Tuesday 28 March 2023

Background

One of the remarkable features of this remarkable book is the predominance of the female voice. Much of the Song is a dialogue between two (heterosexual) lovers; one suggestion as to its origin is that it was designed as a drama and if so it is the woman who gets most of the lines. Perhaps even more unusually, in the context of a patriarchal society, it is she who often takes the initiative in the relationship. In this passage, she describes how she ventures out in order to look for her beloved and is bold enough to enquire of those who keep watch in the city. This would seem to be forward, brazen, reputation-risking behaviour on her part.

This is the most obvious way in which the writer of the Song (whose gender we do not know) subverts male-dominated assumptions, but there are other, subtler subversions throughout the book. One is the destination to which the lovers return. Usually a dwelling is described as belonging to a male member of the family (‘my father’s house’ or ‘my husband’s house’) but here it is ‘my mother’s house’. We have no idea why the couple were separated this night, but the audience of the poem might be amused by the picture of the man being forcibly dragged back to face not only his deserted lover but her mother also behind closed doors.

Yet at another level, the story that might be being told here is no laughing matter. Too often, even in the Bible (eg, the story of David and Bathsheba), the pattern of heterosexual relations in literature (and in life) has been of men’s desires being fulfilled at a time of their choosing. Again, the writer of the Song subverts that narrative. The passage ends with a verse that also featured in chapter 2 and will appear again in chapter 8 in which the daughters of Jerusalem (more women) are urged not to rush love.

Reading this passage as being about our relationship with God, we are struck by the speed with which the missing lover is found. As soon as she has spoken to the sentinels, she finds "the one my soul loves".One of the themes of Holy Week is the apparent absence of God and the paradox that in naming that absence we find that God is with us.

To Ponder:

• The Methodist Church has (and has had for decades) a clear commitment to gender equality. Have you experienced that in your own church life? If not, what still needs to change?
• The woman in the poem is unembarrassed about naming her deepest longings. How open are you in speaking about your love for Christ?
• Have you ever felt that God was absent from your life? Were you able to name that absence and did that help to offer you an assurance of God’s presence?