Catch us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
All Commentaries on Song of Songs 2:15 Go To Song of Songs 2
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
What does “catch” mean? [This means to] come to grips with them, convince, refute them, so that the vineyards of the church may not be spoiled. What else is catching foxes, but overcoming heretics with the authority of the divine law, and so to say binding and tying them up with the cords provided by the testimonies of the Holy Scriptures? [Samson] catches foxes, ties their tails together and attaches firebrands. What’s the meaning of the foxes’ tails tied together? What can the foxes’ tails be but the backsides of the heretics, whose fronts are smooth and deceptive, their backsides bound, that is condemned, and dragging fire behind them, to consume the crops and works of those who yield to their seductions?
