20250219

little foxes

Song of Songs 2:8-17 (JDV)

Song of Songs 2:8 Listen! My love is approaching. Look! Here he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.
Song of Songs 2:9 My love is like a gazelle or a young stag. See, he is standing behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.
Song of Songs 2:10 My love calls to me: Arise, my companion. Come away, my beautiful one.
Song of Songs 2:11 For now the winter is past; the rain has ended and gone away.
Song of Songs 2:12 The blossoms appear in the countryside. The time of singing has come, and the turtledove’s cooing rings in our land.
Song of Songs 2:13 The fig tree ripens its figs; the blossoming vines give off their fragrance. Arise, my companion. Come away, my beautiful one.
Song of Songs 2:14 My dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crevices of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice; for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.
Song of Songs 2:15 Catch the foxes for us — the little foxes that ruin the vineyards — for our vineyards are in bloom.
Song of Songs 2:16 My love is mine and I am his; he feeds among the lilies.
Song of Songs 2:17 Until the day breaks and the shadows flee, turn around, my love, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the divided mountains.

little foxes

When the time is right, the hindrances and fears and distractions are overcome. Marital love is a beautiful thing at that time, a right thing. Nothing (even the mountains) should be allowed to spoil the joy that the LORD intends for lovers.

Yet the little foxes also try to spoil the vineyards. So she asks her lover to catch them. These are the things that might destroy the relationship before the springtime of love. Many a relationship has been destroyed because some fox has broken into the vineyard.

LORD, give us and our children wisdom to take care of the vineyard spoilers.