Midras Kidung Agung 2:11: Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Shir HaShirim Rabbah & Shemot Rabbah

Another interpretation (of Cant. 2:10): <ARISE,> MY DARLING (rt.: R'H). <She is> the daughter of Abraham, the one who was my companion (rt.: R'H), as stated (in Is. 41:8): THE SEED OF MY FRIEND ABRAHAM. (Cant. 2:10, cont.:) MY FAIR ONE (rt.: YPH), by virtue of Isaac, who beautified (rt.: YPH) me in the world as he laid his neck upon the altar. (Ibid., cont.:) AND COME AWAY (rt.: HLK), by virtue of Isaac whose mother said to him (in Gen. 28:2): ARISE, GO (rt.: HLK) TO PADDAN-ARAM, <TO THE HOUSE OF BETHUEL>…. (Cant. 2:11:) FOR NOW THE WINTER IS PAST, [THE RAINS ARE OVER AND GONE]. What is the meaning of THE WINTER and THE RAINS? THE WINTER is merely six months, and during it there are no hardships except when THE RAINS come down.³¹Cant. R. 2:11:1 connects this interpretation with the following and thereby suggests that like the winter, Israel’s stay in Egypt was not unrelieved hardship.

Another interpretation (of Cant. 2:11): FOR NOW THE WINTER IS PAST. These are the four hundred years which were decreed for our ancestors to be in Egypt. (Ibid., cont.:) THE RAINS ARE OVER AND GONE. These are the two hundred and ten years that our ancestors < actually > labored in Egypt.

Another interpretation (of Cant. 2:11): FOR NOW THE WINTER IS PAST. These are the two hundred and ten years that our ancestors were in Egypt. (Ibid., cont.:) THE RAINS ARE OVER AND GONE. These are the eighty-six years after Miriam was born when the servitude was severe for Israel in Egypt. For that reason she was named Miriam, because of the bitterness (merur).