Reflections on the Song of Songs – Where do You feed?
Reflections on the Song of Songs
The spiritual ones read this book and grow in the love of God. As for the carnal ones, they need a guide in reading it, lest they misunderstand it and descend from its sublime meaning to worldly interpretations…
Let our contemplation today on the Song of Songs be on the divine revelation saying: “Tell me, O you whom my soul loves, where you feed your flock, where you make it rest at noon?” (Song 1:7).
Where do You feed?
It is the cry of a soul searching for God, pursuing Him, desiring to know His ways. It reminds us of the words of David the Prophet: “Make known to me, O Lord, Your ways; teach me Your paths.”
It is a question before anyone who wants to build a relationship with God: Where can I find You, Lord? Where are You? In what places can I enjoy Your presence? What are the books that speak to me about You? And whose lips can I hear speaking of You, of Your heaven, Your angels, Your scriptures, and Your wondrous salvation?
Where can I find You? In prayer? In contemplation? In the Scriptures? In stillness and silence? In prostrations? In the church? In the wilderness? “Where do You feed? Where do You rest at noon?”
This soul searching for God, longing to find Him, expresses its feelings in the Song of Songs: “By night on my bed I sought the one I love” (3:1). “I sleep, but my heart is awake” (5:2). In the night—the darkness of this world, far from His marvelous light—my soul still sought Him. Yes, I am not among those of whom Scripture says, “They loved darkness more than light.” No, I may walk in darkness, yet I love the light. I may sin—out of weakness—but I still love You. I am like the Apostle Peter, who denied three times, cursed, and said, “I do not know the Man.” Yet afterward he said to You, “Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You” (John 21:17). I sleep, or I may appear to sleep, but…
Despite my sleep, my heart is awake. Despite my sleep, I remember You on my bed. And despite my sleep, You are still the One whom my soul loves.
This is from the spiritual aspect; even from the literal one—no sooner do I lay my head on my pillow than I think of You, and Your image is before me, as the Scripture says of Your words: “These words… shall be in your heart; you shall teach them diligently to your children, and talk of them when you sit in your house, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Deut. 6). Yes, even as I lie down to sleep, You are still in my heart: “On my bed I sought the one I love.”
“I will rise now,” I said, “and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek the one I love. I sought him, but I did not find him.” (Song 3:2).
Slow down—where are you going, O soul? “I am seeking the one whom my soul loves.” And where are you seeking Him? “In the city, in the streets, and in the markets.” Will you truly find Him there? And are you the one seeking Him, or is He the One seeking you? Do you know where your Beloved is, O fairest among women? “Behold, He comes leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills” (2:8). He is the One who seeks you and searches for you. Yes, often we think we are seeking God, when in truth, it is He who seeks us.
And where do you seek Him? In the city, the streets, and the markets? He is not there. Therefore, you have rightly said, “I sought him, but I did not find him.” You will not find Him outside yourself—in the city, the streets, or the markets. He is within your heart.
The noise of the streets and markets, the clamor of the city, are not the fitting places to pour out your longing. Enter, therefore, within yourself, and speak to God there. When you ask Him, “Where do You feed? Where do You rest at noon?” He will tell you:
At noon, in the time of heat, I feed within you. I shepherd your feelings and emotions, the beats of your heart, the thoughts of your mind, your senses, desires, and instincts. I shepherd you.
Truly, the Scripture says, “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.” He shepherds me from within before all else. For if the inner being is sound, there is no fear of what is outside. “A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you” (Ps. 91). The rains may fall, the winds may blow, and beat upon that house, but it does not fall (Matt. 7), for its foundation is firm. God shepherds it from within, so that no outward force can overcome it.
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Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – Published in El-Keraza Magazine, Fifth Year, Issue No. 7, 16-11-1974.
