Why is Jesus called the Rose of Sharon?
The lines “I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys” are found in the Song of Songs 2:1. Both Jews and Christians have always struggled with the question of why the Song of Songs (a short collection of love poetry) ever got included in our Holy Scriptures. (One scholar has gone so far as to write, “The problem with the Song of Songs is to find some honest reason why it should be in the Bible.”) The most common answer to this problem has been to view these poems as an allegory: in Jewish tradition, they are most often interpreted as representing God and Gods love for the chosen people; in Christian tradition, as Jesus and his love for the Church. Thus, in Christian understanding, the names applied to the characters are applied to Jesus as well because this passage is interpreted as foretelling Jesus’ mission. — Eli Fisher Associate Editor of Alive Now The Upper Room Eli Fisher, Associate Editor of Alive Now, is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, and lives in Pulaski, Tennessee, w
