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 sweep it away. If one were to give all the wealth of one’s house for love, it would be utterly scorned. (Song of Solomon 8.6-7 NIV)
So the count is up to five—five weddings among my family friends for this coming summer. Several of my friends have asked me for good Biblical passages to use for their wedding, and after going on a rant about what verses NOT to use, I point them towards the Song of Solomon as a good book to look through for ideas. Wait, isn’t that the book in the Bible our pastor was embarrassed to talk about during Confirmation? Well yes, because it has a lot of sexual images that you would only know if you had taken several semester hours of Biblical Studies courses.
So what is the Song of Songs anyway? It is a love poem—a really long love poem. It is a conversation between two people who are betrothed and who are completely smitten by one another. It is the kind of love that many adults would roll their eyes at when their teenage son, daughter, niece, brother, sister, or younger friend come home ranting and raving about. It is the fiery love that not even many waters could quench. It is the type of love that those more “maturely” minded scorn because of how silly it seems. Silly child, don’t you realize that it is only teenage love? Silly child, don’t you realize that this is only a phase that you are going through and that you will one day fall out of it.
And this is the reality of it. Those of us who have “fallen in love” (how ever, you may define it) know the routine—a slump where the rational mind enters into the fray after being madly “in-love” for around a year or so. You start to notice that the one you were smitten by isn’t the most perfect person in the world. You see flaws, you see things you don’t like, you see him/her as a human being. This is the point where you start wondering why you are in that situation in the first place. Then you are left with a choice, to stay or not to stay now that hormones and other raging emotions have cooled down. It seems like the waters have actually quenched the passion that is there, but for those that stay it becomes a new type of love. This is the love that turns into a commitment for a future together. In our culture, we would say that the love was ripe for marriage.
It is little wonder why people often jump to interpret the Song of Solomon as a love song of God to God’s people. Though I still maintain that the Song of Solomon is indeed a love poem and should be viewed that way, Christ’s love for humanity is very similar. It is love that burns like a fiery fire. It is a love that cannot be quenched by many waters (but actually uses the waters to bring the fire into a person!) It is also a love that is scorned and laughed at because it was given at all costs. God came into this world and became fully and truly human. In his humanity, Jesus Christ died at the cross for your sins, casting out all of his wealth of being fully God. In Phillipians, Paul calls this the pouring out of Godself for humanity when Jesus Christ humbled himself all the way to death. However, like this love described in the Song of Solomon, it is unyielding as like death, but it is not death. No, this love is greater than death. This love is what conquered death, and broke the chains of death for all eternity. This love is unyielding that it goes beyond your sin and meets where you are at in your life. The love of God for God’s people always remains with you in all that you do. This what true love is for the world you live in, that God’s love cannot be stopped by sin or death, scorn or shame, fire or water, but comes and places you as a seal on the heart of God—a place set aside for you by God.
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