You are my song

July 5, 2020

Song of Songs 2:8-13 New International Version (NIV)

⁸Listen! My beloved!
    Look! Here he comes,
leaping across the mountains,
    bounding over the hills.
⁹My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
    Look! There he stands behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
    peering through the lattice.
¹⁰My beloved spoke and said to me,
    “Arise, my darling,
    my beautiful one, come with me.
¹¹See! The winter is past;
    the rains are over and gone.
¹²Flowers appear on the earth;
    the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
    is heard in our land.
¹³The fig tree forms its early fruit;
    the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
    my beautiful one, come with me.”

Background

‘The voice of my beloved.’ In the book of Jeremiah the prophet speaks in three successive passages of scenes of desolation, of times when God had caused to cease ‘the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride’. Then comes the great reversal, a God-given restoration: ‘Again there shall be heard in this place … the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride’. So ‘the voice of my beloved’ symbolizes God, who is now restoring Jerusalem, the city standing for all the people of God, brought into perfect communion with their God. In the language of Wisdom, the beloved presents her lover as like a gazelle or a young hart, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills, and coming to arouse her and take her to a place of bliss, and we have already discovered the rich symbolic significance of wild deer in the commentary on Song 2:7 above.

In these verses we also hear the repeated invitation: ‘My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away”.’ The language is striking and has echoes elsewhere: ‘Arise, shine; for your light has come,’ proclaims the prophet of Babylon as he foretells the ingathering of those who have been scattered in exile—a time of national restoration, and spiritual renewal.³ God’s call to his people may take the form of an invitation to seek his face, or to receive his free gifts. So in the Psalms we find: ‘ “Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!” Your face, Lord, do I seek.’ And again in Isaiah, to all those who are spiritually thirsty:^{^[1]}

Video Background click here

Point 1

Notes from Point 1

Point 2

Notes from Point 2

Point 3

Notes from Point 3

Summary

Helpful links

Church Website click here

Facebook

YouTube Channel