Reflections on the Song of Solomon

The Song of Solomon is a book where there's some debate on interpretation or even if it was even inspired. The author is obviously Solomon. One interpretation is the three-character interpretation where they call Solomon the villain who's trying to woo away the Shulammite country girl from her shepherd lover. So far, some scholars have insisted that Solomon is not the man the story. They say that Solomon represents Satan, the Shulammite woman is the Christian and the shepherd lover is the Lord Jesus Christ.

The problem with the three character view is that where does the separation even kick in? Also, Solomon's falling into further philandering happened when he was much older. He looked like he was very young and active in the Song of Solomon. The Song doesn't seem to be just about the marriage evening but the marriage life as well. 

Before Solomon became king he may have gone out dressed up as a shepherd. Ecclesiastes 2:7 said that he owned many flocks making him a shepherd. Maybe before Solomon became king he may have been tasked to take care of the flock of his father David. During that time he met the young Shulammite woman whose family was probably employed by David and he's smitten by her. She's certainly not the fairest of the women but she was in Solomon's eyes. This was the beginning of a youthful love before he started his sinning.

Chapter 3 is where Solomon may have started to neglect her. Remember that Solomon already started to sin by marrying Pharaoh's daughter who might have been his second wife. He even built her a house and this may have been the start of a sour relationship. She's neglected and she started to miss him. Solomon who was once a role model in this story became an old pervert who sought to expand his harem. He sought more women and she's neglected. She longed for him and Solomon realized that he's only loved one woman: the Shulammite woman. 

Solomon's biggest mistake was when he started to get more women than he should. Deuteronomy 17:1 already warned that a king should not multiply wives but many of them ignored it anyway. David had several wives and so did Solomon but none of them enjoyed having it in the long run. In fact, both were deprived of the privilege of enjoying true love. Ecclesiastes reveals a miserable and repentant Solomon. David later only had Bathsheba who he stole from Uriah as his only love. Solomon only had the Shullamite woman as his only love.

One lesson that is learned is that be faithful to your spouse. Just reading Proverbs makes me think every time "my son" is addressed it must have been God speaking of Solomon. Remember he asked God for wisdom (1 Kings 3:6-8). God gave Solomon that wisdom. What was sad was that Solomon who had the privilege of learning from God one on one later used all that knowledge for foolish pursuits. Ecclesiastes' message was Solomon's repentance. He may have had read Psalm 51 when he learned about his parents' sinful affair that caused the kingdom to go to turmoil. Bathsheba spoke to Solomon in Proverbs 31 where he's known as King Lemuel. When Solomon disobeyed there were consequences. There's no use envying a womanizer because Solomon became miserable in his womanizing.