The Shulamite
I love the song that Solomon wrote; it is one of my favorite texts to teach. There are several opinions about how many main characters there are in the beautiful “Song of Solomon.” The opinion that I am most comfortable with is that there are three main characters who interact in the song. There is the King, who I believe is Solomon himself. There is a young Shulamite woman, who has been taken to the palace to become part of the court of young ladies. There is a shepherd, who tends sheep in the hills of Ephraim having already won the heart of the young Shulamite.
For the sake of a short article, I will offer my short summary. I believe we find the young Shulamite within the walls of the palace without her consent and beyond her control. She supplies us her explanation late in the song, when in Chapter 6 verses 11-12 she describes her experience of “one day.”
I went down to the garden of nuts
To see the verdure of the valley,
To see whether the vine had budded
And the pomegranates had bloomed.
Before I was even aware,
My soul had made me
As the chariots of my noble people.
To paraphrase, she says; “I was tending the garden of my family, checking the nuts and pomegranates and before I knew it, the royal caravan had come by, spotted me, and taken me away.”
And that is where we find her from the beginning of the song until all but the last stanza. The song is written then by the King, as he tries to persuade her to stay in the palace and enjoy all the pleasures the world can offer. We see the power, pomp, and popularity of the King being offered to this young woman. In chapter 3, we see King Solomon in all his glory – this is heady stuff for any young woman. Watch as the King enters the city after great success, possibly in battle, to the cheers of the crowds.
Who is this coming out of the wilderness
Like pillars of smoke,
Perfumed with myrrh and frankincense,
With all the merchant’s fragrant powders?
Behold, it is Solomon’s couch,
With sixty valiant men around it,
Of the valiant of Israel.
They all hold swords,
Being expert in war.
Every man has his sword on his thigh
Because of fear in the night.
Of the wood of Lebanon
Solomon the King
Made himself a palanquin:
He made its pillars of silver,
Its support of gold,
Its seat of purple,
Its interior paved with love
By the daughters of Jerusalem.
Go forth, O daughters of Zion,
And see King Solomon with the crown
With which his mother crowned him…
Over the course of months and possibly years the King offers this young Shulamite jewels, beauty treatments, beautiful clothes, a crown, servants, and position. He offers to make her “number 1 among the many women” and to lavish upon her anything she desires.
All the while, throughout the song, this young woman protests marrying the King, and sings of a love that is already deeply established within her heart. Before the fateful day, when she was taken from her homeland by the entourage of the King, a deep and abiding love had taken root. The women in the palace are fully aware of the offer being made and they struggle to understand the love this young woman has for a poor shepherd in the hills of Ephraim. The captured Shulamite tells them of the simplicity of her love; she expresses the security she feels when her shepherd is present. She tells them of the provisions he has made to care for her, and she describes his beauty (the fairest of 10,000) and his strength (her rock and cleft). She tells the women in the palace that they must know him to understand him. He is her nourishment and protection; he has the power and strength to save.
Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods,
So is my beloved among the sons.
I sat down in his shade with great delight,
And his fruit was sweet to my taste.
The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes
Leaping upon the mountains,
Skipping upon the hills. (Chapter 1)
This young Shulamite makes great efforts to explain her feelings for the shepherd; she describes a nightmare of losing him, and she tells of the great lengths she would go to see him again – even risking her own life.
The watchmen who go about the city found me;
I said,
“Have you seen the one I love?”
Scarcely had I passed by them,
When I found the one I love.
I held him and would not let him go. (Chapter 3)
I opened for my beloved,
But my beloved had turned away and was gone.
My heart leaped up when he spoke.
I sought him, but I could not find him;
I called him, but he gave me no answer.
The watchmen who went about the city found me.
They struck me, they wounded me;
The keepers of the walls
Took my veil away from me. (Chapter 5)
In these same dreams she regrets making excuses for not answering the Shepherd when he comes to her door and knocks. She expresses the feelings of emptiness when the shepherd is not present in her life. She says she would rather work in the fields with her shepherd than to be served by servants in a palace. But those who live in the palace have no way to understand this love without leaving the palace and searching for the shepherd themselves.
The Shulamite speaks of the constant reminders of her shepherd; while the world entices - every smell, every sound, every banquet, every encounter reminds her of the one she loves. She is taken back to the fields of home with each reminder. And though she is captive to the palace her heart does not dwell there. They can have her body, but not her soul, not her heart that belongs to another.
Surely, it is easy by now to understand why the song is so relevant to our own lives. Surely, all of us long to meet this young woman, this Shulamite. She did not waver in her love for a shepherd and refused to be enticed by what a King might offer. We are enticed at every turn by our world. It pleads for us to love it more than our Shepherd. Our world begs us to be secure with what it offers. It tries to persuade us that riches, popularity, power, prestige, education, and sophistication are the most important pursuits we can invest in. Our world does not know our Shepherd, and therefore, is at a loss to understand our love for Him and our desire to serve as we do.
And in the darkness, we are reminded by every smell, every sound, every experience – of the Shepherd. The Light. The Savior. We tabernacle in the world, but our hearts are with our Shepherd. We are temporarily captured to sojourn here, but our goal is to be with the One we love forever more. We are enticed and tempted to trust in the promises of the world; we often give excuses for not answering His knocking, and we, at times, are not willing to give up our comforts to serve. We too must always focus on the promises of the God and Creator of all. We must not be distracted and convinced by the possibilities of the world but remain certain of the hope of our salvation, for it leaps upon the mountains and skips upon the hills.
Well, the song has a happy ending. The Shulamite is reunited with her shepherd, and they marry, making the analogy even more relevant for us. John could not be clearer as he allows us to share in the inspired Revelation given to him. We long to leave this temporary dwelling to be united in love forever with our Lord, our Shepherd.
Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21)
What a wonderful blessing this young Shulamite is for us. I am so grateful that her undivided and focused love made such an impression on a King; a King who was never able to properly understand this type of love. She is a great reminder for us as we try to describe the beauty of a Shepherd that the world has not known and may never choose to find. What a blessing to be reminded by this young woman that while we may live in one place, our hearts dwell elsewhere. What a blessing to know that our song will end well, that our wedding day will come, that the bridegroom will come for us, and we will live forever with the one we love. I would like to meet this Shulamite, this young lady whose special story is preserved by the Holy Spirit that we might learn from her. I think I would like her very much.