The Feast of Love

Throughout the Song of Songs, there is a continuous focus upon the feast of love. The king brings his bride to his banqueting table and rejoices over her (Song 2:4). The lover cries out that his spouse’s love is better than wine (Song 4:10). Her lips taste like honey, and there is milk and honey under her tongue (Song. 4:11). The bride is a garden full of pleasant spices and fruits, and she invites her husband to eat of its fruits (Song. 4:16). The bride cries out to her friends that her lover’s mouth is sweet (Song. 5:16). Again, the man says that his wife’s navel lacks no blended beverage (Song 7:2). He says that her breasts are clusters of the vine, sweet fruits which he feasts upon (Song 7:7-8). Much of this imagery should remind us of various Scriptural motifs. God created a garden in the beginning of the world and filled it with fruits and spices. When God brought his people into the Promised Land, he brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, a land with large clusters of grapes. Throughout the narrative, there are many references to architectural imagery: towers, battlements, cedars of Lebanon, and precious stones and carvings all of which remind us of the tabernacle, the temple, and the city of Jerusalem where God came to dwell with his people, a return to the garden paradise. The Song of Songs is in this sense a love song between God and his people. It is a glorious record of the intimacy that God seeks with his people, his bride, the Church. It is therefore no surprise that at the center of our worship, at the center of our communion with God, our husband, there is a meal, a feast, a banqueting table. Your God rejoices over you here; your God delights in you and the Scriptures compare it to enthusiastic love making. This is your God who has flung your sin from you as far as the east is from the west. Your God is faithful and loyal, and he only has eyes for you. Therefore come to the feast; let go of your fears, your worries, your doubts. You are forgiven, and Christ our God rejoices over you.