Birthday Girl

May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!  For your love is better than wine.Song of Songs 1:2  NASB

Is better than– Okay, so this is a little private.  Now, how could I possibly mean that when it is published on the web?  Well, today is my wife’s birthday.  She is about 6,000 miles away from me at the moment.  Once more I miss her day because I am traveling to be with my readers.  She will forgive me once more as this is the last time.  Soon she will return to Italy, and after a brief “around the world” tour, so will I.  Then we will share that glass of wine (Primativo from Puglia).  But at the moment, since I know she will read this, I just want to say:

“For your love is better than wine.”

Thank you—and happy birthday.

Song of Songs 1:2 seems appropriate.  The verse doesn’t really say “better than wine.”  The Hebrew is idiomatic.  It is literally, “for good your love min wine.”  We can read the preposition as “away from, out of, from, since, after, because.”  It just depends on the context.  Frankly, I’d prefer to read it like this today:

“For your love is good after wine,” or maybe “because of wine.”  They do go together, don’t they?  Of course, wine is just an added benefit. “Your love is good (tov)” is all that’s really necessary.  Isn’t that right?  If the love is good, the rest is good too.

Song of Songs is the Bible’s love poem.  It’s sensual, deeply emotional, even erotic.  It’s brimming with desire, tragedy, resolution, and conviction. By the way, it’s not (absolutely not) allegory.  It’s not about Israel and God, or the Church and Jesus.  It’s about two people madly in love, passionately oblivious of everyone else.  It’s about insatiable desire fulfilled.  It’s amazing.

And it’s the right birthday gift for the woman of my life.

Topical Index:  no, not today, thanks.