Day Forty-Eight -- Eat, drink and be glad -or- Delight in your beloved?

Ecclesiastes 3:1 to Song of Songs 8:14

The Teacher in Ecclesiastes does not give much to live for, and in fact at times says that dead or those who have never been born are better off than the living, as all of life is meaningless.  His message does not seem to get too far beyond "try to enjoy what you've got for the time you've got it."  To build something is folly, for you will have to leave it behind anyway.  Forget about making a name for yourself because you will only be forgotten when you die.  There are a few morsels of wisdom here, but not much to take away.  The book ends with an abrupt admonition to "Fear God and keep his commandments."  The most memorable passage in the whole book (chapter 3, verses 1-8) entered popular culture through Pete Seeger's 1959 song Turn, Turn, Turn which became a big hit for the group The Byrds in 1965.  I actually saw The Byrds perform this in September 1970 at the Fillmore East in the East Village of New York City.  Front row center seats!

The rest of our reading on this day is the Song of Solomon, also known as the Song of Songs.  God is nowhere mentioned in this poetic writing, although both Jewish and Christian apologists have seen it as a metaphor of the love of God for his people, or the union of Christ and the Church.  Well, maybe. . .  That takes a lot of reading into what seems to be a rather passionate, and sometimes mildly erotic, song and dance of earthly love.  Perhaps we just except this as wonderful and mysterious gift from God and move on.