Christ caresses his spouse: he invites her to him.
2:1. I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys.
I am the flower of the field. . .Christ professes himself the flower of
mankind, yea, the Lord of all creatures: and, ver. 2, declares the
excellence of his spouse, the true church above all other societies,
which are to be considered as thorns.
2:2. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
2:3. As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved
among the sons. I sat down under his shadow, whom I desired: and his
fruit was sweet to my palate.
2:4. He brought me into the cellar of wine, he set in order charity in
me.
2:5. Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples: because I
languish with love.
2:6. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace
me.
2:7. I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and the
harts of the field, that you stir not up, nor make the beloved to
awake, till she please.
2:8. The voice of my beloved, behold he cometh leaping upon the
mountains, skipping over the hills.
The voice of my beloved: that is, the preaching of the gospel
surmounting difficulties figuratively here expressed by mountains and
little hills.
2:9. My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart. Behold he standeth
behind our wall, looking through the windows, looking through the
lattices.
2:10. Behold my beloved speaketh to me: Arise, make haste, my love, my
dove, my beautiful one, and come.
2:11. For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone.
2:12. The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is
come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land:
2:13. The fig tree hath put forth her green figs: the vines in flower
yield their sweet smell. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come:
2:14. My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the
wall, shew me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice
is sweet, and thy face comely.
2:15. Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vines: for our
vineyard hath flourished.
Catch us the little foxes. . .Christ commands his pastors to catch false
teachers, by holding forth their fallacy and erroneous doctrine, which
like foxes would bite and destroy the vines.
2:16. My beloved to me, and I to him who feedeth among the lilies,
2:17. Till the day break, and the shadows retire. Return: be like, my
beloved, to a roe, or to a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.