Shulammit: queen 61, concubine 81

Koot van Wyk (Dlitt et Phil; ThD) Visiting Professor, Kyungpook National University, Sangju Campus, South Korea, Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College, Australia

In our own times you have to think what you know about prince Charles and what recent analysis reveal about Lady Diana. A number of youtube.com are available on this topic and it does not take you long to realize, if you land in the Book of Songs of Solomon, that you are really into the diaries of prince Charles and Lady Diana.

Many scholars in the past were very romantic, and still are, about Shulamit and her relationship with her lover Solomon. They even compare the relationship of the bridegroom with that of Christ and the relationship of the bride with that of the church.

But where you should start reading the Song of Solomon?

With the biography of Solomon and it is not impossible that the Books of Kings were composed with documents and sources from the palace by the prophet Isaiah who was a professor of history in the palace in his earlier years. The style sometimes resemble that of Isaiah and the focus is not so much on history but a king’s relationship with God. There are two chapters giving us a glimpse about Solomon before we start considering reading the Song of Solomon. 1 Kings 10 is a record of the fame of Solomon, the wow chapter and 1 Kings 11 is a record of the fall of Solomon, the oops chapter. Welcome to prince Charles. “Now king Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian and Hittite women from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the sons of Israel, ‘You shall not associate with them, neither shall they associate with you for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods. Solomon held fast to these in love.” The end. That is enough. More we do not need and from now it is no longer imagination but data about Solomon that will color our interpretation of the Song of Solomon. Isaiah says that if you want to talk about Solomon, it is not a clean picture but dirty laundry.

Let Solomon speak and the composer of the diaries of Solomon brought together with the diaries of Shulammit gave the following honest words of Solomon:

“There are 60 queens and 80 concubines and maidens without number. . . ” (Song of Solomon 6:8)

“שִׁשִּׁים הֵמָּה מְלָכוֹת, וּשְׁמֹנִים פִּילַגְשִׁים; וַעֲלָמוֹת, אֵין מִסְפָּר“

Solomon said about his palace harim, there are 60 over there and 80 more and many more laboring slaves among the palace personnel and then he continues to uplift Shulammit as unique among them:

“My dove, my undefiled, is but one; she is the only one of her mother; she is the choice one of her that bore her.”

“אַחַת הִיא, יוֹנָתִי תַמָּתִי--אַחַת הִיא לְאִמָּהּ, בָּרָה הִיא לְיוֹלַדְתָּהּ“ (Song of Solomon 6:9).

No, some would argue, there is no relation here. Stop. The last part of the verse says that the queens and concubines and maidens saw her and they praised her.

“The daughters saw her, and called her happy; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her” “רָאוּהָ בָנוֹת וַיְאַשְּׁרוּהָ, מְלָכוֹת וּפִילַגְשִׁים וַיְהַלְלוּהָ“ (Song of Solomon 6:9b).

Many people are insisting that as long as you follow the Scriptures you are on the right path. We need to qualify though: as long as you follow the faithful paths of the Lord depicted and outlined in the Scriptures, you are on the right path. Just because an incident is recorded in the Scriptures does not make it right. There are murders, theft, adultery, and all the crimes you can think of recorded in the Bible as well as incidents of LGBTQ. Just because they are recorded in the Bible does not make it correct, you need to be Spirit-filled by conversion to have the eyes of faith to look at the faithful people as samples to emulate and avoid Satan and his cronies in the Great Controversy that is one of the Leitmotifs of the Scriptures.

That Shulammit made a mistake by herself and is not the innocent virgin girl that she is sometimes portrayed by interpreters can be seen in her counsel to young virgins: “I want you to swear, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not arouse or awaken love until she pleases”

“הִשְׁבַּעְתִּי אֶתְכֶם, בְּנוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָם:  מַה-תָּעִירוּ וּמַה-תְּעֹרְרוּ אֶת-הָאַהֲבָה, עַד שֶׁתֶּחְפָּץ“ (Song of Solomon 8:4). Did she arouse love before love pleases? Let us go back to Shulammit’s first love for Solomon.

“May he kiss me with the kisses of his mouth” “יִשָּׁקֵנִי מִנְּשִׁיקוֹת פִּיהוּ“ (Song of Solomon 1:2). Beautiful, you may say. Typical of lovers in the dating times. Wait a second. Look at the last part of verse 3: “. . .therefore do the maidens love you” “עַל-כֵּן, עֲלָמוֹת אֲהֵבוּךָ“ (Song of Solomon 1:3c). Solomon is loved by maidens in the palace and is this just your handsome boy that is popular in the eyes of all girls? Is he the handsome young man that walk upright and smile and all girls but keep himself for only one? What did Isaiah say in 2 Kings above? “Solomon held fast to these in love.” Is only Solomon the one to be blamed for his excessive womanizing tendencies?

Solomon was eating at his table when Shulammit appeared with her beauty and perfume: “While the king sat at his table, my perfume sent forth its fragrance” “עַד-שֶׁהַמֶּלֶךְ, בִּמְסִבּוֹ, נִרְדִּי, נָתַן רֵיחוֹ“ (Song of Solomon 1:12). As she passed by and he smelled her he noticed her beauty and said: “How beautiful you are my darling. How beautiful you are. Your eyes are doves” “הִנָּךְ יָפָה רַעְיָתִי, הִנָּךְ יָפָה עֵינַיִךְ יוֹנִים“ (Song of Solomon 1:15). That was at the table. Solomon was the one in power and the prince ordered her to follow him to a couch. It is not said in the Bible but one verse further she was sitting with him on a couch when she said to him with female charm: “How handsome you are my beloved, so pleasant. Indeed our couch is luxuriant” “הִנְּךָ יָפֶה דוֹדִי אַף נָעִים, אַף-עַרְשֵׂנוּ רַעֲנָנָה“ (Song of Solomon 1:16). She is aware of the expensive taste of Solomon and caught up in the moment of romance.

Shulammit then brought out the irony without even knowing it saying that “the beams of our houses are cedars” “קֹרוֹת בָּתֵּינוּ אֲרָזִים“ (Song of Solomon 1:17). Many may say that Shulammit is already married to Solomon here and she is talking about the Winter and Summer palace of the kings of those days and both palaces have beams of cedar. Not so. It is rather a reference to her own cottage that is made of cedar together with the other members of the “our” whose cottages (notice the plural for houses connected to “our” as pronominal affix) are also of cedar. Shulammit is one of many maidens, all of whom Solomon loved as Isaiah pointed out in the Book of Kings.

Concubine 81 or queen 61 had strong passions for Solomon even though she had to share her love with so many others. Shulammit said “On my bed night after night I sought him whom my soul loves. I sought him but did not find him” “עַל-מִשְׁכָּבִי, בַּלֵּילוֹת, בִּקַּשְׁתִּי, אֵת שֶׁאָהֲבָה נַפְשִׁי; בִּקַּשְׁתִּיו, וְלֹא מְצָאתִיו“ (Song of Solomon 3:1). Agony. She wanted him but could not find him. Where is he? Separated, scholars would say. Of course. Why? He is in the army and doing mandatory military service. One almost agree with them. Shulammit went out in the night into the city to look for him in the streets and squares. “I must seek him whom my soul loves” “אָקוּמָה נָּא וַאֲסוֹבְבָה בָעִיר, בַּשְּׁוָקִים וּבָרְחֹבוֹת“ (Song of Solomon 3:2). She sought him but could not find him. She was overcame with passion. The craziness of passion gone wild. This is Shulammit. Why? Just army service? The police who did the security in the nightwatch saw her and asked her what she is doing there “The watchmen that go about the city found me: “Have you seen him whom my soul love?” “מְצָאוּנִי, הַשֹּׁמְרִים, הַסֹּבְבִים, בָּעִיר:  אֵת שֶׁאָהֲבָה נַפְשִׁי, רְאִיתֶם“ (Song of Solomon 3:3). Apparently one of the police officers ran and inform Solomon that a beautiful girl was looking for him. He came quickly and when she saw him “I held on to him and would not let him go” “אֲחַזְתִּיו, וְלֹא אַרְפֶּנּוּ“ (Song of Solomon 3:4). She was out of control but her fears and uncertainty subsides by holding him. Then she brought him to her mother’s house. It was a great mistake, this overcoming with the anxiety of passion uncontrolled where she threw herself into his arms, basically pleading to become queen 61 and concubine 81. So she has this admonishment in the next verse that one should not arouse or awaken love until she pleases. Better Shulammit could not put it.

The Book has a lot to say about the luxurious sedan chair (Song of Solomon 3:9) he made for the wedding car.

In Song of Solomon 5:6 Shulammit opened for her beloved Solomon when he came but he then left again “וְדוֹדִי חָמַק עָבָר“. Agony started for Shulammit. “I called him but he did not answer” “קְרָאתִיו וְלֹא עָנָנִי“ (Song of Solomon 5:6e). The next two chapters are full of the agony of separated love.

As queen 61 and concubine 81 Shulammit became the owner of a piece of land with an orchard on it. “My very own vineyard is at my disposal. The thousand are for you, Solomon. And two hundred are for those who take care of the fruit” “כַּרְמִי שֶׁלִּי, לְפָנָי; הָאֶלֶף לְךָ שְׁלֹמֹה, וּמָאתַיִם לְנֹטְרִים אֶת-פִּרְיוֹ“ (Song of Solomon 8:12). She became a business-lady that had responsibilities to oversee workers in the orchards and vineyards. In Song of Solomon 6:11-13 she went to the orchards to see if the nuts blossomed and it is clear that she is now a lonely woman. Love has become painful and was to be that with someone who is in love with thousands. Shared love and stolen love does not work.

Dear God

Shulammit and Solomon’s trauma is because of sin and all of us learn from this tragedy this much. True love is only focused on the one love that God has given in a person’s heart. Husband to wife and wife to husband. The Edenic love only. Keep us in this paradigm of Yours. Amen.