Song 2:7 | JFB | STEP | 7. by the roes —not an oath but a solemn charge, to act as cautiously as the hunter would with the wild roes, which are proverbially timorous; he must advance with breathless circumspection, if he is to take them; so he who would not lose Jesus Christ and His Spirit, which is easily grieved and withdrawn, must be tender of conscience and watchful ( ). In Margin, title of , Jesus Christ is called the " Hind of the morning," hunted to death by the dogs (compare , where He is represented as bounding on the hills, ). Here He is resting, but with a repose easily broken ( ). It is thought a gross rudeness in the East to awaken one sleeping, especially a person of rank. my love —in Hebrew, feminine for masculine, the abstract for concrete, Jesus Christ being the embodiment of love itself ( ), where, as here, the context requires it to be applied to Him, not her. She too is "love" ( ), for His love calls forth her love. Presumption in the convert is as grieving to the Spirit as despair. The lovingness and pleasantness of the hind and roe ( ) is included in this image of Jesus Christ. CANTICLE II.— ( )

Song of Solomon 2:7

7. by the roes—not an oath but a solemn charge, to act as cautiously as the hunter would with the wild roes, which are proverbially timorous; he must advance with breathless circumspection, if he is to take them; so he who would not lose Jesus Christ and His Spirit, which is easily grieved and withdrawn, must be tender of conscience and watchful (Eze 16:43; Eph 4:30; 5:15; 1Th 5:19). In Margin, title of Ps 22:1, Jesus Christ is called the "Hind of the morning," hunted to death by the dogs (compare So 2:8, 9, where He is represented as bounding on the hills, Ps 18:33). Here He is resting, but with a repose easily broken (Zep 3:17). It is thought a gross rudeness in the East to awaken one sleeping, especially a person of rank.

my love—in Hebrew, feminine for masculine, the abstract for concrete, Jesus Christ being the embodiment of love itself (So 3:5; 8:7), where, as here, the context requires it to be applied to Him, not her. She too is "love" (So 7:6), for His love calls forth her love. Presumption in the convert is as grieving to the Spirit as despair. The lovingness and pleasantness of the hind and roe (Pr 5:19) is included in this image of Jesus Christ.

CANTICLE II.— (So 2:8-3:5) —JOHN THE BAPTIST'S MINISTRY.