The headline of this blog might be a head-scratcher for you. After all, Valentine’s Day has its origin in the ancient pagan cultures of Greece and Rome when orgies celebrating romance and fertility regularly occurred. But as the Roman Empire was Christianized, the festival of
Juno Februata – the Roman goddess of love, marriage, and women—was replaced with religious festivals to the Virgin Mary and an obscure Saint Valentine. By 1536
Henry VIII, known for his womanizing, declared February 14
th as St. Valentine’s Day and the modern custom of exchanging love messages began.
How does that relate to our Bible? Because of that perplexing book,
“The Song of Solomon” (or “Song of Songs” as it’s also called)–long been thought to be one of the most difficult books of Scripture to interpret. Is it to be read as an allegory? A drama? Literally? However one interprets it, “Song” is poetry chock full of timeless tips for lovers. For instance, compliments, not complaints, bind the ties of affection. A sample might be: “ah, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves”
(Song 1:15).For all the steamy poetry that appears to be between a country girl and her beloved, a simple shepherd, the book made the ultimate ‘cut’: the Canon. Why? Because the more we understand the love between two individuals, it is reasoned, the more we understand our relationship to God, often depicted as a marriage in the Scriptures (see the book of
Hosea, especially chapter 4).
“Song” has no religious beliefs, themes or guidelines for ancient Israel, no plot that seems evident, not even a single mention of God. And then there’s that erotic and figurative language filled with the longing, love, joy and fear of a man and woman in love.
