Her BELOVED welcomes her.
“You are fair, O my love, as Tirzah, Comely as Jerusalem, Terrible as an army with banners. Turn away your eyes from me, For they have overcome me. Your hair is as a flock of goats, That lie along the side of Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of ewes, Which are come up from the washing, Of which every one has twins, And none is bereaved among them. Your temples are like a piece of a pomegranate, Behind your veil. There are sixty queens, and eighty concubines, And virgins without number.”
Her beloved welcomes her in similar terms to those used in his speech on her wedding night (see Song of Solomon 4:1). It is a clear renewal of their relationship. But there are subtle and important differences. She has returned as the conqueror of his heart, beautiful as Tirzah (the ancient name for Samaria), comely as Jerusalem, (therefore more important to him than the greatest of his possessions), terrible as an army with banners (devastating in her effect on him), slaying him with her eyes (verses 4-5a). The ewes are no longer newly shorn, for her milk teeth have long since gone. But she still has her full set, each tooth having its twin. And now around her neck are not the thousand bucklers and the shields of the mighty men (golden ornaments - Song of Solomon 4:4), but sixty queens and eighty concubines and virgins without number, probably indicating the womanly, and closer to the natural creation, necklaces of vine blossoms, crocuses and lilies. Now she has conquered him and he is hers, and she is more to him than any king's harem. His pride is now not in what he has bestowed upon her, as he turns her into his armory, and covers her with gold (Song of Solomon 4:4), but on the allurement of all that she is, as she has turned herself into a royal lover's nest, beautified by nature. There is little doubt in view of the parallel that we are to see in the sixty queens, and eighty concubines and numberless virgins three necklaces which are inviting his love, and probably therefore of the vine blossoms, crocuses and lilies (Song of Solomon 2:1) which become her more than the ornaments of gold and take him back to their early courtship days. (The parallel in Song of Solomon 4:4 demonstrates that they represent ‘ornaments round her neck'). Note the increase in numbers as each necklace is larger than the previous one, and the indication of the profusion of flowers which decorate her neck.
This immense description of a restored loving relationship surely reminds us of a similar restoration in relationships, when a young man, destitute and in rags, approached with trepidation what was once his home, fearing what his welcome would be, only to see his old father dressed in all his finery running along the road on his way to welcome him (Luke 15:20) and granting him the best robe and fatted calf. Here too we have a royal welcome being given to one who was undeserving who was returning ‘home'. The repentant has returned.
There is in this clear repetition of the wedding speech (Song of Solomon 4:1-4) the indication that when we, like the young wife, do return to our Lord after a period of self-indulgence and neglect of our duties, He will not only receive us back, but will do so with a love that is even increased on what it was before, an ever increasing love, and with joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. For Christians are often sinners who need to repent too (1 John 1:8-10). And they can be sure when they do so of a double welcome, restoring them, and more than restoring them, as they delight again in His presence.
We may also see in the replacement of the golden ornaments with a necklace that reflects the beauty of God's provision in nature, a reminder that we are not to seek earthly things but the things which are of God (Matthew 6:28), which are so much more valuable.