The Shulamite, the Shepherd, and Solomon: Lessons from the Song of Solomon

By Joyce Davis White

He: "Thou art all fair my love; there is no spot in thee."

She: "This is my beloved and this is my friend."

Ah, such sweet words coming from a nameless shepherd, aptly dubbed "Beloved" as he described his future wife. His heart-ravishing girlfriend called him her beloved and friend.

Who wouldn't want to have such an intimate relationship with someone like these two? Well, guess what? If you are a Christian, you already have such a pounding, heart-beating love relationship better than this with the lover of all lovers, King Jesus Christ.

The Shulamite, the Shepherd, and Solomon tells a narrative of one man and woman who were so into each other that an outsider couldn't pull off his best tricks in order to seduce "the weaker sex."

Now, time and distance were able to come between the two lovebirds but did such have the power to put asunder the flaming love the Shulamite and the shepherd had for each other?

As they say, "Time will tell," and it told all in between the pages of The Shulamite, the Shepherd, and Solomon. Read it for yourself, and you'll be welcomed to quietly sit and spectate on one of the most torrid and cherished love affairs of all time. As you sigh and say, "I wish there was someone who loved me like that," just remember there is His name is Jesus. If you know Him, ask Him to take you into a deeper depth of His love. If you don't know Him, "Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee" (Job 22:21). Happy reading to all!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: May 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098062620

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The Shulamite, the Shepherd, and Solomon

Lessons from the Song of Solomon

Joyce Davis White

Copyright © 2020 by Joyce Davis White

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

The Shulamite—Her Opinion of Her Appearance (Song of Solomon 1:5)

Her Relationship with Her Family

The Shulamite and the Shepherd—from Introduction to Betrothal, to the Banqueting House

Shula and the Shepherd—You Can’t Make Love All the Time!

Shula! Don’t Be a Spoiled Brat!

She’s Not Aware that He’s Not There

Somebody Didn’t Learn Her Lesson!

The Shulamite versus King Solomon

Shula’s Realizations (King Solomon Is Done with Her)

The Lovers Are Reunited

Shula and the Shepherd—Their Time of Love

Preface

Who is my audience? Any Bible believer. Those who promote abstinence. Those who take monogamy seriously. Those who adhere to Bible-based principles. The Song of Solomon is not intended for the immature-minded, whether they be children of the world, or carnally minded Christians.

What is the Song of Solomon about? It is popularly known as an allegory that portrays the love between Christ and His church. Christ is depicted as a shepherd, and the church is embodied as a Shulamite maiden. The Shulamite got kidnapped and was whisked away to King Solomon’s palace. King Solomon represents the devil and all other worldly forces that wanted to seduce the Shulamite/church into committing physical/spiritual adultery against the one she truly loved. Both Satan and Solomon ran across the only ones that could not be seduced by their wiles: Jesus and the Shulamite girl.

The Song of Solomon is also about God-approved mature lovemaking between one man and one woman. Shula and the shepherd were madly in love.

Their lovemaking is described and covered up in flowery language and poetry described as her garden. She invited him to come in her garden. There was plenty for him to do while in her garden. God, who spectates everything, gave His stamp of approval to this bed undefiled. This kind of relationship and its principles only make sense between one man and one woman.

What is the theme? There is more than one sexual theme that an immature Christian and non-Christian cannot handle properly. That’s if they could get past the flowery poetic language that it’s written in.

One, Marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled (Hebrews 13:4), the holiness of marriage in a monogamous setting. See previous paragraphs.

Two, in a God-ordained marriage, there is no room for a third party. That’s why you will see how Solomon tried to intrude but did not belong as part of the relationship. He played the role of an outsider who was dealt a blow to his sexual ego. There was terrific pressure placed on the Shulamite girl to have sex with Solomon. Remember, he was a man who had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, so it was well understood that he knew a thing or two about seducing females. Solomon assumed she would be impressed by him. Other females succumbed to his seductive wiles, but the Shulamite was not fazed by his magnificent vocabulary brimming with seductive words and images. She stayed faithful to her absent shepherd lover.

Three, do not wake my love till he pleases. This phrase was recorded at least three times. It did not refer to the shepherd being asleep among a noisy crowd that had to be shushed before he got awaken. It was symbolic of the fact that the Shulamite was aware that one does not have sex whenever one pleases but at the right timing and age of maturity. Even though she and the shepherd had been betrothed to each other, their marriage was not consummated until much later, and it was the shepherd who got to choose when, not the Shulamite, and definitely not Solomon. That was why he was so pleased with his darling for she did not rob him of the opportunity to make such a deeply personal and intimate decision.

Why was this book written? This writing is not an exhaustive study of the Song of Solomon. This book was written in narrative form to shed some light on its many beautiful themes that have been locked away and need to be exposed to a world gone perverse as to what constitutes a marriage relationship.

The Song of Solomon is largely ignored and