Anticipating incarnation

Michael Fox writes that “The equality of the lovers and the equality of their love, rather than the Song’s earthly sensuality, are what makes their union an inappropriate analogy for the bond between God and Israel.”

That would be persuasive, but for the massive reality of the incarnation.  In the mutuality of the Song, we have one of hundreds of hints in the Old Testament that God’s love and promises to Israel could only be fulfilled by Yahweh-in-flesh.  The Song depicts the yearning of Israel for just such an equal relation, a yearning fulfilled when the Son takes flesh like the bride to become one with the bride.

The Song gives an erotic answer to Anselm’s question, Cur Deus Homo ?