"Catch the foxes for us,/The little foxes,/That ruin the vineyards/While our vineyards are in blossom" (S.S. 2:15). Christ charges His lover to be aware of her peculiarities, habits, and introspections (little foxes) which ruin the resurrection for His lover (our vineyards in blossom).
The little foxes that ruin the vineyards signify our peculiarities, our habits, and our introspections, and the vineyards signify the church life. To be spiritual is good, but it often leads to peculiarity. Nearly every spiritual person is peculiar, having some kind of peculiar streak. When we become peculiar, we are no longer spiritual. Instead, we become a trouble to the church. The deliverance from peculiarity is the cross.
In 2:16—3:1 we see the lover's rejection and failure.
"My beloved is mine, and I am his;/He pastures his flock among the lilies" (v. 16). She realizes that Christ belongs to her and she to Christ according to her feeling, yet He is not with her, but He is away feeding His pure and trusting followers (pastures among the lilies). At this point she and Christ are not one.
"Until the day dawns and the shadows flee away,/Turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young hart/On the mountains of Bether" (v. 17). Here she rejects Him by asking Him to wait until her down situation is over and then to turn to her in His resurrection, like a gazelle or a young hart, at the time of their separation, which could be removed only by Him and not by her (on the mountains of Bether). The word Bether means "separation." The lover seemed to be saying to Him, "Lord, I am not ready. Please do not come now but wait until my situation is over. Be like a gazelle upon the mountain of separation." This separation, this mountain, is a problem, and it can be removed only by Him.