Hope - Song of Songs 1-2

Song of Songs 2:10-13 (ESV)

My beloved speaks and says to me:

“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away,

for behold, the winter is past;

the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth,

the time of singing has come,

and the voice of the turtledove

is heard in our land.

The fig tree ripens its figs,

and the vines are in blossom;

they give forth fragrance.

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

and come away.

The above passage begins and ends with, “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.”   In the middle of this refrain is the description of winter departing and spring arriving.    The words are spoken by the bride of Solomon, describing Solomon’s words to her.   This is what she is hearing him say.    Solomon is calling for her and telling her that the past is past and the refreshing of the new has sprung.    The rain is over (it rains during the winder months in Israel) and now the full vestige of spring has arrived.   There are sounds (turtledoves).  There are sights (flowers).  There is freshness (figs ripening and vines blossoming).   There are smells (the fragrances of the fig trees and flowers).  There is even singing of some sort.  This is a time of great hope and possibility.    In a relationship like the one being portrayed in Song of Songs, we would expect this scene to unfold.   Solomon is painting the picture of hope and possibility for this new relationship as it is consummated in marriage.    The above scene is the hope of every wedding day.   There are not talk of darkness and rain.   There is only the spring of new things.  This is how we should present life to those we love.   There is a proverb (one of Solomon’s) that talks about the power of hope to others:

Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)

Where there is no vision, the people perish:

but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.

In the above song Solomon is giving his bride the hope of all brides to be.  There is freshness in the air in the metaphor of spring time.   This is the hope we have in Christ.   Jesus came to give us hope.   The pain of winter is past and in Christ the hope of spring lays before us.   So, Solomon’s words of hope to his bride are a metaphor to the Church that the marriage super of the Lamb is on the horizon and we have hope in His return for us.   Never underestimate the power of hope.