
your mouth is lovely.
Your temples behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.
Chapter 5, again, may qualify as a description of the consummation of their physical passion for one another but scholars argue on this point and it seems more likely that the young woman is describing a dream sequence, which seems more accurate to me as well. In this chapter, she describes a vivid physical advance by her beloved:
4 My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
my heart began to pound for him.
5 I arose to open for my lover,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
on the handles of the lock.
Yet this turns despairing once again in an intense way:
6 I opened for my lover,
but my lover had left; he was gone.
My heart sank at his departure.
I looked for him but did not find him.
I called him but he did not answer.
7 The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
They beat me, they bruised me;
they took away my cloak,
those watchmen of the walls!
What follows is her renewed description of his exquisite physical features, followed by her friends' entreaty:
1Where has your lover gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way did your lover turn,
that we may look for him with you?
He is gone. In fact, he is not simply gone. He is browsing again. If this was written by or about King Solomon, I can't help but remember the fact that he had hundreds of wives and concubines. In 1 Kings 11, it states that "King Solomon loved many foreign women" and that he had, according to that text, 700 wives and 300 concubines. The young Shulammite responds to her friends,
2 My lover has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to browse in the gardens
and to gather lilies.
3 I am my lover's and my lover is mine;
he browses among the lilies. (ch 6)
I interpret this as an inner conflict, an argument between reason and desire. She asserts what she wants ("I am my lover's and my lover is mine") but she is acknowledging the truth ("he browses among the lilies"). When the lover returns, he tries to address these insecurities:
8 Sixty queens there may be,
and eighty concubines,
and virgins beyond number;
9 but my dove, my perfect one, is unique... (ch 6)
In fact, there were many more than that, and I'm sure they were each unique!
As much as the young woman reassures herself that she belongs to her lover and he to her (see 7:10), there are several indications that their relationship is hidden in some way and this becomes more clear in chapter 8, where she states,
1 If only you were to me like a brother,
who was nursed at my mother's breasts!
Then, if I found you outside,
I would kiss you,
and no one would despise me.
The friends bemoan her state, wanting to "enclose her with panels of cedar" and hide her away. The young woman ties together this vineyard metaphor by writing how her beloved's attraction for her has "become in his eyes/like one bringing contentment" (8:10) and that
11 Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon;
he let out his vineyard to tenants...
12 But my own vineyard is mine to give.
This vineyard is not, in my estimation, a fruit-bearing, life-bringing one. It is a vineyard of remorse, longing, and unrequited passion. "Like one bringing contentment" is a far cry from the throws of love described on her side of the story.
Isaiah
Finally, we come to the vineyard described in Isaiah. We have made our way from the fruitless vineyard of material wealth and then through the heart-wrenching vineyard (in this case) of physical attraction. In Isaiah, God Himself becomes the vineyard.
14 The LORD enters into judgment
against the elders and leaders of his people:
"It is you who have ruined my vineyard;
the plunder from the poor is in your houses.
15 What do you mean by crushing my people
and grinding the faces of the poor?"
declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty. (ch 3)
Chapter 5 contains what is subtitled "The Song of the Vineyard":
1 I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.
3 "Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?
In this light, the allegorical possibilities of Song of Songs~~the painful possibilities~~become more real to me. This is not an easy love story, with a bed of roses beneath a cheerful union. In fact, it is I who have been stereotyping the female voice in the story. Maybe it is the woman who represents God in the story, rather than the man. It is the young lady who pours her raw passion upon a lover who can't be found and who "lets out his vineyard to tenants," a version of idolatry. When Isaiah writes about God's deliverance of Israel, he writes:
2 In that day~~
"Sing about a fruitful vineyard:
3 I, the LORD, watch over it;
I water it continually.
I guard it day and night
so that no one may harm it.
New Testament
This mini-analysis is certainly not exhaustive~~simply a humble blog on this subject of vineyards. A discussion on vineyards cannot be complete without referencing the numerous times that the vineyard is used in the New Testament as a metaphor for the fertile soil of one's life. Jesus uses it repeatedly in His parables, and most significantly, refers to Himself as "The Vine." Almost 800 years after Isaiah was written, this thread of the vine lives on in the arrival of the Messiah.
1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. (John 15:1-8)
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