“I am my beloved’s and his desire is for me” Song of Solomon 7:10

Three-fold Desire

Desire – The love song of the Bible employs a special word to give depth to the intensity of passion.  Found only three times in the Bible, this word takes on a different nuance in each occurrence.  All three are particularly important if we are going to appreciate the lesson of “desire”.  It’s not always pleasure and enjoyment.

Teshuqah occurs only here and in Genesis 3:16 and 4:7.  In this passage, “desire” describes the passionate longing for the touch of the lover, the physical expectation of pleasure and joy.  But the same word has a darker side.  In Genesis 3:16, this same longing is part of the curse placed on Eve after the Fall.  She will “desire” her husband but he will rule over her.  The same longing that should result in passionate mutual enjoyment and physical fulfillment will become a source of inconsolable disappointment.  No longer will physical intimacy operate only in the realm of mutual trust and shared soul nourishing.  Desire becomes the path of despair.

And then there’s Genesis 4:7.  The even darker side.  Sin “desires” you.  The same intensity that overcomes a lover in the heat of passion describes the longing of Satan to pull his victims into the trap of godless behavior.  Craving passion, fervent to take its prize.  The roaring lion seeking whom it may devour.

It is of more than passing interest that teshuqah is a word that finds a place in these three contexts.  All three have a common element – passionate longing.  But passionate longing alone is never a sufficient guide to proper godly behavior.  Left only in the verse from the Song of Solomon, we might think that a lover’s desire would be enough to justify the relationship.  But when we add the Genesis accounts, we see that desire is only the medium of the message.  And it is the message that matters.

Desire does not sanctify.  It can describe love or a curse or a trap.  The intensity of my feeling is not enough to decide if I am walking in God’s way.  We need more than desire to follow the will of God.