6:1 Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned? Tell us, that we may seek him with you.
The virgin maidens offer Shulamite their help in finding Solomon.
6:2 My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the flowerbeds of balsam spices, to graze in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
Solomon has returned to his private garden.
6:3 I am my lover’s and my lover is mine; he grazes among the lilies.
Solomon and Shulamite have been reunited.
6:4 My darling, you are as beautiful as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as awe-inspiring as bannered armies!
The nightmare ended happily. Solomon and Shulamite were back to reality.
Tizrah was one of the most beautiful oases in Israel. It would later become the first capital of the Northern Kingdom. Jerusalem was the capital and most beautiful city in the southern kingdom of Judah. Solomon compared Shulamite’s beauty to these two most beautiful places in Israel.
6:5 Turn your eyes away from me— they overwhelm me! Your hair is like a flock of goats descending from Mount Gilead.
Solomon praised the beautiful eyes and beautiful black hair of his wife, even though he was rejected the night before.
6:6 Your teeth are like a flock of sheep coming up from the washing; each has its twin; not one of them is missing.
Shulamite had beautiful white teeth. None of them were missing.
6:7 Like a slice of pomegranate is your forehead behind your veil.
Shulamite had a beautiful face. Solomon praised her beauty even after he is refused. Solomon still treated her in the same way as her wedding night. He loved her just as much now now as the day of their wedding. She was still a beautiful bride. His love for her was still unchanged. She was not treated on a performance basis.
6:8 There may be sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and young women without number.
Queens were legal wives who were to produce children. Concubines were skilled in sexual pleasure. The young women were virgins who were prospective concubines. At this time, Solomon possessed 60 queens and 80 concubines. Later, he would have a total of 700 wives and 300 concubines, Therefore, this marriage took place early in Solomon’s reign.
6:9 But she is unique! My dove, my perfect one! She is the special daughter of her mother, she is the favorite of the one who bore her. The maidens saw her and complimented her; the queens and concubines praised her:
Shulamite was the favorite wife of Solomon. She was the favorite of Bathsheba. Even her competitors praised her.
6:10 “Who is this who appears like the dawn? Beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awe-inspiring as the stars in procession?”
The virgin maidens praised the beauty of Shulamite. Her beauty was compared to the morning dawn, the moon, the sun, and the stars.
6:11 I went down to the orchard of walnut trees, to look for the blossoms of the valley, to see if the vines had budded or if the pomegranates were in bloom.
Shulamite went down to look at the palace garden, because it reminded her of her former home.
6:12 I was beside myself with joy! There please give me your myrrh, O daughter of my princely people.
Shulamite was promoted so quickly from a peasant girl to a palace queen, that she had not yet acclimated to city life.
6:13 Turn, turn, O Perfect One! Turn, turn, that I may stare at you! Why do you gaze upon the Perfect One like the dance of the Mahanaim?
Shulamite began to walk back to the palace, but the virgin maidens asked her to turn around again so that they could admire her beauty. Shulamite asked them why they would want to gaze on a small country girl? Shulamite was so humble, that she could not recognize her own beauty. The virgin maidens asked Shulamite to return and practice an erotic dance with them.