Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Then they searched throughout Israel for a beautiful young woman and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. The woman was very beautiful; she took care of the king and waited on him, but the king had no sexual relations with her.

• 1 Kings 1:3-4

So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given in marriage to your brother Adonijah.”

• 1 Kings 2:21

Friends
Come back, come back, O Shulammite; come back, come back, that we may gaze on you!
He
Why would you gaze on the Shulammite as on the dance of Mahanaim?

• Song of Songs 6:13

Two exceedingly beautiful women.  As a Rev. MacArthur quote in this morning’s Bible study stated, two distinctly different women.  This must be made clear that Solomon did not marry Abishag the Shunammite.

But oddly enough, as most experts think both of these words, Shunammite and Shulammite mean someone from the village of Shunem.  In Hebrew, as in English, there is one letter difference in the words.

And both women were exceedingly beautiful.  Solomon probably wrote Song of Songs first.  Then maybe twenty years later, after marrying 700 wives for political gain, he wrote Ecclesiastes.  Then after sinning against God and worshipping other false gods to please his wives, he wrote Proverbs.  Experts may differ, but Proverbs is written as a father to his son, probably hoping that his son does not make the mistakes he made.  But Rehoboam makes worse mistakes and the nation is split, as foretold in the Davidic Covenant.

But at this point, when Song of Songs was written early in his reign, was Solomon searching the same community as David’s advisors had done with Abishag?  Abishag was the last woman to sleep with his father although she remained a virgin.  Solomon saw Abishag acting as his father’s nurse by day and his body warmth at night.

Then, did Solomon change the spelling of one word, Shulammite, to add a bit of mystery?  Were there two different towns, and the town of Shulem disappeared from the maps and history books?  The mystery continues.

But in thinking of this, my mind goes back to my college days when from across the football stadium, I saw a former Miss America, Phillis George wave to the crowd.  A year later, she would be hired as a reporter for NFL football.

But in the early seventies, it was joked that if one person took only the Miss Mississippi and the Miss Texas against the other 48 states, they’d have a better than even chance of having members of Miss America’s five finalists and very good odds of having Miss America.

This was not in the genes as much as it was in the preparations those two states did for their Miss America finalist.  They knew how to stand, how to walk, and how to exude confidence in answering questions and performing their talent.  The judges of the state did not pick the prettiest.  They made the best talented contestant pretty and confident.

Other states have caught up in the half century since then, but as for the ten finalists and then the five finalists, you knew at least one of those two or even both would be still standing at the end.

So, was it in the genes of the women in the village of Shunem?  Was it like many thought around the USA 50 years ago, that those states had a better chance due to the greater amount of sunshine and fresh fruits and vegetables?  Or was the Shulammite Solomon’s favorite wife or was the Shulammite a figment of his imagination based on the beautiful nurse who kept Solomon’s father warm at night?

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.