Chapter Six:

THE BACKGROUND OF THE SONG OF SONGS

Solomon the "Heir Apparent"

Most commentators seem to forget that Solomon was anointed king over Israel, and addressed as such, well before David's death (1 Kings 1:38-53; 1 Chronicles 29:22-28). Moreover, Solomon not only had great monetary wealth, but flocks and herds, horses, gardens, parks and orchards, men-servants and maidservants -- not only from his own efforts then or later (Ecclesiastes 2:48; 2 Chronciles 9:22-28, etc.), but from whatever he inherited from his father David (1 Chronicles 29:28). His interest in such things makes his imagery perfectly natural. Finally, his later love of vocal music (Ecclesiastes 2:8) is consistent with his ability as a poet-composer (if we remember music in antiquity was primarily either dance music or sung verse).

Solomon, upon officially assuming the throne after David's death, described himself as a "little child" or "youth" (in Hebrew, na`ar katon -- 1 Kings 3:7). David called him "young and inexperienced" when he was anointed by David the second time (1 Chronicles 29:1). We are not told in the Bible how old Solomon was when he became "sole regent", but we know he ruled forty years as such (1 Kings 11:42; 2 Chronicles 9:30). To be considered a "youth", he must reasonably have been between twenty and thirty when he began his sole reign. These ages are the biblical benchmarks for adult accountability (Numbers 1:3; 14:29) and adult responsibility (Numbers 4:3; Luke 3:23).

Solomon began the Temple in the fourth year of his sole reign (1 Kings 6:1). Twenty more years passed before he finished the Temple and his own palace (1 Kings 9:10; 2 Chronicles 8:1). It was after this that the Queen of Sheba came to test his wisdom (1 Kings 10:1-13; 2 Chronicles 9:1-12).

While Solomon was accounted wise before (and after!) God appeared to him at Gibeon, he would not have so impressed the Queen were he not of full mental maturity (and had had time to accumulate his great wealth). This confirms the Queen arrived when Solomon was in his middle age, when his vast wisdom, experience and resources were combined to best advantage. This does not fit the circumstances of the Song of Songs, as we will see.

When Did Solomon Marry Shulamith?

If Proverbs represents Solomon the middle-aged father, and Ecclesiastes represents Solomon the disillusioned elder, the Song of Songs represents Solomon the young man. Its perfect balance between intense sexuality and idealistic spirituality suggests a median age between 20 and 30. It is not for nothing that the years between 24 and 26 are often recommended (for men) as the best age for marriage.

Did Solomon marry Shulamith when David was still alive, or afterward? We see Bathsheba at his wedding, but not David (Song 3:11), seemingly indicating David was no longer alive. Yet David, toward the end of his life, was so housebound by illness that he was unaware of political events threatening Solomon and Bathsheba (1 Kings 1:1, 11-21). His official coronation of Solomon was his last, necessary public appearance (1 Chronicles 28, 29). Neither do we see David's impending or recent death clouding the happiness of the royal newlyweds. All of this indicates David was on his deathbed either well before or well after the events described in the Song of Songs. Other passages must indicate to us which is the case.

Solomon made a political marriage with Pharaoh's daughter soon after he ruled in David's stead, after his kingdom was "firmly established" and some time before his fourth year (1 Kings 2:46; 3:1; 6:1). As we will see, "the Shulamith" cannot be Pharaoh's daughter, and Shulamith was Solomon's only wife in the period described by the Song. Moreover, the Song portrays Solomon as being relatively free from weight of care, and looking forward to his full assumption of responsibility (Song 6:12). As a prince, Solomon was free to pursue personal interests (such as shepherding and agriculture). Solomon the judge and "career-oriented" king appears only upon his reign in David's stead (1 Kings 2:12-4:34, etc.). This would rule out a courtship and wedding after David's death.

Solomon, though, would already have begun to assume a number of responsibilities (especially in planning for the Temple) after being anointed king "the second time" (1 Chronicles 29:22-25). His freedom from (and anticipation of) these responsibilities suggests a marriage before his second anointing, but after the events described in 1 Kings 1.

God's promises (and warnings) to Solomon give us another clue. David died after a righteous life of seventy years, beginning his reign in his thirtieth year (2 Samuel 5:4; 1 Chronicles 29:27-28). God promised that if Solomon followed David's righteous example, God would "lengthen his days" (1 Kings 3:14). If Solomon ruled in David's stead at age thirty, he would have matched David's length of life exactly. When Solomon obeyed God as David did (1 Kings 3:3), he had every reason to expect to live at least as long.

Solomon's later disobedience not only took from him God's blessing (and most of Israel from his son); it likely shortened his physical life (I Kings 11:1-13). When he described life as "vanity" (Hebrew hevel) in Ecclesiastes, he was not only describing its meaninglessness and futility, but its temporary nature. This attitude would fit the picture of Solomon dying before his allotted "threescore and ten" (Psalm 90:10). This would reasonably indicate (in round figures) an age between sixty and seventy at his death.

If Solomon died at sixty years old, the beginning of his sole reign would have been at twenty, which would have put his "co-regency" with David in his teens. The maturity and sexual self-control of Solomon as portrayed in the Song of Songs, and his being called a "wise man" (ish hakham, 1 Kings 2:9) just before David's death, would seem to deny this. We think that Solomon most likely died between sixty-five and seventy years old, placing the beginning of his sole regency at between twenty-five and thirty. This would put Solomon's "co-regency" in his early to mid-twenties, yet still allow him to call himself a "little child" when he began his sole reign.

We believe Solomon rededicated himself to God and His commandments in the end, though the penalties of his errors were not removed (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). If so, Solomon's age at death was likely omitted by the Chroniclers out of respect for his repentance and lifelong achievements. Had his age at death been noted, it may have marred (by comparison with David's age at death) the biblical "overview" of the tremendous good Solomon accomplished, both materially and spiritually (cf. Ecclesiastes 12:9-10). Of course, it might have been omitted (assuming that Solomon actually outlived David) to avoid misleading comparisons with his righteous father; but this would contradict the other indications we have seen so far.

Solomon the Young Lover

The relationship described in the Song demands not only spiritual people, but also the right physical circumstances. Only one period of Solomon's life had the right material and spiritual circumstances in place at the right time: the period after Solomon was anointed king by David in 1 Kings 1, but before David's death (and just before and after Solomon's second anointing, as we will see). This too confirms our estimate of Solomon's age at marriage as indicated by other factors.

Would the maturity (and self-restraint) Solomon showed on his wedding night demand that he married relatively late (at least at age thirty)? We doubt it. "The Preacher" -- Solomon -- advised the young to rejoice in their fleeting youth (Ecclesiastes 11:9-10). Moreover, the love expressed in the Song of Songs has the bloom of youth, of springtime (in nature and in the normal human lifespan). The Lovers' wedding night is filled with rich passion, even if their lovemaking has an otherworldly purity about it! We believe it was the Holy Spirit -- a spirit of power, love and self-control (2 Timothy 1:7) -- as well as ther personal compatibility of the Lovers, that transformed their sexuality from a selfish physical drive to an act of ultimate sharing.

Barring proof to the contrary, then, we think that Solomon married Shulamith in his early to mid-twenties. We think too that Solomon wrote the Song itself before he was thirty years old; like the music of the young Mozart, the Song has the stamp of youthful genius. Such qualities are not found in Proverbs, Ecclesiastes or the sagacious Psalm 127 (the latter probably written when Solomon had become a father of several children). Like these other works, though, the Song of Songs has the flavor of being written "on the spot" -- shortly after Solomon experienced the events he describes.1

Who Did Solomon Marry?

Who then is the Dear One? Even those who hold that the Song is a unified work differ among themselves. Some few suggest Pharaoh's daughter, citing Shulamith's "black" skin and dark hair as proof (Song 1:5-6; 7:5). Some suggest the Queen of Sheba, who alone seems (to some) a mental and social "match" for Solomon; others, the lovely Abishag the Shunammite (1 Kings 1:3-4). Still others say that Shulamith was none of these, but a country shepherdess not elsewhere mentioned in the Bible.

A Queen, a Princess, and a Concubine

The oft-alleged, oft-celebrated love between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba seems to us apocryphal. 1 Kings 10:13 and 2 Chronicles 9:12 tell us the Queen returned to Sheba, something she would not have done were she wedded to Solomon.2 Moreover, even the most far-reaching assumptions about the "role-playing" Solomon and the Queen might have done as lovers cannot account for the descriptions of Shulamith's home life, which fits that of a young woman raised in the Israelite countryside. Finally, all the other indications point to Solomon marrying Shulamith when he was still young, not middle-aged.

Pharaoh's daughter became Solomon's wife (via a political alliance) after Solomon became sole regent, a time which does not fit the freedom from royal responsibility which the Song implies. Again, Pharaoh's daughter would know little or nothing of Israelite country life, especially since she lived in the city of David (1 Kings 3:1). Certainly she would not require Israelite artisans to make jewels for her (cf. Song 1:10-11)!

Moreover, Pharaoh's daughter is not cited with approval by the Chronicler, who writes from the perspective of true religion (1 Kings 11:1). Moreover, such a woman (more because of her unconversion than her Gentile heritage) would not be a fitting type of God's people, the kehal ha'Elohim. And so the reference to "a mare of Pharaoh's chariots" (Song 1:9) is no proof of Shulamith's Egyptian origin (though it confirms young Solomon was a well-traveled man, or at least a well-heeled one).

Solomon's politically "wise" (but spiritually foolish) marriage to Pharaoh's daughter began the long series of marriages which netted him 700 wives and 300 concubines -- the women who eventually turned Solomon's heart from YehaVeh (1 Kings 11:14; cf. Ecclesiastes 7:26-28). All these marriages had a political background (it is generally conceded), however much "Solomon clung to these in love" (le'ahava, "to love" in the sense of sexual infatuation; cf. 1 Kings 11:2; Ecclesiastes 2:8, NIV).3 All of these women were non-Israelites (and pagans); none of them are possible candidates as the Dear One.

Abishag the Shunammite has much in her favor, beginning with the similarity between "the Shulamith" (haShulamit) and "the Shunammite" (haShunamit). Yet a closer similarity lies between the names of Solomon (shelomo) and Shulamith, both taken from shalom ("peace").

Abishag, chosen out of all Israel for her youthful beauty, was the "Miss Israel" of her day. As she was King David's concubine (even if the king "knew her not"), a claim to her by one of David's sons would imply that this son was the rightful heir to the throne. It was just such a request to marry Abishag by Adonijah that cost him his life at Solomon's command (1 Kings 2:13-25).

Roberta Kells Dorr has written a very beautiful historical novel, Solomon's Song, based on the assumption that Shulamith was Abishag the Shunammite.4 In Dorr's rendition of events, Solomon married Abishag after he slew Adonijah. As plausible as the idea may seem, we must reject it -- for it leads the commentator contrary to the indications of the Bible itself.

Why Abishag is Not Shulamith

First, the time immediately after David's death (when Solomon was forced to confirm his throne with strong political action) simply does not fit the relaxed circumstances described in the Song of Songs. The Song implies Solomon was still looking forward to his full kingship when he married Shulamith (Song 6:12). (To be fair, only the original melody could prove that this verse is spoken by Solomon, not Shulamith, or that it shows him looking forward to anything.)

Moreover, Solomon could reasonably have married Abishag shortly after David's death (even before he slew Adonijah) out of political wisdom if not personal interest. Yet such a marriage is nowhere mentioned by the Chronicler, not even as an afterthought. Were Abishag the same as Shulamith, she would surely have been at least as important a personage as Pharaoh's daughter or the Queen of Sheba (and loved far more than either). Instead, she is but a pawn in a political chess game (for which one can only pity her).

"Shunammite" means "an inhabitant of Shunem", a town at the foot of Mt. Moreh on the northern edge of the Valley of Jezreel in northern Israel. The area would certainly fit some of the Song's descriptions (though not all, as we will see). Moreover, Shunem was a regionally important town, an appropriate place for Solomon to meet his future bride.

Yet we find that Solomon's wedding procession (after his visit to Shulamith's "home town") comes toward Jerusalem from the desert (haMidbar, Song 3:6): according to local usage, from the area east, not north of Jerusalem. (The same term is used in Song 8:5.) A procession from the Jezreel Valley would have come either over the main road in the hill country, or via Megiddo, then up the ascent from the coastal plains. A trip from Shunem eastward, then south through the Jordan Valley, would needlessly expose the party to the hottest and most difficult possible journey.

Most important: Abishag was taken into the royal court before Solomon was made king; Shulamith, after (cf. 1 Kings 1:4, 15-17, 28-39 with Song 1:4). It cannot be King David who is taking Shulamith into his courts (where she would see Solomon for the first time) in Song 1:4; the "king" (in the musical context) is the Loved One. "The king has taken me into his chambers" marks a transition between Shulamith's reactions upon first meeting Solomon and upon seeing him in his royal splendor "at home". It certainly does not mark a "flash-forward" to the Lovers' wedding night, as so many commentators have assumed.

Could Shulamith have simply been another girl from Shunem?5 Hardly, for the geographical reasons stated above (and below). They indicate Shulamith grew up east of Jerusalem, not in Shunem where Abishag spent her early life.

The Dear One (Shulamith) must therefore have been a "commoner", one not mentioned outside the Song of Songs. If Abishag did not abuse her royal trust, Shulamith's refusal even to enter the royal "beauty contest"6 says at least as much about her character and that of her brothers (cf. Song 8:8-10).

The Order of the Song's Images

Many commentators (and R.K. Dorr) assume that the Song of Songs is like a "photo album" -- one in which the photos are arranged out of chronological sequence. This means that sections which follow one another in the poem are not necessarily connected either temporally or geographically. Thus (for example) Shulamith's anxious search for Solomon (Song 3:15) and the wedding (Song 3:6-11) are unconnected in Dorr's novel, either in place or in time. This assumption makes possible all sorts of theories as to the time and place of each section (none of them verifiable, save via a preconceived framework).

Commentators compound the problem when they assume the word dod (meaning physical love or affection) means the same thing everywhere it is used. Thus Song 1:2-4 is commonly assumed to refer to Shulamith's anticipation (perhaps tinged with fear) on the wedding night -- because dod (used here) is assumed to refer to full lovemaking. The following verses are then assumed to be a flashback to early courtship. In fact dod in these verses refers merely to Solomon's affectionate touches. The spiritual element completely dominates the carnal in Shulamith's longing, and only later blends with it in the fusion of marital Love.

Viewed through the optic of the te`amim, the Song is more like a series of video clips in mostly chronological order (save for "flashbacks" or changes in "camera angle" inserted to illustrate present events). This makes it possible to show where Shulamith most likely spent her childhood.

Shulamith of Gilead

The reference to "the dance of Mahanaim" made by Shulamith (Song 7:1, Hebrew versification), with the references to mountains, hills, valleys, "clefts of the rock" and "coverts of the cliff" (Song 2:8, 14; etc.), the flocks and herds of Gilead (Song 4:1; 6:5), and the wild and domestic plants and trees found near Shulamith's home, all point to Gilead east of Jordan as her domicile. Nowhere near Shunem, not even at nearby Mt. Moreh, do we find together all the plants, animals and features of the terrain which surround Shulamith in the Song of Songs.

Gilead had in biblical times an abundance of grazing land, hills suitable for forests, orchards and vineyards, and valleys and springs suitable for figs and flowers. Its steep valleys also have rocks and crags where doves and pigeons still nest. Turtledoves still migrate in large flocks to Israel and Jordan each spring, where they nest in trees. Moreover, the phrase "the mountains of Bether" (Song 2:17, KJV) suggests haBitron, "the Cleft" or "the craggy country" east of Jordan through which Abner and his men passed to reach Mahanaim (2 Samuel 2:29; cf. Appendix 1).

Quite possibly, Shulamith grew up in or near Mahanaim, which was set in haBitron: the valley of the River Jabbok. Geographical references of course abound in the Song (from all over the land under David's rule); but the Song's sequence of events points to Solomon's trip out to, then back from a town east of Jerusalem (Song 2:8-3:6) -- a town set in a physical terrain befitting that of Mahanaim. Thus Solomon's wedding procession would have gone from Mahanaim south through the plains of Jordan,7 then turned west to go through the desert "wilderness" to Jerusalem. In David's day, Abner and his men made the same sort of journey in reverse, from the hills north of Jerusalem to Mahanaim (2 Samuel 2:29). Both parties followed the shortest route available to them between Jerusalem and Mahanaim.

Shulamith's Family

Shulamith is called a "prince's daughter" by her admirers (Song 7:2, Hebrew versification). Though this was after her marriage as Solomon's "queen", the compliment no doubt was meant to reflect her beauty and bearing rather than her descent or original social status. Still, since Shulamith was made "keeper of the vineyards" by her brothers (Song 1:6), we may surmise her family owned a prosperous farm and vineyard near Mahanaim. Beyond that, the family no doubt "feared God, and kept His commandments", and obtained blessings thereby (cf. Psalm 112).

Mahanaimwas for a time the capital of the northern House of Israel (2 Samuel 2:8-10), no doubt chosen for its social and religious as well as its strategic importance (cf. Genesis 32:1, English versification). When David fled from Absalom, he took refuge in Mahanaim, where leaders from the surrounding area brought him and his men food (2 Samuel 17:24). Did this begin the chain of events that brought Solomon and Shulamith together?

Most likely Song 8:11 (as we will see) refers to how the Lovers first met. In the large-scale poetic structure of the Song, Song 1:5-7 parallels 8:11-12. The first passage notes Shulamith's work as "keeper of the vineyards". The second notes that Solomon had a vineyard (let out to "keepers") at "Baal-hamon", a place not otherwise mentioned in the Bible. It is tempting to think that Shulamith's family was a tenant on this property, and that it was somewhere near Mahanaim.8

C. A Marriage "Made in Heaven"..."Gone to Hell"?

Our wry question reflects our perplexity -- and our concern. We are told nothing of Shulamith outside the Song of Songs. We know nothing of whether she died in her youth, or whether she lived to see any of Solomon's long decline into polygamy and idolatry.9 We read of two of Solomon's daughters, Taphath and Basemath, who married two of Solomon's officers (1 Kings 4:11, 15).10 Rehoboam was not the son of Shulamith (nor of Abishag, Pharaoh's daughter or the Queen of Sheba, for that matter), but of Naamah the Ammonitess (1 Kings 14:21).

Did Shulamith die giving birth, as R.K. Dorr thinks? And what of her other intriguing questions? I offer my own replies, as far as the biblical melos indicates them.11

Was Solomon's polygamy an effort to recapture a lost love? It was certainly the result of Solomon's "political wisdom", which would have eventually destroyed his relationship with Shulamith (had she lived long enough). Perhaps the loss of true love led to false wisdom -- or was it the reverse? Certainly Shulamith's prophetic plea for Solomon's fidelity in Song 8:6-7 tells us that she foresaw Solomon's possible future, and also her living long enough to see it begin to come to pass.12 How long? We are not told.

Was then the Song written to commemorate Solomon's original, pure love? Of course -- but there is no nostalgia in it (only an ongoing, living relationship), though there may be a foreshadowing of loss in its references to death (Song 8:6).

Was the Song preserved and canonized because of its unique poetic value? Yes, but that was a secondary or even tertiary factor. Its use of the sacred te`amim proves it was conceived as a spiritual work with a particular lesson. This lesson -- not the undeniable beauty of the poetry or its imagery of springtime -- is why the Song of Songs is in the Bible, and read at Passover (the time of God's "courtship" with the kehal ha'Elohim in both Testaments).

Was the Song then a unifying factor between the northern and southern tribes? If anything, the influence went in the other direction. Certainly the language is what one would expect from the time of the United Kingdom (when northern and southern dialects intermingled). But that political unity was based on Solomon's kingship under God, not on his marriage to a northern commoner (nor even his commemoration of that marriage). When Solomon broke faith with God, that unity was broken also.

Remember, Shulamith (from all indications) was not from Shumen, but Gilead: not just from the north country, but from east of Jordan -- the geographically most isolated area of Israel. Often the tribes east of Jordan found themselves on the outside of mainstream Israelite life. They were (one might say) the "hillbillies" of their time, despite the importance of Mahanaim in Israel's history. Shulamith's background may or may not have been beneficial in promoting national unity (though it would have helped the Gileadites, perhaps), and Solomon did not marry her for that reason anyway.

So did this "marriage made in Heaven" "go to Hell" (She'ol, "the Grave") when Shulamith died? Or did she have to endure the slow erosion of her marriage because of Solomon's choices -- and perhaps die of a broken heart? Either way, Shulamith's own "prophecy" about Love and its handmaiden, Zeal -- together "strong as Death, cruel as the Grave" (Song 8:6) -- foreshadows her own death. Whether she died in her youth or in later years, we are simply not told -- though we think the former is more likely.

In any case, the melos which follows this "prophecy" takes the Lovers into an innocent, sexual happiness untouched, unsullied by time or sin. When the Song ends, the typology of the Lovers' relationship ends with it -- for the Divine-plane "Loved One" (YehaVeh) emained faithful to His Bride. It was the Divine-plane "Dear One" (Israel) who went astray. The repair of that breach is what the New Covenant (as the Hebrew-Christian Scriptures describe it) is all about.

FOOTNOTES

1. Solomon's second anointing as king seems implied in Song 6:8-10 -- which explains the presence of "queens" and "concubines" (and Israelite "maidens") at a formal public ceremony. See our discussion in Chapter 11.
2. Even aside from the principles of God's law, the Queen could hardly be merely Solomon's "lover", were she Shulamith! The Song describes a marital relationship.
3. In those days it was good diplomacy for a king to allow his foreign wives to worship their own gods, at their own sanctuaries. Caught between political obligation to his new allies and the desires of his new bedmates, Solomon no doubt found his thousand women "more bitter than death" (Ecclesiastes 7:26-29).
4. Roberta Kells Dorr, Solomon's Song (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989).
5. Could there have been two girls of such beauty in the same small town?
6. But remember, this "contest" did not bring Shulamith to Jerusalem. Solomon was crowned king the first time after Abishag arrived, and brought Shulamith into his "chambers" after that, on his own initiative. His second crowning apparently followed his marriage (Song 6:8-10).
7. The trip would have been shorter and less difficult than a trip from Shunem.
8. The word hamon generally refers to "sound, murmur, roar, crowd, abundance" (BDBG). "Possessor of abundance" (which is what the name most likely means) would certainly fit the context in Song 8:11; this is, after all, Solomon's vineyard.
9. As we note in the main text, however, Shulamith's plea for Solomon's loyalty in Song 8:6-8 certainly presages this decline -- especially with its references to love (and Love), jealousy (which is "cruel as the grave"), "the very flame of the Eternal", and the endurance and priceless value of true Love.
10. "Taphath" (tapat) seems related to taf, "child, children" (as taking little steps); "Basemath" (basmat) may mean "perfume" (BDBG).
11. Dorr, op. cit., pp. 321-322.
12. Notice the references in 8:6-7 to love (and Love), jealousy (which is "cruel as the grave"), and "the very flame of the Eternal" which "many waters" cannot quench.

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