7-3-3 Psalm 45
Despite all the self-deception and the fact that Solomon was caused to lose his faith by this girl, the whole relationship is typical of that between Christ and the church. Psalm 45 is quoted in the New Testament concerning the marriage of Christ and the church, and yet this has at least some reference to that of Solomon and Miss Egypt (as well as to Hezekiah and Hephzibah). Psalm 45 is subtitled " A song of loves" , using the Hebrew word 'Jedidah', the name of Solomon (2 Sam. 12:25). There are many links between Psalm 45 and the Song of Solomon. The wedding appeared highly spiritual, it seemed as if Solomon would reign for ever (Psalm 45 v.6), and his wife undertook to forsake Egypt and her father's home (Psalm 45 v.10).
The Psalm has many allusions to Joseph, who also married an Egyptian wife (see the links in Psalm 45 v.2,4,5,7,10,14 NIV, 16). So we can see the way Solomon's half-spiritual mind was working: Joseph, peerless servant of Yahweh that he was, married an Egyptian girl, and their children were given the great blessing of being counted as tribes of Israel; so what on earth was wrong with marrying an Egyptian? However, there is another way of looking at Psalm 45. It was evidently written by someone for Solomon; the writer commands the wife to forget her father's house. There is good reason to think that Psalm 45 was written by Solomon's mother Bathsheba and recited at his engagement party, when she crowned him again (Song 3:11).
Prov. 31 was also written by Bathsheba as advice to her son Lemuel (Solomon). In it she seems to be rebuking Solomon for his ways: " What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to them that destroy kings (i.e. women and adultery; surely this was said with a sideways glance at her own relationship with David)" (Prov. 31:3 RVmg). While Solomon was still quite young, i.e. within the lifetime of Bathsheba, she rebuked him for his wayward tendencies. Prov. 31 goes on to describe the ideal wife for Solomon; exactly the opposite of the women Solomon married. We are left to imagine Bathsheba's grief of mind, especially recalling her husband's special pride in Solomon. This was not just a case of protective mother checking out Solomon's girlfriends in a disapproving manner. She knew, through the inspiration of the Spirit as well as her own personal experience, the seriousness of messing with women. And she could see her ever so spiritual son going wrong in this. Her warnings in the same chapter against alcohol were likewise totally disregarded by Solomon in his later search for fulfilment in the flesh (Ecc. 2:3). His alcoholism likewise contradicted his own earlier condemnations of drink as being for the unwise (e.g. Prov. 20:1). Thus by turning to drink he was throwing off his former wisdom, even though his access to it remained with him (Ecc. 2:9; cp. 'But I still believe the Truth, you know'). She pleads with him not to drink lest he “pervert the judgment of any that is afflicted” (:5). And yet on his death, the complaints about his hard oppression of the people indicate that he did just this (due to his taking to drink, according to Prov. 31?). And yet Prov. 31 has Solomon praising his mother for her wisdom; he was proud of his mum, and yet he so miserably disobeyed her. He seems to have a mindset in which he felt it was impossible for him to be disobedient. The all important thing for him was who his parents and pedigree were.
So here was Solomon, brought up in the Truth by parents as devoted to God as could be, yet (one can guess) both outgoing, balanced and with a good sense of fun in family life. Here was Solomon, loving the Truth, deeply appreciating the ways of God, and yet throwing it all away by jut not facing up to his own weakness, not seeing the urgency of his position, the seriousness of sin. Here was Solomon, dead keen on preaching to others, on inspiring Israel to be spiritual, discouraging the youngsters from messing with the girls from the surrounding nations, fulfilling as few others had done God's intention that Israel be a missionary nation, spreading His principles far and wide.
But he failed, utterly failed, to even begin to apply all these things to his own heart. There are copious connections between Solomon's writings: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song; and also between then and the historical record of his life. These serve to demonstrate how he clearly contradicted the principles of the Gospel which he taught both to Israel and the world. One of the clearest examples of this is in Prov. 7:16,17, which describes the bed of the strange (i.e. Gentile) woman with which she allures the simple young Israelite: " I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon" . Yet these are the very descriptions of the bed Solomon shared with Miss Egypt (Song 3:6-10). The young man's heart was made to go astray because of her (Prov. 7:25), and her house led him to death (Prov. 7:27). Miss Egypt caused Solomon's heart to go astray (1 Kings 11:1-4), he built her a house, and her house became an idol temple which destroyed Solomon's faith. Yet Solomon warned the young men of Israel all about this in Prov. 7; and he even pointed out that such a woman would have all the outward trappings of Yahweh worship; she would claim an enthusiasm for keeping peace offerings and vows (Prov.7:14). Solomon was the young man whose picture he was painting. In Ecc. 9:12 he says that he suffered the fate of all men in that soon he would die, he would suddenly be caught like a bird in a snare, although he knew not his time. These are the very ideas of Prov. 7:23 concerning the snaring of the simple young man by the Gentile woman: " As a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life" .
