Wednesday • 8/30/2023 •
Wednesday of the Thirteenth Week After Pentecost (Proper 16)
This morning’s Scriptures are: Psalm 119:1–24; 1 Kings 3:1–15; Acts 27:9–26; Mark 14:1–11
This morning’s Canticles are: following the OT reading, Canticle 11 (“The Third Song of Isaiah,” Isaiah 60:1-3,11a,14c,18-19, BCP, p. 87); following the Epistle reading, Canticle 16 (“The Song of Zechariah,” Luke 1:68-79, BCP, p. 92)
Welcome to Daily Office Devotions, where every Monday through Friday we ask how God might direct our lives from that day’s Scripture readings, as given in the Book of Common Prayer. I’m Reggie Kidd, and I’m grateful to be with you. This Wednesday in the Season After Pentecost our readings come from Proper 16 of Year 1 in the Daily Office Lectionary.
Marriage for political alliance, and more. For the sake of a political alliance Solomon weds the daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh. The 3d century Christian theologian Origen wonders if perhaps she becomes the Shulamite (probably a play on Solomon’s own name), the queenly wife in Solomon’s Song of Songs (see Song of Songs 2:2–3). Solomon uses images of the horses in Pharaoh’s chariots and the black tents of Kedar (Song of Songs 1:5,9) to explain what attracts him to his beloved.* And of all the 700 wives and 300 concubines that he is said to love, the daughter of Pharaoh appears at the top of the list of the many women to whom he “clung in love” (1 Kings 11:1–2).
Origen may or may not be correct in his musing about the identity of Pharaoh’s daughter and the female figure in Song of Songs. It is worth noting, I think, that though the wives and concubines are voiceless in the 1 Kings narrative, the Song of Songs gives at least one of Solomon’s brides a voice. And she sings of a profound exchange of love; for love is meant to be given and returned.
Image: "The Shulamite by Odilon Redon" by National Gallery of Art is marked with CC0 1.0
There’s one other intriguing note about Origen’s thoughts on the Song of Songs and Solomon. When he reads the Old Testament, Origen is always looking for “Easter eggs” about the coming of Christ. He reads the Song of Songs and can’t fail to see Christian imagery. He notices the way Solomon’s bride welcomes the perfumed oil her groom pours over her (Song of Songs 1:2). Commentator Marvin Pope summarizes Origen’s reaction: “Origen stressed that it was the preaching of Christ’s gospel which brought the biblical history of salvation to the world. ‘…[A]s soon as Jesus shone forth in the world, he carried the Law and the Prophets out into it with him, and in very truth our text—thy name is oil poured out—so found its fulfillment'’” (Pope, p. 98 emphasis in original).
Today, as if in answer, we read the account of the woman who anoints Jesus in Mark 14. She worshipfully pours fragrant oil upon her Lord: “She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her” (Mark 14:8 emphasis mine).
Origen sees in the Shulamite’s words in Song of Songs the promise of Christ bringing good news to the world. His good news is like perfume being poured out over a world desperately in need of refreshment and renewal. Worthy of thankful remembrance are the men and women who represent that good news, for they are, in Paul’s words, “the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved … a fragrance from life to life” (2 Corinthians 2:15–16). One greater than Solomon has come for us (Matthew 12:42). As a result, an observant eye like Origen’s sees an invitation to marvel at these juxtaposed images. In them we may perceive the mutual outpouring of love between Christ and the Church, and indeed between Christ and individual believers.
Lord, give me wisdom! Solomon says he needs wisdom because he is “only a little child” (1 Kings 3:7). It is difficult to determine just how old Solomon is when he takes the throne. David had ruled in Jerusalem for thirty-three years (1 Kings 2:11); if he married Bathsheba early in his reign there, Solomon would be around thirty years old. That would make him not “only a little child.” No matter his age, however, he stands so much in need of wisdom for the task to which he has been called that it is as though he were a little child. Solomon’s prayer is a sage one for any of us, no matter our age or calling. To adapt his prayer: “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern my own life and to steward whatever portion of your world to which you call me. Make me able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern without you? (1 Kings 3:9, loosely).
Be blessed this day,
Reggie Kidd+
*See Marvin Pope’s, Song of Songs commentary in the Anchor Bible series (Doubleday, 1997), for suggestions of the fittingness of the Song of Songs to Solomon’s day (pp. 23–24).