“I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me,” says the bride in the Song of Songs (7:10).

“Desire” is the same word used in Genesis 3:16 and 4:7, both of which describe a desire for authority, domination, rule, a threatening desire.  The bridegroom of the Song reverses the curse: His desire is for His bride, rather than Eve’s desire for Adam; and the bridegroom’s desire is not a manipulative and acquisitive desire but a desire that brings mutual delight to his bride and himself.

The Song of Songs is about the purgation of desire.