Scholars speak of the book, Song of Songs as love poetry to GOD. That it takes its form from the romantic poetry genre and applies it to love of GOD.

It possesses a certain sensuality that is scandalous, if for no other reason than it talks about breasts and sex in ways that would make a Nazarene, or a good southern Episcopalian, blush. But there is much more to this poetry than love, particularly if we see it as yearning for GOD.

There is scandal and explicitness and hope and devotion, without any talk of marriage or defining the love by the state, or the church, for that matter. It speaks directly of a devotion that is compelled like the forces of nature and restrained by the forces of the earth.

'How many of us are searching for GOD, for meaning and hope and for that same lover?' Share on X

Chapter 5 speaks of “A missed encounter” as the Common English Bible calls it. But it is more than an encounter with GOD, it is an encounter with guards. As you read, notice what happens to the woman as she goes looking for her love.

A missed encounter

[Woman]

2   I was sleeping, but my heart was awake.
A sound! My love is knocking:

[Man]

“Open for me, my sister, my dearest,
my dove, my perfect one!
My head is soaked with dew,
my hair, with the night mists.”

[Woman]

3   “I have taken off my tunic—
why should I put it on again?
I have bathed my feet—
why should I get them dirty?”
4   My love put his hand in through the latch hole,
and my body ached for him.
5   I rose; I went to open for my love,
and my hands dripped myrrh,
my fingers, liquid myrrh,
over the handles of the lock.
6   I went and opened for my love,
but my love had turned, gone away.
I nearly died when he turned away.
I looked for him but couldn’t find him.
I called out to him, but he didn’t answer me.
7   They found me—the guards
who make their rounds in the city.
They struck me, bruised me.
They took my shawl away from me,
those guards of the city walls!
8   I place you under oath, daughters of Jerusalem:
If you find my love, what should you tell him?
That I’m weak with love!

[Daughters of Jerusalem]

9   How is your lover different from any other lover,
you who are the most beautiful of women?
How is your lover different from any other lover,
that you make us swear a solemn pledge?

In praise of him

[Woman]

10 My lover is radiant and ruddy;
he stands out among ten thousand!
11 His head is finest gold;
his wavy hair, black as a raven.
12 His eyes are like doves
by channels of water.
They are bathing in milk,
sitting by brimming pools.
13 His cheeks are like fragrant plantings,
towers of spices.
His lips are lilies
dripping liquid myrrh.
14 His arms are gold cylinders
studded with jewels.
His belly is smooth ivory
encrusted with sapphires.
15 His thighs are pillars of whitest stone
set on pedestals of gold.
His appearance—like Lebanon,
stately, like the cedars.
16 His mouth is everything sweet,
every bit of him desirable.

This is my love, this my dearest,
daughters of Jerusalem!

Song of Solomon 5:2-16  Common English Bible (CEB)

The story of the missed love turns tragic, as the woman, seeking the missed lover who had come to find her, is beaten by the guards and left to appeal to the “Daughters of Jerusalem” for aid.

The aid she seeks is aid in the search: Where is he? Where is my love? she is asking, still. Her body bloodied and torn, her clothes ruined, her purity gone, the purity she worried about losing in verse 3 is stolen by the guards in verse 7.

And yet she keeps looking for her lover.

How many of us are searching for GOD, for meaning and hope and for that same lover, no matter what we call her/him? How many of us are playing coy or worrying about ourselves and worrying about our purity, cleanliness, our suitability to be seen, only to be sullied and beaten by the world?

How many of us are literally beaten by the city’s guards when we’ve come looking for GOD? When we’ve come looking for the kingdom which was so close that we worry we might have missed our chance? How many have gone searching and had their bodies broken, their eyes bruised by enforcers of the law simply for driving or walking or being out and about, searching for something that isn’t illegal, just being out in the city. And how many of these have died at the hands of the city guards?

How many of these keep going even after the beatings and killings and terror and continue the search? Where is my love? they ask. They ask us, the Daughters and Sons of Jerusalem, the neighbors, the friends, the city dwellers. Where is my love? we hear. And do we look? Do we search? Have we found? Do we love?