Valentine’s Day: Here’s the thing to do. Get some chocolate (dark is good for your heart), pour a glass of wine or water with lemon (equally good for your health) and read the Song of Songs, otherwise known as the Song of Solomon. Romance and love are unparalleled in this age-old text.

“I hear my Beloved.

See how he comes

leaping on the mountains,

bounding over the hills.

My Beloved is like a gazelle,

like a young stag.” Song of Songs 2:8

“Set me like a seal on your heart,

like a seal on your arm.

For love is strong as Death,

jealousy relentless as Sheol.”

Song of Songs 8:6

“How beautiful you are, my love

how beautiful you are!

Your eyes, behind your veil

are doves;

your hair is like a flock of goats

frisking down the slopes of Gilead

Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes

as they come up from the washing…”

Song of Songs 4:1-2

Well, maybe not the same analogies that 21st century people would use. But worth reading, nonetheless!

Stay turned for more on Jael, the hidden murderer in the Book of Judges.