Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may look upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the company of two armies.
Return, O Shulamite - entreaty of the daughters of Jerusalem to her, in her chariot-like flight from them (cf. 2 Samuel 19:14).
Shulamite - new name applied to her now first. Feminine of Solomon, Prince of Peace: His bride, daughter of peace, accepting and proclaiming it (Isaiah 52:7; Ephesians 2:17). Historically, this name answers to the time when, not without a divine design in it, the young Church met in Solomon's porch, the symbol of peace (Acts 3:11; Acts 5:12). The entreaty, "return, O Shulamite," answers to the people's desire to keep Peter and John, after the lame man was healed, when they were about to enter the temple. Their reply attributing the glory not to themselves, but to Jesus Christ, answers to the bride's reply here.
What will ye see in the Shulamite? ... She accepts the name Shulamite, as truly describing her. But adds, that though "one" (Song of Solomon 6:9), she is nevertheless "two." Her glories are her Lord's, beaming through her (Ephesians 5:31-32). The two armies are the family of Jesus Christ in heaven, and that on earth, joined and one with Him; the one militant the other triumphant. Or Jesus Christ and His ministering angels are one army, the Church the other, both being one (John 17:21-22). Allusion is made to Mahanaim (meaning, two hosts), the scene of Jacob's victorious conflict by prayer. Though she is peace, yet she has warfare here; the conflict between flesh and spirit within, and that with foes without. Her strength, as Jacob's at Mahanaim, is Jesus Christ and His host, enlisted on her side by prayer: whence she obtains those graces which raise the admiration of the daughters of Jerusalem.