Why does the beloved invite his love to rise and come with him?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The beloved calls his love to come because winter and rain have passed. Flowers, birds, figs, and flowering vines announce a new season. The song joins that invitation with a warning about little foxes that damage the vineyard.

Chapter breakdown

The song opens with a field flower and a lily among thorns. Challoner interprets the flower as Christ and the lily as his Church. The speaker compares her beloved to an apple tree, recalls sitting in his shade, and enjoys his sweet fruit. He has brought her into a wine cellar and set charity in order within her. She asks for flowers and apples because she languishes with love. His left hand supports her head, and his right will embrace her. She asks Jerusalem’s daughters not to awaken the beloved until she pleases.

The beloved approaches over mountains and hills like a roe or young hart. Challoner reads this approach as the preaching of the Gospel overcoming difficulties. From behind the wall, the beloved looks through windows and calls his love to rise and come. Winter and rain have passed. Flowers, pruning time, the turtledove’s voice, green figs, and fragrant vines announce the season. He asks the dove in the rock’s clefts to show her face and let him hear her voice.

The song calls for the little foxes that destroy the flourishing vines to be caught. Challoner interprets them as false teachers whose errors pastors must expose. The speaker declares that she and her beloved belong to one another. She ends by asking him to return like a roe or young hart on the mountains of Bether.

The story inside

The lovers first compare each other to a lily and an apple tree. The speaker recalls shade, sweet fruit, and an embrace. She then hears the beloved approaching over the hills. From behind the wall he calls her out into the spring landscape, asking to see her face and hear her voice.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The invitation rests on concrete signs of spring: flowers, birdsong, figs, and fragrant vines (2:10–13).
2
Small foxes threaten a flourishing vineyard. Challoner interprets them as false teachers in his note on 2:15.
3
The speaker declares that she and her beloved belong to one another, then asks him to return (2:16–17).

Test your recall

Which signs show that winter has passed, and what threatens the vineyard?

Show answer

Flowers appear, pruning time arrives, the turtledove is heard, figs grow, and flowering vines give off their scent. Little foxes damage the vines (2:11–15).

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 71072–71072
2:1. I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys.
Lines 71085–71086
2:4. He brought me into the cellar of wine, he set in order charity in me.
Lines 71124–71125
2:15. Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vines: for our vineyard hath flourished.