Solomon, Apostle or Apostate: Solomon's Song; Plus the Relevance of the Female Gender in Scripture

By W.M. Seckinger

Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba. When his father died, he came to the throne as the King of Israel. Benefiting from his father's many victories, he governed in a time of peace. With skillful diplomacy and astute land and sea trade, he gained enormous revenues and developed Israel into a mighty and prosperous nation. He constructed the first permanent temple of Jewish worship. His incisive judgments came to be known far and wide. In his lifetime he authored numerous proverbs and songs. His writings were abundant. The Song of Solomon was a work of poetry he penned during his reign as king. In its pages we discover more about the man and learn who he was on a personal level, uncovering relevant guidelines to Christian living.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Dec 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781644685228

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Solomon, Apostle or Apostate

Solomon's Song; Plus the Relevance of the Female Gender in Scripture

W.M. Seckinger

Copyright © 2020 W.M. Seckinger

All rights reserved

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Table of Contents

Content of the Song of Solomon

Article on Apostasy

Relevance of the Female Gender in Scripture

Introduction

Before entering the Song of Solomon, we must look at the man Solomon to see what he was actually like. We must also look at the time in which he wrote his work and the probable reason why he did so. The function of a Harem in ancient times must also be considered, along with its impact on the story. This background information is given in the following overview of the text.

An Overview

Solomon was the second son born to David and Bathsheba (2 Sam. 12:13–23). After the first child died, scripture says, David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her; and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon (2 Sam. 12:24). Though David had other sons from prior relationships, Solomon ascended the throne to succeed him as the King of Israel (1 Kings 1:1–53). Then sat Solomon upon the throne of David, his father, and his kingdom was established greatly (1 Kings 2:12).

Solomon served as king forty years (965 BC to 925 BC), and in this time, he led the nation to a supreme period of wisdom and peace. This is reflected in the name Solomon, which means peaceable in Hebrew. David, his father, had been told, Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about; for his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days (1 Chron. 22:8–9).

Because Solomon’s reign was wise and peaceful, it prophetically pictured the Lord’s Millennial Kingdom to come. With its rule of peace and justice and wisdom, it foreshadowed what will one day occur when Christ comes to the earth. And there came from all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom (1 Kings 4:34). And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart (1 Kings 10:24). And King Solomon passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom that God had put in his heart. And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year (2 Chron. 9:22–24).

Solomon in his lifetime wrote 1,005 songs and 3,000 proverbs (1 Kings 4:31–32), including Psalm 72, Psalm 127, a good number of those in the book of Proverbs, the book of Ecclesiastes, and of course, the Song of Solomon. Oddly, it is only this latter work that is not mentioned in other accounts of the Bible. This may be due to its subject matter or perhaps its depiction of something unexpected, for while Solomon in his reign typified Christ’s future Millennial Kingdom, his personal life portrayed something else, something quite the contrary. Though beginning his service in purity and wisdom, he allowed the influence of his many wives and concubines to turn him from Jehovah. Over time he came to worship other gods.

But King Solomon loved many strange women; together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you; for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David, his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David, his father. Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And likewise he did for all his strange wives, who burned incense and sacrificed unto their gods. And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared unto him twice, And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he kept not that which the Lord commanded (1 Kings 11:1–10).

In his years as king, Solomon engaged in things the Scriptures forbid the leader of Israel. For one, he gathered horses from Egypt, accumulating so many that 4,000 stalls and 12,000 men were required to manage them. "And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. And they brought unto Solomon horses out of Egypt, and out of all lands" (2 Chron. 9:25, 28). And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt (1 Kings 10:28).

But the Israelites had been told, When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are about me; Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee; thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, who is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses; forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold (Deut. 17:14–17). "And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, which he placed in chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. And the king made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones, and cedar trees made he as the sycamore trees that are in the vale for abundance. And Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn; the king’s merchants received the linen yarn at a price" (2 Chron. 1:14–16).

Solomon came to be infatuated with Egypt. His first Queen was Egyptian. The record says he made affinity with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David (1 Kings 3:1). And under her influence, along with that of his other wives, he went astray and into falsehood.

The Israelites were not to worship other gods. The king who ruled the nation was to guard against it. But Solomon, in his later years, failed in this regard. He came to worship other gods himself. Preferring opulence and riches, he became almost pagan-like in his character. Shunning the responsibility that was his as king, he neglected the people in his care and went his own way. Forsaking the knowledge of his youth, he pursued fleshly lusts and turned away from what he had once believed. He became an apostate leader of the land.

The prophets said, Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord (Isa. 31:1). But Solomon looked to Egypt, the land of Israel’s captivity, and from it, he gathered horses and chariots and horsemen to make the nation strong, turning away from the Holy One of Israel.

In his later years, he came to write the Song of Solomon, intending to compose a poetic work of impressive beauty. Yet taking pen in hand, he inadvertently exposed his true character. In this text, we get a glimpse of a man who was off course and no longer concerned with God’s purposes. We see a man focused only on himself, and a man who was leading the people in such an errant way as to result in a divided nation in the next generation. The kingdom would come to be divided into two separate entities.

The Song of Solomon is surmised to have been written in the middle of Solomon’s reign as king. He already had 60 wives and 80 concubines (6:8). He was well on his way to the 700 wives and 300 concubines he would gather in his lifetime (1 Kings 11:3).

This exorbitant number of wives and mistresses led to his apostate leadership. His lust for women and want of power deceived him and led to his fall. In his failure, we see a picture of what was to be true in Israel’s day and what was to be true in the church age of today. The Israelites looked to him for guidance. They looked to him for direction. He was their king. But sadly he led them astray. He was more concerned with his worldly indulgences and rebellious mindset than doing what was right. And as if following his example, many of today’s Christian leaders, who are also looked to for guidance and direction, similarly follow worldly practices and apostatize and lead the men and women who hear them into error.

Solomon was the king. He was the leader of the nation of Israel. And having held this position from his youth, because it is a slow process, he didn’t see that he had become an apostate. He was unaware of how far he had departed from his early beliefs. He was unaware of this turning away, and thus he didn’t intend to write of it or show it in any way. He didn’t see it. He didn’t acknowledge that this was the case. His focus was in another direction. Yet in this work of the Song of Solomon, we see it exposed in his words. We see his true spiritual state revealed in his actions. We see a man off course and far from his original faith.

The Shulamite