If anyone knows me, they know how I esteem my former professors at the Master’s University. A while back, one of my favorites, Dr. Varner wrote a great book on Solomon’s wisdom literature, and I finally got around to reading it recently in anticipation of doing a sermon for a local preacher’s workshop that is put on annually by my pastor and other local pastors together.
I asked Pastor Travis not for a difficult passage per se, but for one that would be something that I myself would really benefit from in my walk with the Lord, and He handed me the concluding section of Song of Songs. Lately, as in recent years, I have been struck with the immense need I have of growing in grace with regards to my walk with the Lord in the areas of being an excellent husband and father. And I have learned that if I prioritize my wife, then my children do benefit from that example far more than if Jenece and I focused all of our attention mainly on the kids, which is an easy slip up to make when life is hectic and demanding and we are early in our parenting roles.
In Ancient Hebrew, unlike the superlative of Modern English (which uses the suffix -est as in prettiest), they said something was the ultimate example of something in a different way. If they wanted to say it was the very best, or the very worst, edition of its kind, they said:
“slave of slaves” to indicate the lowliest slave (Genesis 9:25), or “holy of holies” to indicate the holiest place (Exodus 26:33). They also used “vanity of vanities” for the worst vanity (Ecclesiastes 1:2), or “Lord of lords” as the greatest Lord (Deuteronomy 10:17).
The Preacher and the Song – Dr. William Varner
Well, Solomon, or Shlomoh (which means “Peace” in the Hebrew), was the author of 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs. And this was his biggest hit. It was his “Song of Songs.” Solomon was the wisest man to ever live:
God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
1 Kings 4:29-34 New International Version
And this incredible wisdom and knowledge of flora and fauna finds itself expressed in the “Song of Songs.” The book itself mentions 15 species of animals and 21 varieties of plants as well. The author, who is Solomon, shows a wealth of knowledge of the geography of ancient Israel also, mentioning cities that spanned from north to south and at all points in between numbering over a dozen individual locations.
However, many people ask what Solomon, who had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines by the end of his life (1 Kings 11:3), and a smaller number of these at the time of the writing of Song of Songs 6:8, has legitimately to say about love and romance? Dr. Varner further points out that even if we presume this to be an allegory about Christ and the church, what could Solomon have had to say about faithfulness even in that much greater case given his violation of God’s law in Deuteronomy 17, which forbade the multiplication of wives among other things?1
More on this later, but whatever a person’s conclusions resort to in order to solve this textual difficulty, I believe that it is first imperative to understand a critical theological point: Under God’s kingdom principles, not only is love redeemable and truly consummate, with full meaning and satisfaction, but so is wisdom (as seen in Solomon’s many proverbs) as well. God blessed Solomon’s reign with untold wealth and prosperity and success. Notice that, but also the fact that the following section from 1 Kings 4, makes mention of Israel as the sand of the seashore! That too calls to mind the blessing to Abraham and the promise of Genesis 22:17. 1 Kings 4 says,
The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore; they ate, they drank and they were happy. And Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon’s subjects all his life.
Solomon’s daily provisions were thirty cors of the finest flour and sixty cors of meal, ten head of stall-fed cattle, twenty of pasture-fed cattle and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks and choice fowl. For he ruled over all the kingdoms west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and had peace on all sides. During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, lived in safety, everyone under their own vine and under their own fig tree.
Solomon had four thousand stalls for chariot horses, and twelve thousand horses.
The district governors, each in his month, supplied provisions for King Solomon and all who came to the king’s table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking. They also brought to the proper place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and the other horses.
– 1 Kings 4:20-28 New International Version
All of this is taking place to show that God has brought the kingdom to Israel. All those promises of fertility and success and of the splendor of the kingdom leading up to this juncture were not hyperbole or to be interpreted spiritually. The world can be theirs if they are faithful, and Solomon is the head of this kingdom. To him can even come the fulness of the blessings to Israel if they follow Yahweh with their whole heart, and early in Solomon’s life, it seems like this is possible.
Even Solomon’s wisdom of the flora and fauna is akin to Adam who was commissioned first to have dominion and to multiply on the earth:
And out of the ground Yahweh God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and He brought each to the man to see what he would call it; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name. And the man gave names to all the cattle and to the birds of the sky and to every beast of the field
Genesis 2:19-20 Legacy Standard Bible
All this to say, and it does require a lot of further Biblical proofs (see next week’s blog post), but all this shows that God instituted Israel as the nation through whom God would bless the world as He had first iterated to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. It was coming true. The wisdom of Solomon and his greatness was unsurpassed. And this song of love and devotion physically and spiritually was Solomon’s greatest song. God was blessing even the love-life of those in this kingdom not just the commercial and material aspects of their lives. The Song of Songs proves that even romance is redeemable when we are under God’s favor and blessing. How much more should the love and romance of we as believing couples in Christ flourish as representative of God’s redemption and grace?
- William Varner. “The Preacher and the Song.” (Fontes Press: Dallas, TX, 2023) pp. 27-28 ↩︎
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