That Israel’s King Solomon was obsessed with women is attested by the biblical fact that he obtained for himself at least 1,000 women during his lifetime (1 Kings 11.3.) Leonard Cohen’s obsession is attested by his life and work. The obsession common to each is at variance with the influence of God on the writings of one.
Leonard Cohen would never put himself on the level with Solomon as a poet. A comparison of their work is an unequal and unfair comparison. But to compare will demonstrate the difference that God can make in the writings of a man when that man comes under God’s governing direction.
Solomon was either a backslider, an apostate, or he converted late in life. His idolatrous lifestyle is documented in 1 Kings. This idolatry increased when he nurtured his desire for women because so many of these women were idolaters. “For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods” (1 Kings 11.4.) Many of these wives were ‘strange women’; that is, not of Israel: Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites (verse 1.) No doubt this list of nations that he obtained his women from is not exhaustive. These strange women goaded Solomon into raising heathen altars to gods and goddesses. In the Old Testament, sexual immorality and idolatry are ordinarily found together. By giving in to one, King Solomon was lured into practicing the other. Satan is not satisfied with taking man halfway. God commands our full devotion; the devil would have no less. Despite his inconstancy, however, Solomon was chosen by God to compose an inspired song of sensuous love. The object of his love was a Shulamite. The word ‘Shulamite’ may be a feminine version of the word ‘Solomon,’ signifying the woman’s attachment to him. Or the word may refer to a woman from a district called Shunem, in Palestine, a city of the tribe of Issachar. Some scholars say that the Shulamite was his Egyptian wife. This is convincing because in the song, her majesty is compared to ‘a company of horses in Pharaoh’s chariots’ (Song of Songs 1.9.) Moreover, his Egyptian woman is singled out from the rest of his women in 1 Kings 11.1, like so, ‘together with the daughter of Pharaoh.’ When this romantic interchange occurred, or if it occurred, is not certain. If it actually happened—if it is more than a nuptial song—it happened before ‘Solomon was old.’ This is obvious from the content: “his locks are bushy, and black as a raven” (Song of Songs 5.11.) Therefore if it happened it happened before his idolatry called forth the disapprobation of God that we read about in 1 Kings 11. It is presumable that this romance occurred when Solomon was relatively young because the two subjects of the composition are so intense. And it seems reasonable to assert that the love-trysts that are written about occurred before the days of Solomon’s harem, for even if the accumulation of wives and concubines was a common practice among great men in the olden time, would the Shulamite have been so passionate had Solomon’s love been spread so thin or so poisoned by lust? This seems like a reasonable assertion unless or until we realize that his other women are often mentioned in the text. For example, Solomon’s ‘dove’ is compared with the rest of his growing harem in chapter 6, verses 8 and 9. The events in the song likely happened when Solomon was a comparatively youthful king; and the song was probably written some time later than that. It is harder to say when the composition was written than when the events related in it occurred. It might have been written by a young man. But it might just as well have been written while, in the midst of his completed harem, Solomon realized that his illicit lifestyle was not the ideal that his carnal flesh had thought it would be. It may be that Solomon reflected on the lover that he had once enjoyed, and the Spirit came upon him to write a song of remembrance down. It is remarkable, regardless, for a man who desires women in the mass to center on just one in his song—to explore that part of his heart that longs for the way things ought to be. Solomon says nothing—not in the Song, and neither in Proverbs nor Ecclesiastes, for that matter—to suggest that there might be satisfaction in the possession of a harem. It is an astonishing omission from a man who, for so many years, did not deny himself the pleasure.
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