Thought for the Month

"O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely." (Song of Solomon 2:14 NKJV)

Doves can be seen from time to time around the odd dovecote you may see in a British village. Occasionally they are seen among the feral pigeon population in the towns and cities in Britain as well as in other cities in the world where they are mainly viewed as a pest or nuisance.

The dove is first found in the Biblical account of Noah and the flood where Noah sends one out that comes back with an olive leaf to show that the water had almost gone. (Gen.8:11) Perhaps it was the homing aspect which guided Noah to use the dove. But when he sends it out a week later the dove did not return to the ark and Noah realised the land was beginning to return to normal.

Nahum 2:7 uses the mourning of the dove to show the depth of feeling at the death of a loved one. Doves are well‑known for pairing for life. In Nahum it was used to describe the sorrow of the queen and her maids at the death of the king of Assyria and the demise of that once great city, Nineveh. The prophet Isaiah also uses the imagery in chapter 59 and v.11.

Peace is symbolised by the dove which is why it was used to open every Olympic Games from Antwerp, Belgium in 1920 to Seoul, South Korea in 1988 after which they decided not to use real animals but often try and use the symbol of the dove somewhere in the opening ceremony to keep the peace‑loving symbolism going. The very attendance of those nations shows the state of peace between those nations competing.

Diametrically opposed to the dove would be the lion or the leopard. Like Babylon is symbolised by the lion to show her power as the first world empire. (Daniel 7) The opposite in the bird world is the hawk. The hawk is very aggressive to birds like doves and also against each other when they are in their own territory. Hence the expression hawkish. Jacob had to think about how to approach his brother Esau whether in a hawkish or dovish way when he returned to the promised land with his two wives and twelve children.

A dove also symbolises humility, meekness, tenderness and affection. How often God chose those qualities in the men He chose. Was not David a humble shepherd when God was looking for a king to rule his chosen nation? Did not some of the prophets come from humble backgrounds like Amos the herdsman. Were not most of the disciples’ ordinary men of Galilee and fishermen. Was not Jesus brought up as the son of a carpenter and his mother Mary an ordinary young woman, not a princess, albeit of the line of David?

When Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist, at the river Jordan, the spirit of God descended like a dove from heaven saying "This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." (Matt.3:16‑17) What more suitable bird this was to describe someone from the spirit plane and the attributes of this one to be a man of peace, not of war.

In this world we are told to be "harmless as doves." (Matt.10:16) This indicates how we should behave in this world at the present time of division and aggression.

But going back to the mourning dove, mourning is a consequence from the death of a loved one. The Song of Solomon uses the language of the dove to express the love between Christ and the church which is how it is used in chapter 2 and verse 14. John in his epistle shows how Jesus loved us first. (1 John 4:19) It also shows how God loved us in sending his son. (1 John 4:10) But the love match in that Old Testament book shows how that love develops and is reciprocated and over time leads to a blessed state.