Song of Solomon 6:8

8 Sixty be queens, and eighty be secondary wives; and of young damsels is none number. (There be sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and of young women, or of maidens, there is no number.)

Song of Solomon 6:8 Meaning and Commentary

Song of Solomon 6:8

There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and
virgins without number.
] In this verse and ( Song of Solomon 6:9 ) the church is commended as she stood related to others; and is compared with them, and preferred to them. The words may be considered either as an assertion, "there are" or as a supposition, "though there be", &c. yet Christ's church is but one, and excels them all. "Queens" are principal and lawful wives of kings; "concubines", secondary or half wives, as the word ^F9 signifies; who were admitted to the bed, but their children did not inherit: "virgins", unmarried persons, maids of honour, who waited on the queen. The allusion is to the custom of kings and great personages, who had many wives, and more concubines, and a large number of virgins to wait on them; see ( 1 Kings 11:3 ) ; or to a nuptial solemnity, and the ceremony of introducing the bride to the bridegroom, attended with a large number of persons of distinction; and so Theocritus ^F11 speaks of four times sixty virgins attending the nuptials of Menelaus and Helena; see ( Psalms 45:9 ) . By all which may be meant either the kingdoms and nations of the world; by "queens", the more large, rich and flourishing kingdoms; by "concubines", inferior states; and by "virgins without number", the vast multitudes of inhabitants that fill them; but all, put together, are not equal to the church; see ( Song of Solomon 2:2 ) ; or else false churches; by "queens", such who boast of their riches and number, as the church of Rome, ( Revelation 18:7 ) ; by "concubines", such as are inferior in those things, but equally corrupt, as Arians, Socinians and by "virgins without number", the multitudes of poor, weak, ignorant people, seduced by them; and what figure soever these make, or pretensions to be the true churches of Christ, they are none of his, his spouse is preferred to them all. Or rather true believers in Christ, of different degrees, are here meant; queens, those that have the greatest share of gifts grace, most nearness to Christ, and communion with him; by "concubines", believers of a lower class, and of a more servile spirit, and yet sometimes are favoured with, fellowship with Christ; and by "virgins", young converts, who have not so large an experience as the former; and this distribution agrees with ( 1 John 2:13 1 John 2:14 ) ; and the rather this may be the sense, since each of these are said to praise the church in ( Song of Solomon 6:9 ) , who is preferable to them, and includes them all.

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FOOTNOTES:

F9 (Myvglyp) "secundariae uxores", Michaelis.
F11 Idyll. 18. v. 24.

Song of Solomon 6:8 In-Context

6 Thy teeth be as a flock of sheep, that went up from [the] washing; all be with double lambs, either twins, and no barren there is among them. (Thy teeth be like a flock of sheep, that went up from the washing; all of them be with double lambs, or with twins, and there is no barren among them.)

7 As the rind of a pomegranate, so be thy cheeks, without thy privates. (Like the rind of a pomegranate, so be thy cheeks, behind thy veil.)

8 Sixty be queens, and eighty be secondary wives; and of young damsels is none number. (There be sixty queens, and eighty concubines, and of young women, or of maidens, there is no number.)

9 One is my culver, my perfect spousess, one is to her mother, and is the chosen of her mother; the daughters of Zion saw her, and preached her most blessed; queens, and secondary wives, praised her. (But only one is my dove, my perfect spousess, the only daughter of her mother, yea, the chosen of her mother; the daughters of Zion saw her, and proclaimed her most blessed; queens, and concubines, praised her.)

10 Who is this, that goeth forth, as the morrowtide rising, fair as the moon, chosen as the sun, fearedful as the battle array of hosts set in good order? (Who is this, who goeth forth, like daybreak, beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun, as awesome as the battle array of armies set in good order?)