Of all emotions, love is the most celebrated in art, literature, and song. There seems to be no end to our appetite for depictions, words or melodies that extol the delights, depths, or devastations of romantic love. Song of Songs describes the love between a man and a woman. In a world that has debased, monetized, and distorted the nature of this relationship, it is a breath of fresh air.

While marriage customs of their day may seem strange to us, we understand the emotion of seeing our beloved from afar. “Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men” (v. 3). Her love stands out among his peers. The passage encourages those who have not tasted love not to get ahead of themselves (v. 7). Love is powerful. In each other’s presence the old has passed away, all things are made new (vv. 11–13).

Are you wondering why this description of romantic love is in the Bible? Consider that after God made Adam, He declared that man shouldn’t be alone (Gen. 2:18). Even the relationship between Christ and the church is described as a marriage (Ephesians 5). Instead of attempting to resolve the tension of this little book by spiritualizing the difficult bits away, we should stop and consider that God gave humans the capacity to experience an emotion as powerful as love. But, like all other emotions, sin has marred love. Our capacity to love can become disordered. Song of Songs shows that this is not what God intended. And the Bible points to the perfect love Christ has for His church, showing us how to love well.