Please explain the Song of Solomon 2:15.
To answer your good question, let’s read Song of Solomon 2:14-16, “O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely. Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes. My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.”
1 Kings 4:32 tells us of Solomon. It says, “And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.” Solomon is said here to have written 1,005 songs. Yet, the Song of Solomon is called “The song of songs, which is Solomon’s.” (1:1). This song is the pinnacle of his songs. In it, he writes about himself, his Shulamite bride, and the daughters of Jerusalem. It is thought that Solomon wrote this book in his youth before he fell into polygamy and having many concubines. Many, who have spent time reading the pages of this book, have been touched with the tenderness and intimacy of the relationship of Solomon and his bride, surely a type of Jehovah and Israel. However, in these two, we also have a lovely picture of Christ and His bride, the church.
The book begins with the bride longing for the affection of her groom as we read in Song of Solomon 1:2, “Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine.” Although she longs for her groom, the bride feels so inadequate. In verses 9-11, the groom responds with words of love and delight in his bride.
Chapter two continues with the bride’s words of love and longing, though still feeling so unworthy of him. She says in verses 4-6, “He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. Stay me with flagons, comfort me with apples: for I am sick of love. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me.” As she thinks of him, she imagines him right there with her. She thinks of her lying in his arms. It does not take much reading in this book to recognize the romance and intimacy between the bride and groom. Many marriages have benefitted from the husband and his wife reading this book together for its practical truths.
Verse 14 shows the loving desire of the groom to see and hear the voice of his bride. Fellow believer, have you ever considered how much the Lord longs to hear your voice? We have the words of the psalmist in Psalms 5:3, “My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.” Have you ever considered how the Lord sees you as beautiful? The groom will later say in Song of Solomon 6:4, “Thou art beautiful, O my love…” How could the Lord possibly see us as being beautiful? Because He has washed us in His own blood and made us “white as snow”, perfectly pure in His sight.
Now we read Song of Solomon 2:15, “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” The groom now shows careful and tender care of the fruit of the vines which he shares with his bride. Notice how he speaks of “our vines”, showing how the possession of vines belonged to them both. “Take us the foxes”, or better translated as “Catch for us the foxes” shows his meticulous care to protect the vines which will ultimately produce sweet wine for them to enjoy together. We learn in Psalms 104:15 that it is “wine that maketh glad the heart of man…” So, the vines represent the joy between the bride and groom, and the groom here is taking measures to protect that joy.
Let’s end this short meditation with the words of the bride as she exclaims with great joy, “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” As she grew to understand the wonder of belonging to him, the bride will later say in Song of Solomon 6:3, “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.” (294.6)