Except for Proverbs 31 on Mother’s Day, how many messages have you heard from the books by Solomon? Probably not many! Because of Solomon’s great sin in the latter years of his life and maybe because he is a little hard to understand, I think most ministers tend to ignore Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and especially the Song of Solomon.
Solomon started off with a spectacular career. In 1 Kings 1, we read that David’s son Adonijah, tried to usurp the throne while David was alive. David countered that by having Solomon anointed as king that same day. After David died, Solomon had Adonijah and Joab killed for their acts of subterfuge, and Abiathar the priest was sent to his home town and not allowed to act as priest anymore because of his part in the plot. But Adonijah was not killed for the first time but the second time he tried to usurp the throne. In 1 Kings 2, we read that Adonijah went to Bathsheba and persuaded her to ask Solomon to allow him to marry Abishag, David’s last concubine.
Solomon had already fallen in love with Abishag, and he married her, probably right after he had Adonijah killed. She was the love of his life. In 1 Kings 2, she is referred to as a Shunammite, but in Song of Solomon, she is referred to as a Shulamite, chapter 6:13.
While Job, Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes are listed as poetical books in the Bible, the Song of Solomon is the only one written that is to be understood allegorically. Solomon, in his later years turned to worshipping the false gods of his foreign wives. In 1 Kings 11, God appeared to Solomon and rebuked him. We know Solomon repented because God inspired him to write Ecclesiastes to explain why he fell into sin and Song of Solomon to explain his new relationship with and love for God. He chose his relationship with his wife as the closest example he could think of to explain his new relationship with God. After all, if someone asked you what your relationship with God is like, what would you say? Paul goes to great lengths to explain that we, believers, are the bride of Christ.