The Bible Story Part 310

THE WINTER IS PAST, THE RAIN IS OVER AND GONE

My beloved spake, and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

For, lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone; The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing of birds is come, And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land; The fig tree ripeneth her green figs, And the vines are in blossom, They give forth their fragrance.

Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the covert of the steep place, Let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; For sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely.

Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vineyards; For our vineyards are in blossom.

My beloved is mine, and I am his: He feedeth his flock among the lilies.

Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away, Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart Upon the mountains of Bether.

{237}

IN THE GARDEN OF LOVE

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, With me from Lebanon: Look from the top of Amana, From the top of Senir and Hermon, From the lions' dens, From the mountains of the leopards.

Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my bride; Thou hast ravished my heart with a glance of thine eyes, With one chain of thy neck.

How fair is thy love, my sister, my bride!

How much better is thy love than wine!

And the smell of thine ointments than all manner of spices!

Thy lips, O my bride, drop as the honeycomb: Honey and milk are under thy tongue; And the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon.

A garden shut up is my sister, my bride; A spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

Thy shoots are an orchard of pomegranates, with precious fruits; Henna with spikenard plants, Spikenard and saffron, Calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense; Myrrh and aloes, with all the chief spices.

Thou art a fountain of gardens, A well of living waters, And flowing streams from Lebanon.

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; Blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.

Let my beloved come in to his garden, And eat his precious fruits.

{238}

WHITHER IS THY BELOVED GONE?

Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women?

Whither hath thy beloved turned him, That we may seek him with thee?

My beloved is gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, To feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.

I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine: He feedeth his flock among the lilies.

I am my beloved's, And his desire is toward me.

Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field; Let us lodge in the villages.

Let us get up early to the vineyards; Let us see whether the vine hath budded, and its blossom be open, And the pomegranates be in flower: There will I give thee my love.

The mandrakes give forth fragrance, And at our doors are all manner of precious fruits, new and old, Which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved.

{239}

LOVE IS STRONG AS DEATH

Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: For love is strong as death; Jealousy is cruel as the grave: The flashes thereof are flashes of fire, A very flame of the Lord.

Many waters cannot quench love, Neither can the floods drown it: If a man would give all the substance of his house for love, He would utterly be contemned.

{240}

{241}

SELECTIONS FROM ECCLESIASTES

{242}

ECCLESIASTES

This is, in some respects, the most curious book in the Bible. It has puzzled many people. Like Proverbs, it is put together without very much order, but that does not make the greatest puzzle of the book.

The question has been, "What does the author intend to teach?" The book seems to take a very dark view of life. It almost seems as though the author thought nothing was worth living for. Over and over he says that all is vanity; that is, emptiness, nothingness. He questions whether there is a life after death. It seems to the careless reader that this book is only gloomy, dark, and hopeless. But that is a superficial view. If one reads with more care, one finds another strain in the book. It is good for a man to enjoy his labor. This is the gift of G.o.d. Let a man eat and drink and enjoy his labor. This is his portion, or wages, from G.o.d. Such thoughts as these occur again and again in the book. One begins to see that all is not darkness. On the contrary, there is, so far as it goes, a very excellent way of living put forward in the book. The author's question is, What are the wages of life? What ought one to think of as making life worth living?

His answer is, The work of life itself, with the ordinary pleasures that come with it, are the wages. It is these things that make life worth living. Now this author does not see all the truth. He does not even sum up the whole of life. It is a great lack that in his pictures, in the first few chapters, of the things that may be expected to yield pleasure, he says nothing about the unselfish life.

The life he describes is all getting, getting, getting, and never giving. Now the life that simply spends itself in trying to get things and never tries to help others is sure not to be a very happy life.

"Vanity of vanities" is its very proper conclusion. This picture of life is too narrow. It needs to be enlarged by the rich and beautiful New Testament ideal of the life of unselfish love.

{243}

TO EVERYTHING THERE IS A SEASON

To everything there is a season, And a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, And a time to die; A time to plant, And a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, And a time to heal; A time to break down, And a time to build up; A time to weep, And a time to laugh; A time to mourn, And a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, And a time to gather stones together; A time to embrace, And a time to refrain from embracing; A time to seek, And a time to lose; A time to keep, And a time to cast away; A time to rend, And a time to sew; {244} A time to keep silence, And a time to speak; A time to love, And a time to hate; A time for war, And a time for peace.

{245}

REMEMBER ALSO THY CREATOR

Remember also thy Creator in the days of thy youth: Or ever the evil days come, And the years draw nigh, When thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them.

Or ever the sun, and the light, And the moon and the stars, Be darkened And the clouds return after the rain.

In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, And the strong men shall bow themselves, And the grinders cease because they are few, And those that look out of the windows be darkened, And the doors be shut in the street.

When the sound of the grinding is low, And one shall rise up at the voice of a bird, And all the daughters of music shall be brought low: Yea, they shall be afraid of that which is high, And terror shall be in the way; And the almond tree shall blossom, And the gra.s.shopper shall be a burden, And desire shall fail: Because man goeth to his long home.

And the mourners go about the streets: {246} Or ever the silver cord be loosed, Or the golden bowl broken, Or the pitcher broken at the fountain Or the wheel broken at the cistern: And the dust return to the earth, as it was; And the spirit return unto G.o.d who gave it.

{247}

SELECTIONS FROM THE PROVERBS

{248}

PROVERBS

Proverbs is a collection of sayings of wise men, coming from many sources and gathered by many men. It is a little library of smaller books. The poetry is more uniform than any other in the Bible. The subjects, on the contrary, are the most various. All sides of life are represented. But chiefly the proverbs are concerned with showing the wisdom of living a good, honest, industrious life, and the foolishness of being lazy, immoral, greedy for money, and evil in thought and conduct. A great deal is said about the fool. He is the one who is shortsighted and careless of consequences; who talks slander and so hurts his friends; who forgets that the laws of G.o.d punish evil doing, and so hurts himself. The idea is that the wicked man acts as though he had not common sense.

{249}