“Henna with nard, nard and saffron, cane and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all chief spices. A garden spring, a well of living waters, and streams from the Lebanon. Awake, O north [wind], and come O south [wind]! Make my garden breathe forth, its spices let flow. Let my Beloved come to His garden, and eat its precious fruit.” (Song of Songs 4:14-16)
The Messianic consciousness will be permanently attached to God's love, as it happens in the inner chamber of the Tabernacle, where the primordial spices, scents and fragrances are burned as the incense that symbolizes Israel's eternal bond with God. Those emanate from the gardens and orchards of the promised new consciousness of eternal life in the living waters from this bond, symbolized again as the Lebanon.
All aspects, levels and dimensions of consciousness will flow in the direction of love's ways and attributes, as the winds that flow from the north and the south. Both represent the duality of evil and good, that in the final redemption will blow in every direction toward the knowledge of God and His love.
This is the garden where Israel's redemption awaits God's love to enter together into the delights of the new consciousness in the Messianic era.
“I have come into My garden, My sister espouse. I have gathered My myrrh with My spice. I have eaten My honeycomb with My honey. I have drunk My wine with My milk. Eat, friends; drink abundantly, beloved ones!” (5:1)
This verse is linked to the last in the previous chapter, for they are related in content and context. God answers Israel's invitation to partake in her hidden garden, and joins her as His espouse and partner for the material world.
In this partaking of the bonding between the two loves, the delights in the Torah are like honey, wine and milk, shared with friends. The latter are the nations also redeemed from their inherent negative traits and trends, now living by the leading ways of the Messianic consciousness inherited by Israel from God. Thus His promised is fulfilled to enter a new stage for humankind in the world.
“I [was] asleep, but my heart [was] awake. The sound of my Beloved knocking! 'Open to Me, My sister, My beloved, My dove, My perfect one. For My head is filled [with] dew, My locks [with] drops of the night'. I have put off my robe, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I soil them? My Beloved sent forth His hand from the portal, and my innards stirred for Him. I rose to open for my Beloved, and my hands dropped myrrh, and my fingers flowing [with] myrrh upon the handles of the lock. I opened for my Beloved, but my Beloved had turned and gone. My soul departed as He spoke. I sought Him, but did not find Him. I called Him, but He did not answer me.” (5:2-6)
Israel as the human conscious self is asleep in the fantasies and illusions of ego's negative predicament. God calls up to Israel's essence, identity, truth and purpose, that encompass His sister, His beloved, His dove and His perfect one, as the bond with His ways and attributes. God looks for Israel to bring her back to His paths, and His call is made in the midst of the darkness (“the night”).
Figuratively speaking, God comes down to darkness “under the dew and rain of the night”.
“In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence redeemed them. In His love and in His compassion He redeemed them, and He bore them, and carried them all the days of the world.” (Isaiah 63:9)
And in the Torah He reminds us this.
“And the Lord your God shall return to your captivity and have compassion for you, and He shall return to gather you from all peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.” (Deuteronomy 30:3)
Israel sleeps dreaming in the exile of materialistic fantasies and illusions, after taking off the robe of her true identity. In her stagnating dreaming state she has difficulty to return to herself. Her nakedness reflects her alienation and assimilation into the nations.
Even coming back to God is a hard and bothering task, for she lives in emptiness and desolation after losing her real self, similar to washing her feet as changing the direction and purpose of her life.
Israel's heart as her love for God remains awaken in spite of living in the vanity and emptiness of ego's materialistic desires. She hears (understands) and feels (by her awareness) God's love as close to her as the knock on her door. The awakened heart wakes her up from her sleep and walks to embrace His affection as He tries to come to her.
She knows that God's call as His love is everywhere and every time, no matter how dark the fantasy, illusion or mirage may be. This awareness is felt by every single fiber of Israel's body that encompasses the entire Jewish people and their nation.
Israel responds bringing her offerings to the Temple destroyed by her choice to rather live in the dark side of human consciousness. The offerings with the spices, fragrances and scents, that symbolize her permanent bond with God, make Him leave her door.
These offerings are tainted by her reluctance to abandon negative fantasies and illusions she knows they can't dwell with God's ways and attributes. They are opposed to the essence she shares with God's love.
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