There is an idea to understanding the Song of Songs, that I will call the “love triangle” theory, for lack of a better term, that occasionally comes across my radar from time to time. It basically says that the woman in the Song is in love with a simple shepherd boy, not Solomon. Instead, Solomon is trying to seduce her away from her loyalty to the shepherd.
Now although I am open-minded to many different ways of seeing the backstory in the Song, this one I have a hard time seeing. It seems to be one that is taught (not that being taught something makes it bad) versus what is seen in the simplicity of the text. Like a child might read it, who isn’t taught anything else. Does that make sense?
Where does the love triangle theory come from, then? I’m sincerely curious. And I’ve got this page on my website, not as a published post, but a hidden page for accumulating my thoughts and questions on the subject. And also to invite a cordial, humble, and intelligible discussion on the subject for anyone that either stumbles on this page, or that I personally direct here. So I’ll ask it again, where does the love triangle theory come from?
At first blush, it seems to me to be a reaction to the man Solomon, who we know drifted away from the Lord in his senior years. To some degree I can see the struggle with that. How can a man with such a troubling end, be a “type and shadow” of Christ in Scripture? But I’ve come to personally rest in this…accepting that once his heart was divided, his use as a type ended. Perhaps the woman even went into the wilderness, pregnant, as a type and shadow of the woman in Revelation who the dragon hates. But until that happened–until it was clear that Solomon and her could not continue to be the “Adam and Eve” in the garden, they were a picture of something heavenly. Why I don’t have a problem with that is especially linked to Solomon’s father, David. He too was a “type and shadow” of Christ in many ways. His sufferings, for example, are spoken throughout the Psalms and many of those Psalms are clearly prophetic for Christ and what He would go through on the Cross. David was living and poetically expressing a life that, at times, paralleled Christ’s. But we have multiple places where David sinned, and in those ways, we could say there was a glitch in the image. Or created new scenarios where the type picked back up.
Shadows are only that – vague forms that resemble the reality, and point to the reality. They are not the reality.
Anyways, enough of that. To get to the point(s) I would like to make, I’ve accumulated a list of reasons why I believe the love triangle is faulty. But again, I know there are godly, Christ-honoring people out there who won’t agree with me. I’d sincerely would like to hear from you.
✦ Authorship
This is probably the weakest of the evidence, but should be mentioned first. Verse 1 ascribes the book to Solomon. And while I believe the woman at least co-authored the Song with Solomon, if not wrote it entirely, (see this post) we do know that elsewhere Solomon was said to be a song-writer. He wrote 1005 of them, to be exact. (1 Kings 4:33) Now if Solomon was the author as it says, but he wasn’t the hero of the story, it doesn’t make a lot of sense that he’d write a song about a woman’s love he didn’t win.
✦ Typology
I’ll just touch on this one briefly again. One of the struggles when basking in the heavenly meaning of the Song, is having to deal with Solomon’s divided heart later in life because of his many idol-worshipping wives. (Most, or all of whom were added to his harem for political reasons) But again, this shouldn’t ruin us for seeing Solomon as a type of Christ. We have no problem with seeing King David as a type of Christ, even knowing that he fell into sin with Bathsheba. It is the “concept” of Solomon, David’s Son, that should be kept in view–not all the details of his life. PLUS – Neither Jesus or the NT writers ever trashed Solomon. Despite his weakness in the end, it was said by Jesus that there was “no greater king than Solomon.”
✦ Internal evidence
There is also textual evidence that Solomon is the Shulamite’s “Beloved” spoke of in the book. For example, we know that the name Solomon means “peace,” or “man of peace.” And interestingly the woman, who has no official name in the book, is given the one pet name of the “Shulammite.” (6:13) It is an interesting name, as it has two connotations: (1) a link to her birthplace, Shulem or Shunem, and, (2) it is a creative word play on the name Solomon – the feminine version of his name, in fact – and according to Strong’s Hebrew definitions, it means peaceful.
✦ Application
This is probably the biggest reason why I have a hard time entertaining the love triangle theory. It makes Solomon an anti-Christ in the story instead of a Christ-type. And so tragically, it renders most of the beautiful words spoken to the Bride, about her qualities and identity, as mere flattery and seduction. It does damage, in my opinion, to the beauty and flow of the book, by chopping it up and making much of it non-sensical and complicated to understand. (which is why it seems like it has to be taught by man, otherwise it’s not easily seen)
Here is a passage, for example, where I think the issue gets pivotal:
❤︎ Song 6:8-10. This is where Solomon mentions how many wives and concubines he already had, a number which would multiply almost tenfold before he died. Now I personally believe he gained this first smaller batch all at once when becoming king, but either way, he then affirms to the Shulamite’s her uniqueness. “But my dove, my perfect one, stands alone [above them all]; She is her mother’s only daughter; She is the pure child of the one who bore her.” Now while this is, of course, seems to be an argument for the love triangle theory, it’s all the verses that go before and after that I really want to draw attention to. Take a look at them. If I’m wrong, then all those verses are seduction–not words we can apply to Christ to His Bride. It’s a tragic loss of a huge portion of the Song; words that talk about OUR identity. It makes them all deceptive words of a villain.
Rather, I believe what Solomon is saying to the Shulamite is a metaphor of the Bride’s specialness to Christ out of the great many “nominal Christians” who go to church, call themselves Christians, but who are not “known of Him.” (Matthew 7:21-23)
Francúzsky maliar -Solomon and King David
Solomon the Shepherd
One of the arguments for the love triangle theory, is that Solomon was not a shepherd, as was his father growing up. But we actually don’t know that he wasn’t. Maybe not by trade, having been born into royalty, but couldn’t his father David have exposed him early on to the outdoors–maybe even putting him into a mentorship of those who handled royal flocks and livestock? Solomon didn’t grow up ignorant, and especially not without the influence of those things that David most valued.
He (Solomon) could speak with authority about all kinds of plants, from the great cedar of Lebanon to the tiny hyssop that grows from cracks in a wall. He could also speak about animals, birds, small creatures, and fish. (1 Kings 4:32)
It was also recently suggested to me by a friend, that Solomon may have temporarily become a shepherd, dressing up as them, doing their work, etc., in order to win the heart of the Shulamite who he met on one of his trips. If so, this could be a beautiful metaphor of Christ clothing himself with humility, in becoming a human, to “win” our sheep-like hearts.
In Conclusion
This is not, by any means, an exhaustive look into the reasons why the “love triangle theory” doesn’t hold water. I will be adding to this page as more develops.
Meanwhile, my prayer is that no matter how you interpret the song, that you don’t drink of the Song of Songs in measure, merely sipping on it with doubt and hyper-criticism. All of the words are to be fully enjoyed–including the words that speak of OUR beauty and worth. None of the Song is useless, in my opinion, or dangerous flattery. It contains sincere words from the tender heart of the Prince of Peace, and they are meant to radically change our identity and life.
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. ~ Isaiah 9:6
✦✦✦✦✦✦✦✦
📖 Want to fo deeper? Visit: “Solomon – A Sign, Wonder, and Shadow of Things to Come”
Recent Comments