# An army of banners from the Song of Songs

Commentary on Orthodoxy by G. K. Chesterton.

On [CH05.P020](https://glosses.org/orthodoxy/pg16769-r1/CH05.P020/#char=3055,3123): "fair as the sun, clear as the moon, terrible as an army with banners"

The closing image adapts Song of Solomon 6:10 in the King James Version: 'fair as the moon, clear as the sun'. Chesterton reverses the heavenly bodies, drops the conjunction before 'terrible', and makes the description modify his Christian 'outer light'. It is a recognizable biblical adaptation, not an exact quotation. The verse itself praises a woman within the Song's language of love and beauty; the immediately preceding verse also describes her singularity and the praise she receives. [KJV, Song of Solomon 6:9–10](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10).

The borrowed imagery allows beauty and formidable collective strength to coincide. That is especially apt after the 'divine company' and 'divine captain': the attraction drawing the believer outward is also something under whose banners one can enlist. This is an interpretation of Chesterton's deployment of the verse, rather than a claim that the biblical poem originally describes his contrast between introspection and Christian allegiance.

## Sources

- [The King James Version of the Bible, Project Gutenberg ebook 10](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10), Song of Solomon 6:9–10; modern electronic transcription of the translation first published in 1611
- [Song of Solomon 6, KJV Standard](https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Song-of-Solomon-Chapter-6/), Verses 9–10

Revision 1 · 2026-11-07 · https://glosses.org/a/a_uiol57ih/