The New Testament speaks of love in three dimensions.
• There is the passionate love which speaks of the physical splendors of love making. This is expressed by the Greek word eros (Έρως).
• Then there is affectionate love. This would be the love shared by friends. It carries the idea of being “Kindly affectionate toward one another.” This aspect of love would be expressed by the Greek word pheleo (φελαιο).
• The third expression of love is generally referred to as Godly love and is generally considered the highest level of love. This would be expressed by use of the Greek word agape (αγάπη).
I have mentioned those because the phrase “My soul loves” (הנשמה שלי אוהבת) seems to me in this context to include all of the above. Solomon, rather than starting at the lowest and working upward starts at the apex and then goes on to make all of the Greek ideas about love flow from what he might call “Soul Love.”
In the phrase, “I have found the one my soul loves” the Hebrew word translated as “soul” (אוהב) refers to the innermost core of the person. It I that which gives a person breath and life and is the seat of all emotions and passions.
The Greek words for love look for precision while the Hebrew word for “love” is versatile and can refer to romantic love, familial love, and love from God and can represent all three rolled into one. Hence, the soul-deep love the woman is experiencing is the deepest possible connection and yearning one can feel.
This “soul love” is what God intended when he instituted marriage and commanded that the man and the woman become “one flesh,” i.e., one being. “Soul love” is the most Godlike like love that humanity can experience and it is rare.
It is this “Soul Love that is at the heart of Biblical marriage. Both parties desire each other deeply. Both find rest and peace in no other person than their beloved. They are physically and sexually attracted to each other and freely and without guilt share and enjoy every part of the other’s body. “Soul love” turns experiencing the joy of a God-honoring expression of sexual love into a spiritual experience.
The couple that possess “Soul Love” will always feel a hole in their heart that only the other person can fill and it is only when together do they truly feel complete. When they come together, the world disappears and troubles simply fade away.
This is why when one or the other dies the remaining spouse cries out that something has been ripped from their soul. Something has. It explains why we dream of our beloved; why we cannot wait to see them at the end of the day; and why we smile when we see them as we wake each morning.
When Adam first laid eyes on the woman he essentially said I am now complete and when death takes one of the partners they are no longer complete but following the resurrection He who began the good work in us will bring it to completion. Oh, what a glorious day that will be.
I have a feeling that when the surviving spouse dies it is going to be as if they both awakened in the morning and at the sight of each other a smile is born. So . . . .
When all sorrows has drifted away
At the close of life's long weary day
I'll meet you in the morning with a 'How do you do?'
And we'll sit down by the river and when rapture of the plane is renewed
You'll know me in the morning by the smile that I wear
When I meet you in the morning, in the city that is built four square
I'll meet you in the morning with a 'How do you do?'
And we'll sit down by the river and when rapture of the plane is renewed
You'll know me in the morning by the smile that I wear
When I meet you in the morning, in the city that is built four square
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