but it also mentions Solomon as being white and ruddy.
HA! No! The Bible does not say that Solomon was white and ruddy. You do not understand the scripture!
That scripture is NOT referring to Solomon! Just as the Bible reveals in other passages, Solomon was a brilliant man and he knew how to write in such as way as to preserve truth when the deceivers would, as he knew, get their scriptures and blaspheme them. Let me briefly explain that Book and that passage;
The first few chapters was sort of like an introduction. Solomon writes about the Black skinned virgin and he also writes about the deer family. This is why many people miss how awesome Solomon had been. Solomon weaves the story about this girl and her lover (which was Solomon himself) in a song and also correlates their physical attributes to the deer family! I studied Biology so, this revelation became obvious to me. I have a Bachelors of Science degree in Biology.
The science and genetics of the deer family is the same today as it has been for thousands of years. The Roe deer is what Solomon weaved throughout this book. The Doe, female deer, always gives birth to TWINS, fraternal twins, one a female and another a male. On rare occasions when the deer is in a region of famine or extreme climate, they will give birth to multiple births, but for thousands of years, it is 99% birthrate that the female deer will give birth to a baby female and male, brother and sister; TWINS. And so, here is the shock of this book in the Bible, in that Solomon has identified himself with this BLACK VIRGIN as being her twin! All throughout this book Solomon reveals that his genetic orgins are the same as this girl, "they eat amongst the lillies"; "as Black as the tents of Kedar'" and "as Black as "the CURTAINS of Solomon"!!! Solomon reveals that she comes from Black people like the Kedarites and his MATERNAL ORIGINS, his mother Bathsheba, is a Black woman. Solomon details that his CURTAINS, refers to his maternal origins. So, he is not saying that the Hebrews and his father David is Black, though; not at that time. The Hebrews were not known to be a predominantly Black people, but however, they were ethnic people and had been heavily intermixed with African people.
Now the passage about being 'white and ruddy' again, does NOT refer to Solomon. After the first few chapters, the song and story shifts. The marriage has occurred. The Virgin and her lover Solomon has came together. Starting with verse 5, there is a shift in this story. Now Solomon writes about the anguish of the virgin because, soon, the king, Solomon will die. Solomon now become the priest/prophet that his is. Solomon is a king but he is also a prophet and now he is writing as an older man and begins to prophesize about the coming of JESUS CHRIST. So he writes that the virgins sees him as the BELOVED Jedidiah. However, Solomon tells the virgins, that there will be a greater BELOVED that will come! He then equates this GREATER BELOVED to the TEMPLE OF GOD. And he writes that he is 'WHITE AND RUDDY', and the word 'white' is italicized and translated as meaning SPRIITUALLY PURE!
It has nothing to do with skin color! Like all prophets, their script is confirmed hundreds of years later by another prophet. So you will see this very same passage of being 'WHITE' in the sense of meaing being 'PURE'. And it is in the Book of DANIEL. Like in the Song of Solomon, the word, 'white' is italicized in the Cambridge version. So therefore, Solomon is definitely revealing that the GREATEST BELOVED is RUDDY, though. And the word ruddy means that Jesus was prophesized to be 'brownish-red'.