Poet, painter and printmaker William Blake enjoyed a forty-five-year marriage with his wife, Catherine. From their wedding day until his death in 1827, they worked side by side. Catherine added colour to William’s sketches, and their devotion endured years of poverty and other challenges. Even in his final weeks as his health failed, Blake kept at his art, and his final sketch was his wife’s face. Four years later, Catherine died clutching one of her husband’s pencils in her hand.
The Blakes’ vibrant love offers a reflection of the love discovered in the Song of Songs. And while the Song’s description of love certainly has implications for marriage, early believers in Jesus believed it also points to Jesus’ unquenchable love for all His followers. The Song describes a love “as strong as death,” which is a remarkable metaphor since death is as final and unescapable a reality as humans will ever know (8:6). This strong love “burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame” (v. 6) And unlike fires we’re familiar with, these flames can’t be doused, not even by a deluge. “Many waters cannot quench love,” the Song insists ( v. 7).
Who among us doesn’t desire true love? The Song reminds us that whenever we encounter genuine love, God is the ultimate source. And in Jesus, each of us can know a profound and undying love—one that burns like a blazing fire.
By Winn Collier
REFLECT & PRAY
Where have you encountered strong love? How does Jesus’ love encourage you?
Dear God, please help me to receive Your love and share it with others.
Scholars have long had difficulty interpreting Song of Songs (also called Song of Solomon). Perhaps uncomfortable with its theme of intimate love, many have attempted to turn the book’s storyline into allegory. Most scholars today, however, view the song as a description of physical love between a man and a woman. In today’s reading (8:5–7), the woman initiates the intimacy. Her reference to the “seal over your heart” (v. 6) represents her desire to claim mutual ownership of her beloved. She has exclusive rights to him and all that he has, as he also has those rights with her.
The book can also be viewed as symbolic in representing genuine marital love as a complete commitment to each other. This comprises an apt representation of the church as the bride of Christ (see 2 Corinthians 11:2).
Tim Gustafson
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