Bible Commentaries
Song of Solomon 6

Verses 2-13

A. The Problem of Apathy 5:2-6:13

Sometime after the wedding, the Shulammite failed to respond encouragingly to Solomon’s demonstration of affection. This led him to withdraw from her. Shortly after that, she realized that a gap had opened up between them. They were no longer as intimate as they had been.

Verse 1

The Shulammite convinced the daughters of Jerusalem that her love for her husband was deep and genuine. They agreed to search for Solomon with her.

Verses 1-3

3. Steps toward reconciliation 6:1-3

Verses 2-3

Having expressed her love for her husband, the Shulammite now knew where to find him. Solomon loved his gardens (Ecclesiastes 2:5). Perhaps the catharsis of verbalizing his praise had healed her emotional estrangement, and in her dream the knowledge of his whereabouts popped into her mind.

Verses 4-10

Solomon’s first words to his beloved were praises. Song of Solomon 6:4 c probably means Solomon felt weak-kneed as a result of gazing on his wife’s beauty, as he would have felt facing a mighty opposing army. Her eyes unnerved him, too (Song of Solomon 6:5 a). By using some of the same flattering comparisons he had employed on their wedding night (Song of Solomon 6:5-7), he assured her that his love for her had not diminished since then. The other women (Song of Solomon 6:8-9) were, perhaps, the women who frequented his court. Some commentators have taken them to be the members of Solomon’s harem. [Note: Roland E. Murphy, The Song of Songs, p. 66; George A. F. Knight, The Song of Songs, pp. 11-12; Kinlaw, p. 1235; and Delitzsch, p. 112.]

"If . . . the relationship of Solomon and Shulamith was monogamous at the outset, then the ’queen’s concubines and virgins without number’ must refer to those attached to the court of the king but not a part of his personal harem." [Note: Patterson, p. 98. Cf. Carr, The Song . . ., p. 148.]

Solomon used these women for comparison to show how highly not only he but many other people regarded his beloved. Her beauty had grown and was still increasing in his eyes (Song of Solomon 6:10).

Verses 4-13

4. Restoration of intimacy 6:4-13

Verses 11-13

Song of Solomon 6:11-12 are probably the Shulammite’s words. She had gone down to Solomon’s garden (Song of Solomon 6:2), more to see if his love for her was still in bloom, than to examine the natural foliage (Song of Solomon 6:11). Immediately, because of his affirmation of his love (Song of Solomon 6:4-10), she felt elevated in her spirit, as though she were chief over all the 1,400 chariots in Solomon’s great army (1 Kings 10:26). Evidently, in her fantasy, she rode out of the garden in a chariot accompanied by Solomon. As she did, the people they passed called out to her to come back, so they might look on her beauty longer (Song of Solomon 6:13 a). However, Solomon answered them, "Why should you gaze at the Shulammite as you do at the dance at Mahanaim?" Perhaps he was referring to a celebration held at that Transjordanian town that drew an especially large crowd of onlookers. However, we have no record that such an event took place there.

This ends the Shulammite’s second dream (Song of Solomon 5:2 to Song of Solomon 6:13; cf. Song of Solomon 3:1-4).