by Lois Delnay

Created on: November 22, 2008

SONG OF SOLOMON

CHAPTER 1

Every young woman has dreamed that one day she would meet her very own "prince charming". He would be her ideal companion for life. He would also be attractive to her in every way, and he would take her to his "castle" where they would live happily ever after.

Well, life doesn't always progress the way we imagine it will. Perhaps you have discovered that for yourself just as the heroine of our story did.

Let's begin by introducing the author of our story ... King Solomon. He tells us about a beautiful young woman to whom he was attracted, but lost, in the rendition of "SONG OF SOLOMON" in the Bible. Even though he had all of the qualifications that any woman could ever hope to find in a man, Solomon failed to win the love of this lovely Shulamite woman about whom he writes. Solomon doesn't give any proper names to the characters in this story, but he simply identifies each one with descriptive words, so I will do the same.

As our story unfolds, we find a young Shulamite woman in the harem of the wealthiest, most intelligent and most handsome young king who has ever lived, and she definitely did not want to be there! You may be thinking that she was a very foolish woman for not being the happiest and most fortunate woman in existence, but perhaps, when you hear her story, you will understand her reasoning.

Before she was brought into the palace, the Shulamite woman had found her "prince". He was a shepherd who took care of a flock of sheep near her home not far from Jerusalem. They grew to love each other and vowed that they would marry. Joyfully, she took him to her home where she supposed he would be accepted by her widowed mother and her brothers. Instead, her brothers were very upset and said she was much too young for marriage. They forced the shepherd to leave and made her work in the vineyards of Baal-hamon, which the brothers leased from the king. Her duty in the vineyard was to keep the foxes away from the grapes on the vines.

While working in the vineyards one day, the Shulamite woman saw a magnificent chariot coming down the road. As it came closer to her, she noticed that the air was filled with the scents of myrrh and frankincense. Some scented powders were being cast up into the air, and the sight resembled great pillars of smoke. She knew immediately that the chariot belonged to King Solomon.

There were a great many soldiers accompanying the chariot as the king toured the countryside to check on the land he had leased to farmers

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>