Meditations on the Song of Songs-Come, my beloved, let us go out into the field
Meditations on the Song of Songs
The spiritual ones read this book and increase in their love for God. But the carnal ones need a guide when reading it, lest they misunderstand it and descend from its sublime meaning to worldly interpretations…
Our meditation in the past weeks was on the Lord’s saying in the Song: “Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” And here comes the question: “To where?” The answer is found in the Song (7:11–12):
“Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields, let us lodge in the villages. Let us get up early to the vineyards, let us see if the vine has budded, if the blossom has opened, if the pomegranates are in bloom… There I will give you my love.”
“Come, my beloved, let us go out into the field”
Let us go out into the field:
The field symbolizes the arenas of spiritual service, or it may symbolize the whole world in which we labor to preach (Matt. 13:38). The sower is the Lord Himself or His apostles and servants: “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase” (1 Cor. 3:6).
After the first belief in Samaria, the Lord Jesus said to His disciples: “Lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life… I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored” (John 4:35–38).
Thus, the phrase “Come, my beloved, let us go out into the field” means: come, let us work together in serving people, laboring for the salvation of souls.
Come, let us serve together in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit—the cooperation of man with grace. Man does not serve alone, for the Lord said: “Without Me you can do nothing.” Every time you go out to serve, call to the Lord saying: “Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields.” Without You, I can do nothing; I will speak, but You will place the word in my mouth; You will give the word its power and effect. If You do not go with me, I will not go out alone to the field.
There are two ways by which a person reaches God and enjoys Him:
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The way of contemplation: in the quiet sitting with the Lord among the beds of spices, where the Song says: “My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices” (6:2). There, at the feet of Christ with Mary, the soul listens, contemplates, and delights in the Lord—in quietness, stillness, solitude, prayer, and meditation.
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The way of service: going out into the fields and lodging in the villages. In service, a person receives from the Lord as in contemplation, for the Song says about going into the fields: “There I will give you my love.”
The angels also are of these two kinds: those who stand before God, praising and saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord of Hosts,” like the Seraphim (Isa. 6), and those who are “ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation” (Heb. 1:14).
If the angels labor in service, shall we not also labor so that God’s will may be done on earth as it is in heaven? Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields, for many are in need of constant, faithful work. “How shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14). Come, for love urges us to go into the fields, to lodge in the villages, to visit our brethren… “Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).
Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields, for the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Come, for there is no work more exalted than laboring for the salvation of souls for whom Christ died, and no task nobler than working with God.
Come, let us share with the Holy Spirit in the work of salvation. Come, let us labor with God—He works in us, through us, and with us. Come, let us be ambassadors of God, servants of His kingdom, fulfilling His will, shepherding His children, and bringing them closer to His heart. Let us go about doing good and saving some by all means.
Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields and lodge in the villages. Come, my beloved, let us go to your forgotten and lost brothers—those who have no one to remember them. Come, let us do the work of the earthly and heavenly angels, “sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation.”
The work of the angels is not limited to praise, for John the Baptist—who prepared the way before Christ—was called an angel, and the pastors of the seven churches were called angels.
Caring for the service of the villages:
“Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields and lodge in the villages.” God here shows special care for the villages—not only to visit them but to stay in them—for they are more in need. For the Lord’s work there is: Has the vine budded? Has the pomegranate blossomed? … We shall continue our meditations on this topic in the next issue.
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Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, published in Al-Keraza Magazine, Year 6 (Issue 1), January 3, 1975
