Love’s Identity Card
Put me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm. For love is as strong as death, jealousy is as severe as Sheol; its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Song of Solomon 8:6
Seal – If Ezekiel shows us what the corruption of sex looks like (donkeys and horses – see yesterday), then Song of Solomon shows us what divinely aligned sex looks like. In one of the finest love poems from the ancient past, Song of Solomon places sexual imagery, passion, desire and fulfillment under the authority of the “seal.” At the conclusion of this great love poem, the woman instructs the man to “put me like a seal over your heart.” Once we know the cultural background of this word, we see God’s view of sexual intimacy captured in human symbols.
The word is hotham. It describes a cylindrical piece of stone with an external carved inscription. When this cylinder is rolled over a soft material, it leaves a raised impression that establishes legal ownership over the object. Like a signet ring, the seal permanently establishes an unbreakable legal and moral bond.
This much of the picture is easily grasped. But there are interesting, and powerful, nuances. First, the Hebrew word hotham is most likely a loanword from Egyptian. Hebrew has another word for “seal” that is used exclusively in rituals. But this loanword is associated with magic, not ritual, in its Egyptian heritage. How appropriate that it should be chosen to describe the seal of sexuality between a man and a woman. Secondly, while there are numerous occurrences of seals establishing male ownership in the archeological record, the occasions of female ownership are very rare. But that is precisely the intention of this verse. The woman asks the man to roll her seal on to his heart and over his arm, branding him as owned by her. In perfect harmony with the context of Genesis 2:24, the man leaves behind his old life and becomes the property of the woman who loves him. He submits to her ownership. Is it any wonder that Proverbs 31:11 is the only occasion in the Bible where the verb for “trust” is used between human beings? In every other case, this verb is about trust in God. Proverbs confirms the Biblical image. The man places his life in the hands of the woman. He is hers exclusively, just as he is his Lord’s exclusive property.
Is Song of Solomon descriptive of your exclusive commitment to the mutual bond of sexuality? Does this imagery describe your marriage? Are you a husband who is owned by your wife? Are you a wife who accepts the joy and burden of ownership of your man? Or did you think it was just mutual convenience and a ceremony?
