雅歌 Song of Songs

雅歌的希伯来书名意为「歌中之歌」——最美的一首歌。这是一组炽热的爱情诗，以良人与佳偶的对唱为主线，歌咏恋慕、寻觅、相聚与盟约之爱。圣经并不羞于谈论爱情：男女之爱出于神的创造，在婚姻的盟约里是美好、圣洁、当受称颂的。雅歌以诗的语言，把伊甸园中「二人成为一体」的美意重新唱了出来。

全诗在渴慕与寻找中推进：佳偶在夜间寻找所爱的，城中巡逻的人遇见她；良人隔着窗棂初露面容，又转身离去；直到那句著名的彼此归属——「良人属我，我也属他」。第八章把爱情推向最高的宣告：爱情如死之坚强，众水不能息灭，大水也不能淹没，用尽家财也无法买到。在一个把爱情廉价化的时代，雅歌守护着爱的尊贵与专一。

历代犹太人在雅歌中读到耶和华与以色列的婚约，教会则从中听见基督与教会的爱——新约正是以新郎与新妇描绘基督与他的子民（弗 5:31-32，启 19:7）。按字面，雅歌祝福每一段忠贞的婚姻；按指向，它邀请我们认识那位爱我们至死、用重价买赎我们的新郎。读雅歌，既学习如何去爱，也学习何等被爱。

The Hebrew title means "the Song of Songs" — the most beautiful song of all. This is a cycle of passionate love poetry, sung back and forth between a lover and his beloved, celebrating longing, seeking, union, and covenant love. Scripture is not embarrassed by romance: the love of husband and wife is God's good creation, holy and worth singing about within the covenant of marriage. In poetry, the Song gives fresh voice to Eden's design that the two become one flesh.

The poem moves through desire and pursuit: the beloved searches the city streets at night for the one her heart loves; the lover appears at the window lattice and then is gone; until the famous declaration of mutual belonging — "My beloved is mine and I am his." Chapter eight lifts love to its highest pitch: love is as strong as death, many waters cannot quench it, rivers cannot sweep it away, and all the wealth of one's house could never buy it. In an age that cheapens love, the Song guards its dignity and exclusivity.

Jewish readers have long heard in this Song the covenant love between the LORD and Israel, and the church has heard the love of Christ for His people — for the New Testament pictures Christ and the church as bridegroom and bride (Ephesians 5:31-32; Revelation 19:7). Read literally, the Song blesses every faithful marriage; read in its larger biblical horizon, it invites us to know the Bridegroom who loved us to death and purchased us at infinite cost. To read the Song is to learn both how to love and how greatly we are loved.