Raymond Jacques Tournay argues convincingly that the cautions about “awakening love” in the Song refer to the sleeping bridegroom, rather than the sleeping bride. The motif comes to a conclusion in 8:5, where the bride says that she awakened the lover under the apple tree.
Which might mean: The Song is set between Eve’s creation and Adam’s awakening. Or, the Song is set on Holy Saturday. Or, the Song is set between Jesus’ “building” of His bride and His “awakening” in judgment. Or, tropologically, between our entry into the king’s chambers and the wedding feast.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Letters
Joshua T. Katz’s (“Pure Episcopalianism,” May 2025) reason for a theologically conservative person joining a theologically liberal…
The Revival of Patristics
On May 25, 1990, the renowned patristics scholar Charles Kannengiesser, S.J., delivered a lecture at the annual…
The Enduring Legacy of the Spanish Mystics
Last autumn, I spent a few days at my family’s coastal country house in northwestern Spain. The…
