Song of Solomon 2:15

THE TRUE LOVERS LIVE HAPPILY IN THEIR OWN ESTATE

"Take us the foxes, the little foxes,

That spoil the vineyards;

For our vineyards are in blossom.

My beloved is mine, and I am his:

He feedeth his flock among the lilies.

Until the day be cool, and the shadows flee away,

Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a roe or a young hart

Upon the mountains of Bether."

"Take us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vineyard" (Song of Solomon 2:15). This is called, "The most enigmatic verse in Song of Solomon."[10] Bunn suggested that, "It might be a reference to the young men who pursued her."[11] Balchin also understood the verse as figurative. "The Shulamite requests that anything that would spoil the vineyard of their lives must be caught and eradicated. Let love be pure and undisturbed."[12] The imagination of men has been turned completely loose on this verse. Pope tells us of an alleged explanation, as follows: "The marauding foxes refer to the Amalekites who held a grudge against Jacob, and destroyed his birthright."[13]

"My beloved is mine, and I am his; he feedeth his flock among the lilies" (Song of Solomon 2:16). Anchor Bible cites a number of scholars who find the most explicit sexual meanings in the second clause;[14] but all such notions lie utterly beyond the perimeter of what our English text says; and, as stated earlier, our concern is to understand what the text says, not what some imaginative scholar thinks it might mean. As the verse stands, it stresses the marital happiness of the shepherd and his Shulamite lover. Furthermore, we cannot accept the supposition of Redford that the Shulamite, "Was here lovingly thinking of Solomon as a shepherd. She idealizes."[15] It seems to this writer that not even an idiot could have idealized Solomon as a shepherd pasturing his flock all night long, that is, "until the morning breezes blow, and the darkness disappears."[16]

"Until the day be cool and the shadows flee away" (Song of Solomon 2:17).

See the Good News Bible rendition of this in the above paragraph.

"Turn, my beloved, be thou like a roe, or a young hart" (Song of Solomon 2:17). The Good News Bible translates this: "Return, my darling, like a gazelle."[17] The picture here is one of marital happiness. Although the shepherd is out all night with the flock, his wife lovingly, awaits and anticipates his return. It seems to this writer that any application of these verses to Solomon is impossible.

"Upon the mountains of Bether" (Song of Solomon 2:17). "There was a chain of mountains east of the Jordan river that bore that name";[18] which says as clearly as language could say it that this happy couple, was at this time, living happily beyond the Jordan river, whither they had fled from the harem. This is what the passage says.

Now we take an excursion into the never, never land of what the scholars say it might mean:

"These `mountains of separation'[19] refer to her breasts, and, by metonymy, to her whole person. Comparing Song of Solomon 1:13 and Song of Solomon 4:6 we have similar usage. The Shulamite says, `My beloved is unto me a bundle of myrrh betwixt my breasts'; and Solomon sings, `I will get me to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense.'"[20] In case there is any doubt of what is meant by this, this rendition of Song of Solomon 1:13 will clarify it: "My lover has the scent of myrrh as he lies upon my breasts."[21] This comparison of a woman's breasts to twin mountains is evidently quite old. The American Indians did the same thing when they called the mountains near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, "The Grand Tetons." A recent example of the same thing is near Kokurah, in Japan, where the soldiers of the United States Air Force called a couple of symmetrical mountain peaks, "The Jane Russell Peaks." This writer made a picture of those.

Interpretation: In this chapter, the Shepherd Lover, standing for Jesus Christ, appears to his love trapped in an evil world (Solomon's harem), takes her unto himself and bestows upon her citizenship in the heavenly kingdom. This all stands for the incarnation of Christ, the establishment of his Church, the rescue of his love (all mankind who believe in Him and obey Him), and his ascension to heaven, leaving the bride separated from Himself until the Second Advent. This separation is found in the allegory of the Bether mountains, "the mountains of separation" (Song of Solomon 2:17). Note that the Shepherd is absent from his lover in Song of Solomon 2:16. His Church feels the absence of Christ in heaven.