“I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.”
The lover responds to the beloved's invitation, declaring that he has come into his garden and gathered his myrrh with his spices and eaten his honeycomb with his honey and drunk his wine and milk, establishing that he has consumed the beloved's gift and fully enjoyed what she has offered. The enumeration of sensory pleasures—gathering, eating, drinking—establishes sexual union as a kind of consumption and incorporation of the beloved into himself. The lover's declaration that the garden and its contents are 'his' and that he has possessed them establishes the culmination of the lovers' union in sexual intercourse. The lovers' rejoicing and eating and drinking together establishes that authentic love culminates in physical union and mutual pleasure. This verse theologically suggests that sexual union is a legitimate and beautiful culmination of erotic love, and that the consummation of love is worthy of celebration and the lovers' mutual joy.
COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS
Publish a note on this verse