Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd. When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.
As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.”
After Jacob had stayed with him for a whole month, Laban said to him, “Just because you are a relative of mine, should you work for me for nothing? Tell me what your wages should be.”
Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. Leah had weak eyes, but Rachel had a lovely figure and was beautiful. Jacob was in love with Rachel and said, “I’ll work for you seven years in return for your younger daughter Rachel.”
Laban said, “It’s better that I give her to you than to some other man. Stay here with me.” So Jacob served seven years to get Rachel, but they seemed like only a few days to him because of his love for her.

• Genesis 29:9-20

“S’Wonderful, s’marvelous
You should care for me!
S’awful nice, S’paradise
That’s where I long to be

You’ve made my life so glamorous
Can’t you blame me for feeling amorous!
S’wonderful, s’marvelous
That you should care for me”

• George Gershwin, ‘S Wonderful

“So please be sweet, my chickadee
And when I kiss ya, just say to me
“It’s delightful, It’s delicious, it’s delectable, It’s delirious
It’s dilemma, it’s de-limit, it’s deluxe
It’s de-lovely”

• Cole Porter, It’s De-Lovely

Was Jacob thinking clearly when he first met Rachel?  With Rachel being his favorite, was he ever thinking clearly throughout their marriage?  Leah, the woman with the weak eyes, provided half of Jacob’s sons, including the line that would lead to King David and eventually Jesus.  Leah also produced a daughter, Dinah, for Jacob.

Maybe Jacob would have made a few fewer wrong choices if he took a few deep breaths before charging forward, but, hey, he was in love.

My point in bringing this up and including the Scripture where he openly weeps and kisses Rachel, is that some songs just don’t seem to follow the rules of grammar, enunciation, or spelling.

Gershwin wrote S’Wonderful in 1927 and Porter wrote It’s de Lovely in 1936.  They both made up words.  Gershwin basically used contractions that are not contractions.  Porter is a little creative in that some of the words really have “de-“ at the beginning, but then he gets carried away.

But in making up words, they write wonderful love songs.  It illustrates that the one who is in love has emotions that are so overloaded right now that the words that they know are inadequate.

I found a recording of each, by Ella Fitzgerald.

Here is Ella Fitzgerald singing the George Gershwin song.

Here is Ella Fitzgerald singing the Cole Porter song.

When Ezekiel and Daniel and even the Apostle John saw their visions, some of it made no sense.  Can you have a pearl the size of a city gate?  If you are God, yes, you can.  But maybe John only used the best word available to him at the time.  Each of the prophets that saw fantastic visions saw things that there simply are no words for.

But have you ever had that experience with God that there were no words to describe what you saw or how you felt?  Maybe S’Wonderful (a contraction of It’s Wonderful) might be a good word to use.  And since there is no “de-limit” to the beauty that God can create, maybe De-Lovely fits too.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.