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Selected Verse: Song of solomon 2:15 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
So 2:15	Strong Concordance	Take [0270] us the foxes [07776], the little [06996] foxes [07776], that spoil [02254] the vines [03754]: for our vines [03754] have tender grapes [05563].
	King James	Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Transition to the vineyard, often formed in "stairs" (Sol 2:14), or terraces, in which, amidst the vine leaves, foxes hid. foxes--generic term, including jackals. They eat only grapes, not the vine flowers; but they need to be driven out in time before the grape is ripe. She had failed in watchfulness before (Sol 1:6); now when converted, she is the more jealous of subtle sins (Psa 139:23). In spiritual winter certain evils are frozen up, as well as good; in the spring of revivals these start up unperceived, crafty, false teachers, spiritual pride, uncharitableness, &c. (Psa 19:12; Mat 13:26; Luk 8:14; Ti2 2:17; Heb 12:15). "Little" sins are parents of the greatest (Ecc 10:1; Co1 5:6). Historically, John the Baptist spared not the fox-like Herod (Luk 13:32), who gave vine-like promise of fruit at first (Mar 6:20), at the cost of his life; nor the viper-Sadducees, &c.; nor the varied subtle forms of sin (Luk 3:7-14).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

Transition to the vineyard, often formed in "stairs" (Sol 2:14), or terraces, in which, amidst the vine leaves, foxes hid.

foxes--generic term, including jackals. They eat only grapes, not the vine flowers; but they need to be driven out in time before the grape is ripe. She had failed in watchfulness before (Sol 1:6); now when converted, she is the more jealous of subtle sins (Psa 139:23). In spiritual winter certain evils are frozen up, as well as good; in the spring of revivals these start up unperceived, crafty, false teachers, spiritual pride, uncharitableness, &c. (Psa 19:12; Mat 13:26; Luk 8:14; Ti2 2:17; Heb 12:15). "Little" sins are parents of the greatest (Ecc 10:1; Co1 5:6). Historically, John the Baptist spared not the fox-like Herod (Luk 13:32), who gave vine-like promise of fruit at first (Mar 6:20), at the cost of his life; nor the viper-Sadducees, &c.; nor the varied subtle forms of sin (Luk 3:7-14).

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
There now follows a cantiuncula. Shulamith comes forward, and, singing, salutes her beloved. Their love shall celebrate a new spring. Thus she wishes everything removed, or rendered harmless, that would disturb the peace of this love: 15 Catch us the foxes, the little foxes, The spoilers of the vineyards; For our vineyards are in bloom! 16 My beloved is mine, and I am his; Who feeds his flock among the lilies. If the king is now, on this visit of the beloved, engaged in hunting, the call: "Catch us," etc., if it is directed at all to any definite persons, is addressed to those who follow him. But this is a vine-dresser's ditty, in accord with Shulamith's experience as the keeper of a vineyard, which, in a figure, aims at her love-relation. The vineyards, beautiful with fragrant blossom, point to her covenant of love; and the foxes, the little foxes, which might destroy these united vineyards, point to all the great and little enemies and adverse circumstances which threaten to gnaw and destroy love in the blossom, ere it has reached the ripeness of full enjoyment. שׁעלים comprehends both foxes and jackals, which "destroy or injure the vineyards; because, by their holes and passages which they form in the ground, loosening the soil, so that the growth and prosperity of the vine suffers injury" (Hitzig). This word is from שׁעל (R. של), to go down, or into the depth. The little foxes are perhaps the jackals, which are called tǎnnīm, from their extended form, and in height are seldom more than fifteen inches. The word "jackal" has nothing to do with שׁוּעל, but is the Persian-Turkish shaghal, which comes from the Sanscr. crgâla, the howler (R. krag, like kap-âla, the skull; R. kap, to be arched). Moreover, the mention of the foxes naturally follows 14a, for they are at home among rocky ravines. Hitzig supposes Shulamith to address the foxes: hold for us = wait, ye rascals! But אחז, Aram. אחד, does not signify to wait, but to seize or lay hold of (synon. לכד, Jdg 15:4), as the lion its prey, Isa 5:29. And the plur. of address is explained from its being made to the king's retinue, or to all who could and would give help. Fox-hunting is still, and has been from old times, a sport of rich landowners; and that the smaller landowners also sought to free themselves from them by means of snares or otherwise, is a matter of course, - they are proverbially as destroyers, Neh. 3:35 [4:3], and therefore a figure of the false prophets, Eze 13:4. מחבּ כּרם are here instead of מחבּלי הכּרם. The articles are generally omitted, because poetry is not fond of the article, where, as here (cf. on the other hand, Sol 1:6), the thoughts and language permit it; and the fivefold m is an intentional mere verborum sonus. The clause וּכר סמדר is an explanatory one, as appears from the Vav and the subj. preceding, as well as from the want of a finitum. סמדר maintains here also, in pausa, the sharpening of the final syllable, as חץ, Deu 28:42. The 16th verse is connected with the 15th. Shulamith, in the pentast. song, celebrates her love-relation; for the praise of it extends into Sol 2:15, is continued in Sol 2:16, and not till Sol 2:17 does she address her beloved. Luther translates: My beloved is mine, and I am his; He feeds (his flock) among the roses. He has here also changed the "lilies" of the Vulgate into "roses;" for of the two queens among the flowers, he gave the preference to the popular and common rose; besides, he rightly does not translate הרעה, in the mid. after the pascitur inter lilia of the Vulgate: who feeds himself, i.e., pleases himself; for רעה has this meaning only when the object expressly follows, and it is evident that בּשּׁו cannot possibly be this object, after Gen 37:2, - the object is thus to be supplied. And which? Without doubt, gregem; and if Heiligst., with the advocates of the shepherd-hypothesis, understands this feeding (of the flock) among the lilies, of feeding on a flowery meadow, nothing can be said against it. But at Sol 6:2., where this saying of Shulamith is repeated, she says that her beloved בּגּנּים feeds and gathers lilies. On this the literal interpretation of the qui pascit (gregem) inter lilia is wrecked; for a shepherd, such as the shepherd-hypothesis supposes, were he to feed his flock in a garden, would be nothing better than a thief; such shepherds, also, do not concern themselves with the plucking of flowers, but spend their time in knitting stockings. It is Solomon, the king, of whom Shulamith speaks. She represents him to herself as a shepherd; but in such a manner that, at the same time, she describes his actions in language which rises above ordinary shepherd-life, and, so to speak, idealizes. She, who was herself a shepherdess, knows from her own circle of thought nothing more lovely or more honourable to conceive and to say of him, than that he is a shepherd who feeds among lilies. The locality and the surroundings of his daily work correspond to his nature, which is altogether beauty and love. Lilies, the emblem of unapproachable highness, awe-inspiring purity, lofty elevation above what is common, bloom where the lily-like (king) wanders, whom the Lily names her own. The mystic interpretation and mode of speaking takes "lilies" as the figurative name of holy souls, and a lily-stalk as the symbol of the life of regeneration. Mary, who is celebrated in song as the rosa mystica, is rightly represented in ancient pictures with a lily in her hand on the occasion of the Annunciation; for if the people of God are called by Jewish poets "a people of lilies," she is, within this lily-community, this communio sanctorum, the lily without a parallel.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

There now follows a cantiuncula. Shulamith comes forward, and, singing, salutes her beloved. Their love shall celebrate a new spring. Thus she wishes everything removed, or rendered harmless, that would disturb the peace of this love:

15 Catch us the foxes, the little foxes,

The spoilers of the vineyards;

For our vineyards are in bloom!

16 My beloved is mine, and I am his;

Who feeds his flock among the lilies.

If the king is now, on this visit of the beloved, engaged in hunting, the call: "Catch us," etc., if it is directed at all to any definite persons, is addressed to those who follow him. But this is a vine-dresser's ditty, in accord with Shulamith's experience as the keeper of a vineyard, which, in a figure, aims at her love-relation. The vineyards, beautiful with fragrant blossom, point to her covenant of love; and the foxes, the little foxes, which might destroy these united vineyards, point to all the great and little enemies and adverse circumstances which threaten to gnaw and destroy love in the blossom, ere it has reached the ripeness of full enjoyment. שׁעלים comprehends both foxes and jackals, which "destroy or injure the vineyards; because, by their holes and passages which they form in the ground, loosening the soil, so that the growth and prosperity of the vine suffers injury" (Hitzig). This word is from שׁעל (R. של), to go down, or into the depth. The little foxes are perhaps the jackals, which are called tǎnnīm, from their extended form, and in height are seldom more than fifteen inches. The word "jackal" has nothing to do with שׁוּעל, but is the Persian-Turkish shaghal, which comes from the Sanscr. crgâla, the howler (R. krag, like kap-âla, the skull; R. kap, to be arched). Moreover, the mention of the foxes naturally follows 14a, for they are at home among rocky ravines. Hitzig supposes Shulamith to address the foxes: hold for us = wait, ye rascals! But אחז, Aram. אחד, does not signify to wait, but to seize or lay hold of (synon. לכד, Jdg 15:4), as the lion its prey, Isa 5:29. And the plur. of address is explained from its being made to the king's retinue, or to all who could and would give help. Fox-hunting is still, and has been from old times, a sport of rich landowners; and that the smaller landowners also sought to free themselves from them by means of snares or otherwise, is a matter of course, - they are proverbially as destroyers, Neh. 3:35 [4:3], and therefore a figure of the false prophets, Eze 13:4. מחבּ כּרם are here instead of מחבּלי הכּרם. The articles are generally omitted, because poetry is not fond of the article, where, as here (cf. on the other hand, Sol 1:6), the thoughts and language permit it; and the fivefold m is an intentional mere verborum sonus. The clause וּכר סמדר is an explanatory one, as appears from the Vav and the subj. preceding, as well as from the want of a finitum. סמדר maintains here also, in pausa, the sharpening of the final syllable, as חץ, Deu 28:42.

The 16th verse is connected with the 15th. Shulamith, in the pentast. song, celebrates her love-relation; for the praise of it extends into Sol 2:15, is continued in Sol 2:16, and not till Sol 2:17 does she address her beloved. Luther translates:

My beloved is mine, and I am his;

He feeds (his flock) among the roses.

He has here also changed the "lilies" of the Vulgate into "roses;" for of the two queens among the flowers, he gave the preference to the popular and common rose; besides, he rightly does not translate הרעה, in the mid. after the pascitur inter lilia of the Vulgate: who feeds himself, i.e., pleases himself; for רעה has this meaning only when the object expressly follows, and it is evident that בּשּׁו cannot possibly be this object, after Gen 37:2, - the object is thus to be supplied. And which? Without doubt, gregem; and if Heiligst., with the advocates of the shepherd-hypothesis, understands this feeding (of the flock) among the lilies, of feeding on a flowery meadow, nothing can be said against it. But at Sol 6:2., where this saying of Shulamith is repeated, she says that her beloved בּגּנּים feeds and gathers lilies. On this the literal interpretation of the qui pascit (gregem) inter lilia is wrecked; for a shepherd, such as the shepherd-hypothesis supposes, were he to feed his flock in a garden, would be nothing better than a thief; such shepherds, also, do not concern themselves with the plucking of flowers, but spend their time in knitting stockings. It is Solomon, the king, of whom Shulamith speaks. She represents him to herself as a shepherd; but in such a manner that, at the same time, she describes his actions in language which rises above ordinary shepherd-life, and, so to speak, idealizes. She, who was herself a shepherdess, knows from her own circle of thought nothing more lovely or more honourable to conceive and to say of him, than that he is a shepherd who feeds among lilies. The locality and the surroundings of his daily work correspond to his nature, which is altogether beauty and love. Lilies, the emblem of unapproachable highness, awe-inspiring purity, lofty elevation above what is common, bloom where the lily-like (king) wanders, whom the Lily names her own. The mystic interpretation and mode of speaking takes "lilies" as the figurative name of holy souls, and a lily-stalk as the symbol of the life of regeneration. Mary, who is celebrated in song as the rosa mystica, is rightly represented in ancient pictures with a lily in her hand on the occasion of the Annunciation; for if the people of God are called by Jewish poets "a people of lilies," she is, within this lily-community, this communio sanctorum, the lily without a parallel.

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Take us - The bridegroom gives this charge to his bridemen or friends. By whom he understands those magistrates and ministers to whom, under Christ, the custody of the vineyards, the churches, principally belong. These he commands to take the foxes, to restrain them from doing this mischief. Foxes - The disturbers of the vineyard, or the church, seducers or false teachers. Little foxes - This he adds for more abundant caution, to teach the church to prevent errors and heresies in the beginnings. Spoil vines - Which foxes do many ways, by gnawing and breaking the little branches and leaves, by digging holes in the vineyards, and so spoiling the roots. Tender grapes - Which are easily spoiled, if great care be not used to prevent it.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Take us the foxes - That these were ruinous to vines all authors allow. They love the vine, and they are eaten in autumn in some countries, according to Galen, when they are very fat with eating the grapes. They abounded in Judea; and did most damage when the clusters were young and tender. It is likely that these are the words of the bridegroom to his companions, just as he was entering the apartment of his spouse. "Take care of the vineyard: set the traps for the foxes, which are spoiling the vines; and destroy their young as far as possible."

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⁷ Then [3767] said [3004] he to the multitude [3793] that came forth [1607] to be baptized [907] of [5259] him [846], O generation [1081] of vipers [2191], who [5101] hath warned [5263] you [5213] to flee [5343] from [575] the wrath [3709] to come [3195]?
⁸ Bring forth [4160] therefore [3767] fruits [2590] worthy [514] of repentance [3341], and [2532] begin [756] not [3361] to say [3004] within [1722] yourselves [1438], We have [2192] Abraham [11] to our father [3962]: for [1063] I say [3004] unto you [5213], That [3754] God [2316] is able [1410] of [1537] these [5130] stones [3037] to raise up [1453] children [5043] unto Abraham [11].
⁹ And [1161] now [2235] also [2532] the axe [513] is laid [2749] unto [4314] the root [4491] of the trees [1186]: every [3956] tree [1186] therefore [3767] which bringeth [4160] not [3361] forth [4160] good [2570] fruit [2590] is hewn down [1581], and [2532] cast [906] into [1519] the fire [4442].
¹⁰ And [2532] the people [3793] asked [1905] him [846], saying [3004], What [5101] shall we do [4160] then [3767]?
¹¹ He answereth [611] and [1161] saith [3004] unto them [846], He that hath [2192] two [1417] coats [5509], let him impart [3330] to him that hath [2192] none [3361]; and [2532] he that hath [2192] meat [1033], let him do [4160] likewise [3668].
¹² Then [1161] came [2064] also [2532] publicans [5057] to be baptized [907], and [2532] said [2036] unto [4314] him [846], Master [1320], what [5101] shall we do [4160]?
¹³ And [1161] he said [2036] unto [4314] them [846], Exact [4238] no [3367] more [4119] than [3844] that which is appointed [1299] you [5213].
¹⁴ And [1161] the soldiers [4754] likewise [2532] demanded [1905] of him [846], saying [3004], And [2532] what [5101] shall we [2249] do [4160]? And [2532] he said [2036] unto [4314] them [846], Do violence [1286] to no man [3367], neither [3366] accuse any falsely [4811]; and [2532] be content [714] with your [5216] wages [3800].

²⁰ For [1063] Herod [2264] feared [5399] John [2491], knowing [1492] that he [846] was a just [1342] man [435] and [2532] an holy [40], and [2532] observed [4933] him [846]; and [2532] when he heard [191] him [846], he did [4160] many things [4183], and [2532] heard [191] him [846] gladly [2234].

³² And [2532] he said [2036] unto them [846], Go ye [4198], and tell [2036] that [5026] fox [258], Behold [2400], I cast out [1544] devils [1140], and [2532] I do [2005] cures [2392] to day [4594] and [2532] to morrow [839], and [2532] the third [5154] day I shall be perfected [5048].

⁶ Your [5216] glorying [2745] is not [3756] good [2570]. Know ye [1492] not [3756] that [3754] a little [3398] leaven [2219] leaveneth [2220] the whole [3650] lump [5445]?

¹ Dead [04194] flies [02070] cause the ointment [08081] of the apothecary [07543] to send forth [05042] a stinking savour [0887]: so doth a little [04592] folly [05531] him that is in reputation [03368] for wisdom [02451] and honour [03519].

¹⁵ Looking diligently [1983] lest [3361] any man [5100] fail [5302] of [575] the grace [5485] of God [2316]; lest [3361] any [5100] root [4491] of bitterness [4088] springing [5453] up [507] trouble [1776] you, and [2532] thereby [1223] [5026] many [4183] be defiled [3392];

¹⁷ And [2532] their [846] word [3056] will eat [2192] [3542] as [5613] doth a canker [1044]: of whom [3739] is [2076] Hymenaeus [5211] and [2532] Philetus [5372];

¹⁴ And [1161] that which fell [4098] among [1519] thorns [173] are [1526] they [3778], which, when they have heard [191], go forth [4198], and [2532] are choked [4846] with [5259] cares [3308] and [2532] riches [4149] and [2532] pleasures [2237] of this life [979], and [2532] bring [5052] no [3756] fruit to perfection [5052].

²⁶ But [1161] when [3753] the blade [5528] was sprung up [985], and [2532] brought forth [4160] fruit [2590], then [5119] appeared [5316] the tares [2215] also [2532].

¹² Who can understand [0995] his errors [07691]? cleanse [05352] thou me from secret [05641] faults.

²³ Search [02713] me, O God [0410], and know [03045] my heart [03824]: try [0974] me, and know [03045] my thoughts [08312]:

⁶ Look [07200] not upon me, because I am black [07840], because the sun [08121] hath looked [07805] upon me: my mother's [0517] children [01121] were angry [02787] with me; they made [07760] me the keeper [05201] of the vineyards [03754]; but mine own vineyard [03754] have I not kept [05201].

¹⁴ O my dove [03123], that art in the clefts [02288] of the rock [05553], in the secret [05643] places of the stairs [04095], let me see [07200] thy countenance [04758], let me hear [08085] thy voice [06963]; for sweet [06156] is thy voice [06963], and thy countenance [04758] is comely [05000].

² My beloved [01730] is gone down [03381] into his garden [01588], to the beds [06170] of spices [01314], to feed [07462] in the gardens [01588], and to gather [03950] lilies [07799].

² These are the generations [08435] of Jacob [03290]. Joseph [03130], being seventeen [06240] [07651] years [08141] old [01121], was feeding [07462] the flock [06629] with his brethren [0251]; and the lad [05288] was with the sons [01121] of Bilhah [01090], and with the sons [01121] of Zilpah [02153], his father's [01] wives [0802]: and Joseph [03130] brought [0935] unto his father [01] their evil [07451] report [01681].

¹⁷ Until the day [03117] break [06315], and the shadows [06752] flee away [05127], turn [05437], my beloved [01730], and be thou like [01819] a roe [06643] or a young [06082] hart [0354] upon the mountains [02022] of Bether [01336].

¹⁶ My beloved [01730] is mine, and I am his: he feedeth [07462] among the lilies [07799].

¹⁵ Take [0270] us the foxes [07776], the little [06996] foxes [07776], that spoil [02254] the vines [03754]: for our vines [03754] have tender grapes [05563].

⁴² All thy trees [06086] and fruit [06529] of thy land [0127] shall the locust [06767] consume [03423].

⁴ O Israel [03478], thy prophets [05030] are like the foxes [07776] in the deserts [02723].

²⁹ Their roaring [07581] shall be like a lion [03833], they shall roar [07580] [07580] like young lions [03715]: yea, they shall roar [05098], and lay hold [0270] of the prey [02964], and shall carry it away safe [06403], and none shall deliver [05337] it.

⁴ And Samson [08123] went [03212] and caught [03920] three [07969] hundred [03967] foxes [07776], and took [03947] firebrands [03940], and turned [06437] tail [02180] to tail [02180], and put [07760] a [0259] firebrand [03940] in the midst [08432] between two [08147] tails [02180].