The Shulammite Woman - Her Life And Times

The Shulammite Woman - Her Life And Times

ROMANTIC LOVE

The erotic poetry of Song of Songs is not merely an expression of sexual desire but of the romantic love between a young man and a young woman. The love between the lover and the beloved is not merely one of physical pleasure and intimacy but one of a depth of feeling and commitment. True love doesn’t fade with the changes brought about by time but is stronger even than death. Neither the waters of time nor the rivers of disappointment or tragedy can wash it away (Song of Songs 8:6 – 7).

Most marriages in biblical times were arranged. When children were very young, their parents formed alliances to provide wives and husbands for their children. Many of these marriages took place when the participants were young, so young that the rabbis eventually established the minimum age for marriage at twelve for girls and thirteen for boys. Mere children even then, romantic and committed love developed over the years of marriage.

Although not all marriages were love matches in the beginning, many arranged marriages were eventually characterized by love. Isaac loved the wife his father’s servant had gotten for him (Genesis 24:67). Elkanah loved Hannah, a wife he probably received by arrangement with her family (1 Samuel 1:8). A beautiful example of the sacrificial love of a husband for his wife is given in Exodus 21:2 – 5, where a husband willingly goes into servitude for life rather than leave the wife he loves.

A man could, however, choose his own bride, even against the desires or arrangements of his parents. Jacob wanted to marry Rachel because he loved her (Genesis 29:18) and got her sister, Leah, also as part of the bargain. Samson begged his father to get a young Philistine woman for him, certain she was the right one for him (Judges 14:3).

The Old Testament seems to assume that husbands will love their wives, whether chosen by or for them. The Teacher in Ecclesiastes tells husbands to be sure to “enjoy life with your wife, whom you love” (Ecclesiastes 9:9), as though a husband’s love for his wife is a given. The New Testament, however, urges husbands to love their wives. Four separate and clear times (Ephesians 5:25, 28, 33; Colossians 3:19) Paul mentions that husbands should love their wives, once even comparing that love to the love Christ has for his church.

If you have been so fortunate in your own marriage to experience a love even half as passionate as the one described in the Song of Songs, read it in light of your story, thanking God for his blessing. But even if you haven’t, you can be glad that married love and its sexual expression was God’s idea to begin with. You can also read the Song of Songs as a dialogue between God and your own soul. God’s love, after all, is more passionate than any human love you could ever experience. He is the true Lover of your soul, ready to sing with you the greatest and most beautiful song of all.