Solomon's Lost Reward
- May 5, 2016
- 4 min read
On June 2, 2009, Jonny Diaz released his first hit single, More Beautiful You, which climbed to number 2 on the Billboard’s Christian Hits Chart in August of that year. The song begins:
Little girl fourteen flipping through a magazine Says she wants to look that way But her hair isn't straight, her body isn't fake And she's always felt overweight
Well, little girl fourteen I wish that you could see That beauty is within your heart And you were made with such care, your skin, your body and your hair Are perfect just the way they are
There could never be a more beautiful you…
The beauty that Jonny sings about is something that eluded Israel’s most prolific king. In all of his wisdom, Solomon never saw beyond the surface beauty of a woman until the final years of his life. Reflecting back on the object of his pursuit, the king writes:
Oh, you are beautiful, my darling! Oh, you are beautiful! Your eyes behind your veil are like doves. Your hair is like a flock of female goats descending from Mount Gilead. 2 Your teeth are like a flock of newly- shorn sheep coming up from the washing place; each of them has a twin, and not one of them is missing. 3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread; your mouth is lovely. Your forehead behind your veil is like a slice of pomegranate. 4 Your neck is like the tower of David built with courses of stones; one thousand shields are hung on it— all shields of valiant warriors. 5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of the gazelle grazing among the lilies. (Song of Solomon 4:1-5)
In our day, these metaphors seem a bit bizarre, but it is obvious that the only beauty Solomon sees in the maiden is her body. What he finds attractive is her eyes, hair, teeth (notice that he appreciates that none of them are missing), lips, forehead, neck, and breasts.
In contrast, the poor shepherd in the story sees her differently:
O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the hiding places of the mountain crags, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. (Song of Solomon 2:14)
He certainly sees a beautiful face, but also notices her sweet voice, which he cries out to hear again in 8:13. Though the shepherd finds her physically attractive, he refers to her as a “locked garden” in 4:12 - something to enjoy that he will not presently touch. Does anyone want to venture a guess at this point who’s going to win the maiden’s hand?
Solomon had a thousand wives and concubines, and who knows how many children from these women. Yet only one wife is known by name, Naamah, and she is only listed for genealogical purposes. Her son, Rehoboam, is the only son of Solomon named in Scripture, and he proceeds to lose half the kingdom. All of these wives and children came to nothing.
Some scholars surmise that Solomon’s great sin was marrying foreign women. Even Nehemiah, in 13:26, implies that it was the heathen nature of Solomon’s wives that caused him to sin. There is a partial truth to that, but the reality runs deeper.
It is quite interesting that God made a provision through Moses for men to marry pagan women:
When you go out to do battle with your enemies and the Lord your God allows you to prevail and you take prisoners, 11 if you should see among them an attractive woman whom you wish to take as a wife, 12 you may bring her back to your house. She must shave her head, trim her nails, 13 discard the clothing she was wearing when captured, and stay in your house, lamenting for her father and mother for a full month. After that you may have sexual relations with her and become her husband and she your wife. (Dt 21:10-13)
What a humiliating experience! The captured woman was to shave her hair, trim her nails, & discard her clothing. Much of her physical beauty was to be done away with for a 30-day period. I can’t imagine the painful ordeal for this woman, but in the long run, it was for her benefit. The man was forced to look beyond his bride's bodily appearance, in order to see the beauty that was within. After the allotted time, he was allowed to take her as a wife.
The most beautiful woman in all of Israel, who seemed to have had a heart to match, saw through the shallowness of Israel’s king:
If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised. (Song of Solomon 8:7b).
This rejection caused Solomon to record in his closing years, these poignant words:
Enjoy life with the wife you love during all the days of your fleeting life that God has given you on earth during all your fleeting days; for that is your reward in life and in your burdensome work on earth. (Ecc. 9:9).
With all of his wealth, fame, glory, and women - Solomon never received this reward - and calls this the greatest song of all!
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