2:2 As the lily among thorns, so [is] my a love among the
daughters.
(a) Thus Christ prefers his Church above all other things.
2:3b As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so [is]
my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with
great delight, and his fruit [was] sweet to my taste.
(b) The spouse testifies her great desire toward her
husband, but her strength fails her, and therefore she
desires to be comforted, and felt it.
2:7c I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes,
and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not, nor awake
[my] love, till he please.
(c) Christ charges them who have to do in the Church as it
were by a solemn oath, that they trouble not the
quietness of it.
2:8d The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon
the mountains, skipping upon the hills.
(d) This is spoken of Christ who took on our nature to come
to help his Church.
2:9 My beloved is like a roe or a young hart: behold, he e
standeth behind our wall, he looketh forth at the windows,
gazing himself through the f lattice.
(e) For as his divinity was hidden under the cloak of our
flesh.
(f) So that we cannot have full knowledge of him in this
life.
2:11 For, lo, the g winter is past, the rain is over [and]
gone;
(g) That is, sin and error is driven back by the coming of
Christ, who is here described by the springtime, when
all things flourish.
2:14 O my dove, [that art] in the h 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.
(h) You who are ashamed of your sins, come and show
yourself to me.
2:15 Take for us the foxes, the i little foxes, that spoil the
vines: for our vines [have] tender grapes.
(i) Suppress the heretics while they are young, that is,
when they begin to show their malice, and destroy the
vine of the Lord.
2:17 Until the day shall break, and the shadows flee away, turn,
my beloved, and be thou like a k roe or a young hart upon
the mountains of Bether.
(k) The church desires Christ to be most ready to help her
in all dangers.
