Why is the beloved’s one dove set beside many queens and concubines?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The beloved has gone into his garden, and the speaker declares their mutual belonging. Praise sets the one perfect dove beside sixty queens, eighty concubines, and countless maidens. Challoner reads this unique dove as the one Church.

Chapter breakdown

The beloved has gone into the garden’s beds of spices to feed and gather lilies. The speaker declares that she belongs to him and he to her. Challoner interprets his coming as Christ’s help for the Church after a time of persecution, while also saying that Christ is always present with his faithful servants.

The praise combines beauty with strength: the beloved is lovely as Jerusalem and formidable as an army drawn up for battle. Her eyes make the speaker flee; her hair is like goats from Galaad, her teeth like washed sheep with twins, and her cheeks like a pomegranate. Sixty queens, eighty concubines, and countless maidens stand beside the one perfect dove. She is her mother’s only and chosen one. The other women see her and praise her. Challoner interprets this one dove as the one Church.

A question describes her as rising morning, fair moon, bright sun, and an army in formation. Challoner reads these images in relation to the Church before the written law, under Gospel light, and facing her enemies. The speaker goes into the nut garden to inspect the valley’s fruit, vines, and pomegranates. Her soul is troubled over Aminadab’s chariots. The chapter closes with four calls for the Sulamitess to return so that she may be seen.

The story inside

The garden answers the previous chapter’s question about where the beloved has gone. The praise then joins beauty with the strength of an army. Many women are named, yet the dove is singled out and praised by them. The chapter ends with a visit to the nut garden, trouble over Aminadab’s chariots, and a repeated call for the Sulamitess to return.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The beloved is located in the garden, feeding and gathering lilies (6:1).
2
The numbers make the contrast clear: sixty queens and eighty concubines stand beside one perfect dove (6:7–8).
3
Morning, moon, sun, and an army combine brightness and strength in one description (6:9).

Test your recall

How many queens and concubines are named, and how is the dove distinguished from them?

Show answer

There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, along with maidens without number. The dove is called one and perfect, her mother’s only one and chosen daughter. The other women see and praise her (6:7–8).

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 71345–71346
My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the bed of aromatical spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
Lines 71354–71355
I to my beloved, and my beloved to me, who feedeth among the lilies.
Lines 71357–71358
Thou art beautiful, O my love, sweet and comely as Jerusalem terrible as an army set in array.
Lines 71372–71375
One is my dove, my perfect one is but one, she is the only one of her mother, the chosen of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and declared her most blessed: the queens and concubines, and they praised her.
Lines 71380–71381
Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?
Lines 71395–71396
Return, return, O Sulamitess: return, return that we may behold thee.