“The song of songs, which is Solomon’s” –Song of Solomon 1:1
King Solomon is the author of Song of Solomon (v1:1, 3:7, 3:9, 3:11, 8:11). Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba (2 Samuel 12:24; 1 Chronicles 23:1). As a young man, he was fearful of becoming king of the nation, so he asked God for wisdom. God granted his request and made him the wisest man who has ever lived apart from Jesus. During his forty year reign over Israel, from 971-931 BC, the nation reached its peak economically, agriculturally and militarially. Solomon loved architecture (2 Chronicles 3-4), art (1 Kings 4:32) and international trade (1 Kings 9:26-28; 10:11-22).
He wrote three books of the Old Testament: Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, two Psalms and the Songs. Although the beginning of his reign was godly and profitable, and although Solomon was warned not to pursue women who did not worship the God of the Bible or his heart would be led after their gods, his desire for sex, money, and power became his god and led him to forsake God for the allure of excess, pleasure, and injustice (Deuteronomy 17:17; 1 Kings 11:1-3). Among many other foolish decisions that God warned him against, Solomon went on to marry 700 women and accrue at least 300 girlfriends available on demand for the pleasing of his sexual appetite.
Through his pursuit of many wives, Solomon sacrificed his intimacy with God and allowed the worship of false gods and even the barbarous acts of child sacrifice to those gods (1 Kings 11:8). This sin and folly cost him, his first love, and his nation greatly.
The writing of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes provides some evidence that by the end of his life, Solomon recognized his sin and folly and repented. In Proverbs, Solomon teaches his children to pursue wisdom in the fear of God and sexual satisfaction in their wife alone (Proverbs 5). The book of Ecclesiastes reads as existential lament of the futility of seeking joy, satisfaction, or meaning in this life apart from God (Ecclesiastes 12).
Song of Solomon was probably written at the beginning of his reign in the delight and pure passion of his first marriage (Song of Solomon 6:3, 9; 7:10).
Solomon’s life can be studied in detail in I Kings 1-11; I Chronicles 17, 22-23:6, 28-29; 2 Chronicles 1-9; 2 and II Samuel 7, 11-12.