Inter-Varsity Press

CONTENTS

General preface

Author’s preface

Introduction

The place of the Song in Holy Scripture

The date of the book

Solomon

The interpretation of the Song

The Song as poetry

The Song as love poetry

The vocabulary of the Song

The structure of the Song

The purpose of the Song

Subject studies

The garden motif

Love

Lover (beloved)

Wine

Analysis

Commentary

AUTHOR’S PREFACE

The believing Christian comes to the Bible with the faith that it is God’s Word to mankind. But we are more than merely ‘spiritual’ beings; we are human. If God is concerned about our human condition – and the incarnation makes it plain that he is – his revelation will be concerned with every aspect of that condition. And that includes human sexuality. The Christian mind recognizes the paradox that the whole person, professionally, privately, intellectually, physically, emotionally, spiritually, is brought to that place of freedom and fulfilment only as a slave of Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

The commentator’s primary task is not one of application; he is to clarify the text and get to its meaning, so that the reader can grasp its principles and apply them in life and experience. The things we handle here are sacred. They need to be handled fearlessly, intelligently and critically, but also with that reverence that springs from the constant awareness that the text before us is part of Holy Scripture. Once the meaning of the text is discovered, that meaning stands; we dare not condemn the Word as reasonable or unreasonable, acceptable or unacceptable. The Christian stands under the judgment of the Word of God and must lead every thought captive in obedience to Christ. It is this perspective I have endeavoured to maintain throughout this book.

The unique features presented by the Song of Solomon will be apparent to many. The whole question of its overall interpretation is unparalleled in the Old Testament, while a glance at the many translations available will show that the actual text, with its many unusual words and expressions, presents an exceptionally large number of problems of vocabulary and syntax. The latter require frequent technical discussion, making the Commentary proper unusually technical for this series. This factor has also prompted the unusual step of basing the Commentary initially (though by no means exclusively) on one English version. Conversely, material of more general interest is to be found in the Introduction and in the four Subject Studies.

The translation followed is the Revised Standard Version, with constant reference to other versions in common use. …