Song of Songs 2 Footnotes

2:15 Commentators disagree over the identity of the “little foxes” that ruin the vineyards. Traditional Jewish interpretation understands “foxes” as the enemies of Israel. Christian allegorical interpreters argue that the “foxes” represent pagan people, who, once seized, make good candidates for conversion. Other opinions suggest that the raiding of the vineyard by the foxes figuratively describes obstacles that threaten to interfere with the development of love.

2:16 The phrase “my love is mine and I am his,” closely resembles the covenant formula, “They will be my people, and I will be their God” (Jr 24:7; see 11:4; Ezk 34:30).