7-3-2 The Song of Solomon

The Song Of Solomon: Psychology Of Marriage Out Of The Faith

The  Song  of  Solomon  is  the record of Solomon's romance with Pharaoh's  daughter.  Of  course, this was an explicit breach of the  crystal  clear commandment not to marry women from Egypt. He should  have  admired  neither the horses nor the women of Egypt (Song of Solomon  1:9);  yet he begins his Song with an unashamed breach of the command   not  to  desire  either  of  these  things.  The unashamedness of Solomon coupled with his spirituality indicates that  at  this  time he was genuinely convinced that what he was doing  was  deeply  spiritual;  when  in  fact it was completely carnal. He totally ignored his own advice about chosing a spiritual woman as a wife. The girl he loved liked wine- unusual, perhaps, in that culture; she loves him because of his ointment, and he loves her because of her jewellery (Song of Solomon 1:2,3,10; 4:4). He says that deep kissing with her gives the same after effect as drinking enough wine that you talk in your sleep afterwards (Song of Solomon 7:9). It’s all very human and carnal.  

There  is a sharp contrast throughout the Song between Solomon's girlfriend  and  the  " daughters  of Jerusalem" . She begins as a humble  girl  who  recognizes her inferiority to these Israelite girls;  she comments upon the way her skin is darker than theirs (Song  1:5,6), but she asks Solomon to overlook this. She deeply wished  that  Solomon was her brother, i.e. an Egyptian, because in  that  case  their relationship could be much more open, they would  not  be despised because of their love, and Solomon could come  and live in her mother's house back in Egypt (Song of Solomon 8:1,2). Clearly  she  was attracted to Solomon rather than to the God of Israel. In 8:2,3 she seems to be saying ‘I’ll have sex with you, as you offered in 7:12, if you agree to be an Egyptian’ (and 4:16; 5:1,4-6 could imply they did have intercourse). But throughout the Song, Solomon describes her in Jewish terms,  he  likens  her  to many well-known places in Israel: the Heshbon  fishpools,  the tower of Lebanon etc., seeing the way her hair draped over her breasts as reminiscent of how Mount Gilead looked (Song of Solomon 4:1,4). He wanted to  see  her  as  an  Israelite  girl,  and  so that was how she appeared  to  him.  She  even  starts to use similar language in praise of him (Song of Solomon 1:14). Solomon takes her on a tour of Israel (Song of Solomon 4:8), enthusing about the sights, speaking of them as the things  of  " our  land"   (Song of Solomon 2:10-13).  He  wanted  her  to  be  an Israelite,  and  he spoke to her as if she was, assuming that he could  psychologically  and  spiritually dominate her so that he could  have  a little of both- his own carnal fulfilment coupled with spiritual satisfaction. How many times has this been worked out in the experience of a spiritual brother enthusing about the beauty  of  the  Truth and spiritual Israel to an Egyptian girl, who  only  superficially  shares  his enthusiasm, longing in her heart to have him with her in Egypt. 

Solomon saw her as a “paradise”, a garden with rivers and exotic fruits, surrounded by a wall- exactly the language of Eden. And she was a fount of “living waters” (Song 4:12,13,15 RVmg.), the language of Messiah. He saw her as the Kingdom / Eden personified. And yet her response to being described in this way is almost inappropriate- for she invites him to come and eat the fruit of the garden (4:16), exactly after the pattern of Eve destroying Adam. Yet Solomon didn’t want to see this connection; she was the Kingdom to him, just as so many have felt that having their new partner means that nothing, not even the Kingdom, is meaningful any more.  

Solomon  comforted  her  with the thought that he saw her as far more  attractive  than  the  daughters  of Jerusalem, the Jewish girls  whom  he  should  have  been marrying: " As the lily among thorns,  so  is  my  love among the daughters" (Song of Solomon 2:2). Thorns are invariably  connected  with spiritual weakness and rejection; it was  as  if  Solomon  was  saying  that he found the daughter of Pharaoh  spiritually  more attractive than the Jewish girls. This is the basis for the sarcastic comments and tensions between Solomon’s girl and the daughters of Jerusalem. And she  went along with how he wanted to see her: " I am the rose of Sharon,  and  the  lily  of  the valleys" (Song of Solomon 2:1); even though her heart  was  far  away  in Egypt, she described herself in Jewish terms because that was how he saw her; he calls her his " sister" (Song of Solomon 4:9), as if she was actually Jewish- whereas she wanted him to be her Egyptian “brother”. The relationship was doomed from the start. She walked the streets of Jerusalem whilst he was confined in the palace (Song of Solomon 3:2). Her mother moved to Jerusalem from Egypt, but it wasn’t possible for Solomon and her to easily be together in that house (Song of Solomon 3:4; 8:2). When Solomon describes her painted lips as being like a thread of scarlet (Song of Solomon 4:3), he uses two Hebrew words which only occur together in Josh. 2:18, describing how the Gentile harlot Rahab hung the scarlet thread outside her home in order to bring about the salvation of her mother and her family. Solomon wanted to justify his Egytpian girlfriend by comparing her to Gentile Rahab. And such sophistry goes on at the beginning of every relationship that leads to a marriage out of the Faith. 

She sarcastically comments to the Jerusalem girls: “Go forth, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, and behold king Solomon”, and goes on to mock the crown his mother Bathsheba had made for him, wishing instead that he would be under the influence of her mother (Song of Solomon 3:11,4). Her sarcasm turns to angry defence at times, e.g. when she warns the Jerusalem girls not to stir up “my love” (Song of Solomon 2:7)- i.e. ‘Hands off my Solomon!’. In turn, they ask her where Solomon has “turned aside” so that they can come and seek him with her (Song of Solomon 6:1), using a word elsewhere associated with ‘turning aside’ in apostasy to other gods. They in their turn sarcastically comment to her: “Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among women…that we may seek him with thee?” (Song of Solomon 6:1), quoting Solomon’s terms of endearment back to her.  

Solomon boasts that he has many Jewish queens and concubines, but there is only one woman, the Egyptian, that he truly loves (Song of Solomon 6:8,9); he even calls her his “sister”, associating himself thereby with Egypt. Perhaps this tension between the two groups- the Jerusalem women and the Egyptian girl and her family- is behind the enigmatic reference to “the company of two armies” or “the dance of the two camps” (Song of Solomon 6:13). Solomon  went  on  to  say  that the bed he had prepared for the daughters  of Jerusalem he was now giving to his Egyptian bride. The  bed is described in the language of the tabernacle; made of wood,  but  covered with gold and surrounded by silver pillars, with  a mercy seat of purple (Song of Solomon 3:9,10 Heb.). He persuaded himself that  his  marriage to this woman was some kind of expression of spirituality.  The bed was made from cedar brought from Lebanon- and yet the same wood was used for the temple (Song of Solomon 3:9). Such was his dualism. The Song is shot through with allusion to the Law and  tabernacle  rituals; he speaks of making her borders on her clothes  (Song of Solomon 1:11),  probably alluding to the borders of blue to be worn  by  the  faithful  Israelite.  Solomon  wanted her to be a spiritual  woman,  and  he  was  going  to  make her one; many a preacher,   teacher,  husband,  wife,  father, mother,  child,  boyfriend has had to learn the impossibility of this.  He wanted to see her as a spiritual woman, and eventually he became persuaded that she was just this. It seems likely that Solomon wrote down his inspired Proverbs (a result of the wisdom God  gave  him) and the Song about the same time. In Proverbs he uses  the figure of a well of living water to describe spiritual words  and  thinking (Prov.10:11; 13:14; 14:27; 16:22). Yet this is  the  very  figure which he uses concerning his worldly bride (Song of Solomon  4:15).   This   typifies   the   massive  imputation  of righteousness  which  the  Lord  Jesus grants to us, his worldly Gentile bride.

There  are  a  number  of  connections  between the behaviour of Solomon  and  his  girlfriend  in  the  Song  and  Solomon's own warnings against Gentile marriage in Proverbs.  

Yet  Solomon  was  aware, at least theoretically, of the foolish path  he was going down. God had inspired him with the wisdom of Prov. 2:16,17, which warned that wisdom would save a man from the Gentile  woman who made a covenant with the God of Israel in her youth (in order to marry an Israelite, by implication), but soon forgot it. This was exactly, exactly the case of Solomon; yet he just  couldn't  see  the personal relevance of his own wisdom to himself. Solomon could write of the folly of the ruler who oppressed the poor (Prov. 22:16)- and yet do just that very thing. The Proverbs so frequently refer to the dangers of the house of the Gentile woman; yet the Song shows the Egyptian girl dearly wishing that Solomon would come with her into her house. And  Solomon,  just  like  the foolish young man he wrote about, went right ahead down the road to spiritual disaster he so often warned others about. He warns the young man of the dangers of the Egyptian woman who perfumes her bed with myrrh (Prov. 7:16,17)- and then falls for just such a woman (Ps. 45:8). This woman he warns of appears to want to serve Yahweh, and presents herself in the very language of the tabernacle (Prov. 7:14,16,17). And yet Solomon goes and falls for just such a woman. One can only conclude that the more true spiritual knowledge we have, the more prone we are to do the very opposite. Such is our nature.