Pray to God (Wis 16:24-16:29)

“Creation,

Serving you

Who made it,

Exerts itself to punish the unrighteous.

In kindness,

It relaxes on behalf of those

Who trust in you.

Therefore at that time also,

Changed into all forms,

It served your all-nourishing bounty,

Aaccording to the desire of those who had need,

Thus your children,

Whom you loved,

O Lord!

Might learn

That it is not the production of crops

That feeds humankind.

But your word sustains

Those who trust in you.

What was not destroyed by fire

Was melted

When simply warmed by a fleeting ray of the sun.

This was to make it known

That one must rise before the sun

To give you thanks.

One must pray to you

At the dawning of the light.

The hope of an ungrateful person

Will melt like wintry frost.

This hope will flow away like waste water.”

Creation serves God by punishing the unrighteous. However, it gives bounty to those whom you love, your children, your sons (οἱ υἱοί σου). People should learn that it is not the production of crops that feeds people, but the word of the Lord (Κύριε) that sustains them. Thus fire can destroy or warm a crop. Therefore, humans should rise in the morning before sunlight to give thanks and pray to God. Otherwise, the hope of an ungrateful person will melt like frost. Their hope will flow away like waste water.

The female lover (Song 1:5-1:6)

Female lover

“I am black.

O daughters of Jerusalem!

I am beautiful,

Like the tents of Kedar,

Like the curtains of Solomon.

Do not gaze at me

Because I am dark.

The sun has gazed on me.

My mother’s sons were angry

With me.

They made me

Keeper of the vineyards.

But my own vineyard

I have not kept.”

This female lover is black but beautiful. Black is beautiful was a major theme of the USA civil rights movement in the 1960s and 1970s. She seems to be taking to the daughters of Jerusalem. These daughters of Jerusalem will be like a Greek chorus in this presentation. Her beauty is like the tents of Kedar. Kedar was the second son of Ishmael, the half brother of Isaac. His descendents known as Kedarites were very strong during the Persian period in the 6th century BCE in the Arabian Peninsula. They were known for their large dark colored tents. Obviously the wonderful curtains of Solomon must have been well known also. She did not want to be stared at. She was dark skinned because her angry brothers made her work in sunlight of the vineyards. However, for some reason, she did not take care of her own vineyard. The allegorical part may be that she, like Israel, had to toil or work other vineyards other than her own, an allusion to the Exile.