The beloved hears her lover coming, leaping upon the mountains and bounding over the hills, establishing the lover as approaching with vigor and enthusiasm, overcoming natural obstacles in his eagerness to reach the beloved. The animal-like quality of his movement—leaping and bounding—suggests uninhibited joy and the abandonment of restraint, affirming that masculine desire and pursuit are natural and good. The lover's navigation of mountains and hills suggests the overcoming of distance and difficulty in the service of union, establishing his erotic quest as valiant and wholehearted. This verse theologically suggests that masculine desire for the beloved, expressed through energetic pursuit, is celebrated rather than shamed, and that the lover's eagerness to reach the beloved testifies to her worth.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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