Lessons and Meditations From the Song of Solomon
The Song of Solomon has been viewed in many ways. One of the views that persist is that King Solomon is the villain and that there is the shepherd boy, both vying of the love of the Shulamite. However the more I do a study of the Song of Solomon, I feel like the whole love triangle thing may not be the best interpretation because, for one, Solomon wrote the book.
Solomon himself was the second son of David and Bathsheba. Knowing David was a handsome man and Bathsheba was a very pretty woman (though the age gap made David old enough to be Bathsheba's father), David had only loved Bathsheba later in his life and Solomon was that son. Another of Solomon's full siblings was Nathan from whom Mary the earthly mother of Jesus was born from, while from Solomon came forth, Joseph.
When I think of the Song of Solomon and its meaning - this was the reality. Solomon had so many women for political reasons but he could only love one. The Shulamite woman would have fit that picture as that only woman Solomon found special. So I thought about how this odd couple the king who was the shepherd of his people and a Shulamite, a lowly shepherd girl burnt by the sun, she confesses her deformity is a presentation of Christ and the sinner.
The Shulamite sees herself as ugly because the sun had burnt her, she was a poor girl but one day she meets this "shepherd" who is none other than King Solomon. She was different, she was beloved in spite of her not being of royalty, she was the favorite wife of Solomon and he could love no other. The handsome King Solomon saw her differently and gave her the flattery that she did not expect. She fell for him in spite of their differences. He was a handsome young king and she was a shepherd girl who she was dark, she was beautiful but dark so that must have set her apart from every other girl Solomon had. I would say that by the time the other women saw her, she must have been the least attractive but to Solomon's eyes, she was the most attractive of all, perhaps reflecting on her inner beauty rather than her outer beauty. I would lead to believe she also gave birth to Solomon's daughters since Rehoboam was born from his union with Naamah the Ammonitess.
Why I am compelled to believe Solomon was this shepherd boy was because a king is the shepherd of his people. Ecclesiastes 2:4-7 suggests that Solomon himself was also keeping sheep so he was a gardener, a shepherd, and a king. Perhaps while one day he was looking for sheep to add, he meets the Shulamite woman. This was the best moment of his life, the best enjoyment that she was the only love of his life. The view that the shepherd and Solomon are two different people still makes a more confusing interpretation. In my mind, Solomon could not be the villain in his own song but he is the shepherd lover as well to the young woman.
This was also a picture of why godly monogamy is God's plan. I remembered the question that I was asked whether or not Solomon enjoyed having his 1,000 women. In truth, he did not as they all robbed him of the privilege of enjoying true love and most of them may have only agreed to join his harem for power. The Shulamite woman was his only love and no other. He has not written anything for the other women except for this special young woman. It also shows how God and not us provide what is best for us. Sad to say, Solomon went astray for some time with his 999 other women before he ultimately came to repentance of his backsliding as shown in Ecclesiastes.