Texts in Conversation
In the Song of Solomon, a woman searches the city at night for her beloved, finds him, and holds him fast. The gospel of John echoes this searching as Mary Magdalene comes to the garden tomb seeking Jesus, finds him, and is told not to hold onto him.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Song of Solomon 3:1
Song of Songs
Hebrew Bible
1 The Beloved about Her Lover: All night long on my bed I longed for my lover. I longed for him, but he never appeared. 2 “I will arise and look all around throughout the town, and throughout the streets and squares; I will search for my beloved.” I searched for him, but I did not find him. 3 The night watchmen found me—the ones who guard the city walls. “Have you seen my beloved?” 4 Scarcely had I passed them by when I found my beloved! I held onto him tightly and would not let him go until I brought him to my mother’s house, to the bedroom chamber of the one who conceived me. 5 The Beloved to the Maidens: I admonish you, O maidens of Jerusalem, by the gazelles and by the young does of the open fields: “Do not awaken or arouse love until it pleases!”
John 20:15
New Testament
11 But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she bent down and looked into the tomb. 12 And she saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’ body had been lying, one at the head and one at the feet. 13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” Mary replied, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have put him!” 14 When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?” Because she thought he was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni” (which means “Teacher”). 17 Jesus replied, “Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
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Notes and References
"... In the Song of Songs, the garden is identified with the body and person of the female lover. Mary's search for the body of Jesus echoes the search of the lover for the beloved in Song of Songs 3:1–4. This passage depicts the woman searching for the one whom her soul loves but not finding him, calling him but receiving no answer. She asks the sentinels of the city, “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” She then finds him, holds him, and declares that she will not let him go until she brings him into her mother's house. The verb “to seek” appears four times in these verses. Other parallels between the Song of Songs and John 20 include the use of the verb parakypto to mean “peering in” (John 20:5; Song of Solomon 2:9) and the emphasis on spices associated with both gardens (John 19:39 and Song of Solomon 1:12; 3:6; 4:6, 10; 5:1, 13). These parallels suggest that Mary Magdalene symbolizes the beloved in the Song of Songs, the spouse of the New Covenant that is mediated by Jesus in his glorification, and the representative figure of the New Israel which emerges from the new creation ..."
Reinhartz, Adele
Befriending the Beloved Disciple: A Jewish Reading of the Gospel of John
(p. 108) Continuum, 2001
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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