Scripture recounts that some of the patriarchs had many wives at the same time; others took other wives when previous wives had died. The purpose of this is to indicate figuratively that some can exercise many virtues at the same time; others cannot begin those which follow before they have brought the former virtues to perfection. Accordingly, Solomon is reported to have had many wives at the same time.
The word queens refers to the souls that rule in the realm of the intelligible and spiritual. The word concubines [refers] to the souls that receive an earthly reward, concerning whom it is said, “They have received their reward.”
Let us examine why on earth he mentioned “sixty queens” but “eighty concubines.” The number sixty contains six tens, and while the ten signifies perfection, the six represents the number of the world’s creation: in six days the God of all formed the whole creation. Accordingly, by “sixty queens” he referred to the souls in this world who were made perfect in virtue and who longed for the kingdom. The bride lives a way of life above this world, she is outside it, flies beyond it, is totally the bridegroom’s and has him constantly in mind, whereas these latter souls live in this world and practice the perfection of virtue to the extent possible while longing to attain the kingdom. But it is through fear that they obey the laws, and so they were called “eighty.” The divine Scripture, remember, speaks of the time of judgment as the eighth. In describing judgment in the Psalms, blessed David used the title “On the eighth” and began this way, “Lord, do not censure me in your anger, nor chastise me in your wrath,” and shortly after, “Because in death there is no one to remember you, in hades who will confess you?” Thus [he brings] out that at the time of judgment no place for repentance will be given to those who have sinned and have not had a change of heart.
In the present verse, therefore, three orders of merit are indicated to be in the church according to the following enigma. First, clearly, there are teachers, living an immaculate life. Second, there are the teachable, who imitate the lives of their teachers and burn with great desire to understand the content of the teaching and to distinguish sound doctrine from unsound doctrine. But the third order is that of maidens, for whom only belief in the one God helps toward salvation, who are not yet worthy to be joined to the sacred number. Although all of them may have the Word of the Father as King, he who was with the Father in the beginning and always remains God in the Father, the dignity of merit nevertheless escapes them.
There are sixty queens, etc. Both queens and concubines indeed approach the king's bed, they bear children for the king, but not both adorn the king's head with a royal diadem. Therefore, both signify souls that adhere to the preaching of truth, and through the word of faith and the fountain of saving baptism, beget spiritual offspring for the eternal king, but there is some, indeed not little, difference of their minds: for queens are those minds that serve the doctrine with the view of the heavenly kingdom. However, concubines are those who announce Christ for the sake of carnal and temporal pleasures only, not sincerely. Of such the Apostle says: "Whether by pretense or by truth Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice" (Phil. I). The Lord Himself also distinguishing between them says: "Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. V). "But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven" (Ibid.). Both, therefore, approach the king's bed, but not both reign with Him, because those who destroy their own teaching by their deeds deprive themselves of the comforts of the everlasting kingdom. Therefore, those are rightly considered by the number sixty, those by eighty: for the number ten, because of the Decalogue (the Ten Commandments) signifies the knowledge of divine law; the number six, in which God perfected the world, designates the perfection of good works. Truly, because five multiplied by twelve makes sixty, the number of sixty queens can also thus be interpreted, that those who regulate all the senses of their body, namely, sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell, according to the rule of apostolic doctrine, are rightly designated by the number sixty. And these are the queens, because those who now follow the commandments of the apostles, whose number is twelve, through all the offices of their members, then together with the same apostles are joined to the joy of the perpetual king. Likewise, when eighty is taken in a negative sense, it not unjustly suggests the cares and entanglements of earthly and temporal matters, because naturally the course of this world is encompassed by four seasons, and the world itself is divided into four zones, namely, east, west, north, and south. Sixty, however, are the queens, because as many souls as follow the recognition, which they received by the perfection of the sacred law, engage in good actions; these also fight here in the kingdom of faith, and in the future will enter into heavenly marriages with the true king. And eighty concubines, because those who expend the knowledge of truth and the mystery of the word, which they seem to practice, in the pleasures of weak and passing things, indeed when their lamps are extinguished at the arrival of the bridegroom, are excluded by the gate of the heavenly kingdom due to the voluptuousness of temporality. And there is no number of young maidens. Understand by young maidens those souls who have recently been reborn in Christ, who are not yet sufficient for the duty of preaching; and therefore, as if not yet noble, not yet suitable for the royal bed, they assist in the service of the queen with faithful watch, because they joyfully obey the commands of the holy Church humbly. Of whom we read above: Your name is like poured-out oil, therefore the young maidens loved you; that is, the souls which are not yet left old through guilt, but are already renewed by grace. Of whom there is no number, because the total number of the citizens of the heavenly homeland surpasses the measure of our estimation. For it cannot be taken of our peaceful king, namely the true Solomon, that he does not know the number of his faithful: for He who counts the multitude of the stars and calls them all by names (Psalm 146), how much more would He know the number of His elect, whose names He wrote in heaven, the number He foreknew before the ages.
What is designated by the queens, if not the souls of the saints, who, while they prudently govern their bodies and preside over others, acquire for themselves an eternal kingdom? For there are some in the holy Church who mortify their flesh and afflict it for the sake of God, conquer vices, subject demons to themselves as though tyrants, wisely govern all their impulses so that they run in an orderly manner, preach to others what they themselves do, and fighting with the sword of the word, snatch many from the jaws of demons. What are such souls if not queens, who, while they greatly love Christ the King, their spouse, through the mingling of love and the abhorrence of lust, beget royal children, that is, faithful peoples? To all of whom the blessed apostle Peter said: "But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own" (1 Peter 2:9). But the queens are said to be sixty. For indeed the number ten multiplied by six is completed in sixty. And what is signified by ten, if not the ten precepts of the Law; and what by six, if not the labor of this life? For in six days we work what is necessary, and on the seventh we are commanded by the Law to rest (Exodus 23 and 31). Rightly therefore the queens are said to be sixty; because while the ten precepts are practiced in this age, and this age unfolds in six working days, in them the number ten is, as it were, multiplied by the number six. For each one preaches the ten precepts of the Law, in the practice of which they exercise themselves in the temporal condition of this corruption. Therefore they multiply six by ten, or ten by six; because they demonstrate by their works and proclaim by their word that this entire time must be spent spiritually in fulfilling the ten precepts of the Law. The reprobate sometimes behold their praise in this world; and so that they may be similarly praised, or so that they may somehow obtain some advantage in this life, they too become preachers on their own.
For concubines do not truly but feignedly love their masters, and they seek from them not the posterity of children but present advantage, nor do they exercise themselves in continence but desire to fulfill their lust. So false preachers exist in the Church: because while they love not Christ but gain or praise, they join themselves to Christ not spiritually and chastely but carnally and lustfully. Rightly therefore they are called concubines, because they follow Christ whom they preach not in spirit but in the flesh. Of whom the apostle Paul said: "Many indeed walk according to the flesh, but not according to Christ" (Phil. 3:18). Of whom he himself also says: "Whom I often told you of, but now tell you even weeping, the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly." Of whom he himself likewise says: "Such as these do not serve the Lord Jesus, but their own belly" (Rom. 16:18). Yet these concubines are rightly said to be eighty in number, because even though they love earthly things with their whole heart, they nevertheless speak of heavenly things. For we multiply the number eight by ten and arrive at eighty. By ten, as has been said, the Decalogue is signified; by eight, the resurrection, because our Redeemer is shown to have risen on the eighth day. And preachers, even if they are false, nevertheless through desire manifest both the divine Scripture and the resurrection in which we believe through their word. For if preachers were to preach something else, they would not be among Christians; of whom Truth says in the Gospel: "The Scribes and Pharisees sit upon the seat of Moses: what they say, do; but what they do, do not wish to do" (Matt. 23:2).
But because by the preaching of both false and true preachers very many come to the faith, and with the elect many enter who do not attain to the lot of the elect, therefore it is added: "And of the young maidens there is no number." For since it is written: "Adolescence and youth are vanity" (Eccles. 11:10, from the Hebrew), what do we understand by these young maidens except souls which, while they pursue the vain things of this world that they love, exceed the number of the elect? Of whom it is said through the Psalmist: "I have declared and spoken; they are multiplied beyond number" (Ps. 39:6). For the Apostle Paul makes clear that the number of the elect has been established with God, when he says: "The Lord knows who are his" (2 Tim. 2:19). And through himself the Lord says: "I know whom I have chosen" (John 13:18). Because he knows them not imperfectly but knows them perfectly, without doubt he also knows the number in which they are chosen. Of whom it is said through Paul: "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom. 8:29). Rightly, therefore, "of the young maidens there is no number," because while through the vanity they love they do not run toward the number of the elect, remaining outside they do not, as it were, come into the divine knowledge. To whom the Truth itself will say at the future judgment: "I do not know you" (Matt. 25:12); and: "Depart from me, all you who work iniquity" (Ps. 6:9). But while the reprobate seek worldly things and divide their mind through manifold desires, every holy soul draws itself into the number of the elect, despising the many things it sees, ardently desiring the one thing it does not see; and as long as it does not possess it, it nourishes itself in faith and unites itself in love. And while it follows that which is one and the selfsame, from many such souls one Church is formed.
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on Song of Solomon 6:8