What is the meaning of Song of Solomon 6:13? Come back, come back, O Shulammite! “Come back, come back, O Shulammite!” (Songs 6:13a) • The chorus of onlookers calls the bride to return. Her very name links to peace (cf. Songs 1:7) and recalls the Shunammite woman who served David in his old age (1 Kings 1:3–4), highlighting purity and devotion. • Their repeated plea underlines how captivating her presence is—much as the daughters of Jerusalem earlier admired her beauty (Songs 5:9–10). • Spiritually, those who love Christ long for the manifest presence of His bride, the church (Psalm 48:1–2; Ephesians 3:10), demonstrating that genuine godliness attracts a watching world. Come back, come back, that we may gaze upon you. “Come back, come back, that we may gaze upon you.” (Songs 6:13b) • The desire to “gaze” exposes a danger: reducing holy beauty to mere spectacle (cf. 1 Samuel 6:19, where looking irreverently brings judgment). • Solomon celebrates his bride’s splendor in marital intimacy (Songs 4:9–11), but public voyeurs risk turning sacred love into entertainment—echoing Samson’s humiliation when the Philistines forced him to perform (Judges 16:25). • Believers must guard what is intimate with Christ, refusing to let holy affection become casual display (Matthew 7:6; John 21:21–22). Why do you look at the Shulammite, as on the dance of Mahanaim? “Why do you look at the Shulammite, as on the dance of Mahanaim?” (Songs 6:13c) • The bride answers with a question, challenging the crowd’s motives. Mahanaim—“two camps”—is where Jacob saw angelic hosts (Genesis 32:1–2) and later where David found refuge (2 Samuel 17:24). It evokes a majestic, even heavenly procession, not a sideshow. • By likening her to that “dance,” observers admit her movements mirror something divine and orderly (Psalm 149:3). Yet her question reminds them that such glory belongs in worship, not voyeurism. • In marriage, affectionate celebration is rightful (Proverbs 5:18–19), but spectatorship perverts it. Likewise, Christ’s union with the church is wondrous, yet never for the world’s casual amusement (1 Peter 2:9–12). summary Song 6:13 portrays onlookers enthralled by the Shulammite’s beauty, begging her return so they can stare at her “dance of Mahanaim.” Their fascination affirms the bride’s radiance, yet her probing question exposes motives that cheapen covenant intimacy. Literally, the passage safeguards marital love from public objectification. Spiritually, it cautions the church to keep her devotion to Christ reverent and holy, inviting observers not to gawk but to seek the Prince of Peace who grants such beauty. |
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