Lovesick in the Song of Songs

There is an esoteric line in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet that has always stuck out to me. It is where Lady Montague asks her nephew Benvolio if he has seen the missing Romeo. He responds,

“A troubled mind drave me to walk abroad;
where, underneath the grove of sycamore
that westward rooteth from the city’s side,
so early walking did I see your son…”

He describes Romeo sitting underneath a grove of sycamore trees. Why is this important you might ask? It is Shakespeare’s imagery and play on words that allows for a more powerful portrayal in the subtext. Sycamore is from the Old French, syc amour, that is, sick with love. Now, why is Romeo sick with love in Act 1, Scene 1 when he doesn’t even meet Juliet until Act 1, Scene 5?

It is a small fraction of the story but so important because it provides a perspective on the impetus that foolishly drove Romeo to Juliet. He is pining away because of the loss of his former flame, Rosaline. Isn’t it strange what love can do to us or at least what we perceive to be love? It can cause us to make bad decisions, lower a half dozen IQ points and even become physically sick.

I thought of this strange sort of illness that most have been diagnosed as I was reading the Song of Songs, chapter 5:2-6 and was using it as the synthesis by which I would try to make amends for what I thought seemed out of place.

Beloved
2 I slept but my heart was awake.
Listen! My lover is knocking:
“Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my flawless one.
My head is drenched with dew,
my hair with the dampness of the night.”

3 I have taken off my robe—
must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet—
must I soil them again?

4 My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
my heart began to pound for him.

5 I arose to open for my lover,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
on the handles of the lock.

6 I opened for my lover,
but my lover had left; he was gone.
My heart sank at his departure.
I looked for him but did not find him.
I called him but he did not answer.

This particular book has been regarded as much of an enigma due to the seemingly strange juxtapositions such as in verse 3. When we examine any book apart from the emotions of humanity, we create a world of prose solely contingent on logic. This, however, is not the case with the heart. We tend to get dumber. I thought to myself, “she says that in verse 2 that she slept but her heart was awake, so why is it that she will not get up to answer the door just because she has to put on her robe?”

A closer look at verse 2 reveals that his hair was damp with the “dew” and “dampness of the night.” The Lover had arrived at an inconvenient time even though she lay in bed in a state of love-struck wonder. Because of this, it seems strange that she would hesitate to receive him but such is the revelation of the nature of sin.

We may yearn for the presence of God but he may “show up” at a most inconvenient time so that he might expose an area of the heart that has been hidden from view. It is sad that the beloved assumes the need to clothe herself at his arrival when her nakedness was the intimate expression of her relationship to her Lover. She had no need of her clothing in the presence of her Lover. The Garden of Eden tells us that paradise is present when we are naked and vulnerable before God. It is absent when we feel the need to clothe ourselves because of our shame. Apparently, the beloved was ashamed of her secret sin and revealed this to her Lover by her desire to be clothed with complaint and subsequent hesitation.

How many times have we hidden ourselves from the view of God when he has vigorously “thrust his hand through the latch-opening” in an effort to be intimate? Our reactions to this are also strange, as if we could hide ourselves from God. What he sees presently is what we see in part as a result of the grace of the revelation provided to add to the intensity of the intimacy in our relationship. It is surely a beautiful picture of the heart of God for his bride. Remember, it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance (Ro.2:4). With such a beautiful picture of the love of God, contracting a sickness or at least a lovesickness never seemed so inviting in light of the cure.

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