Song of Songs (Reformed Expository Commentary | REC)

by Iain M. Duguid

Publisher:

P&R

, 2016

Overview

To many of us, Song of Songs is a puzzling book. Often we’re not sure whether we should read it as romantic poetry or as allegory, and an answer either way raises new questions. Why is a love poem a whole book of the Bible? If it’s allegorical, what are we to make of the imagery used? And if we’re not married or dating, should we be reading this book at all? As a part of Scripture, Song of Songs is God-breathed and useful to instruct all Christians, single or married, divorced or widowed, straight or struggling with same-sex desires. Pastor-scholar Iain Duguid steers a middle way between allegorical and literal approaches, showing that this book’s celebration of the love between a man and woman can not only shape our thinking about human relationships but also give us profound insight into the love that Christ has for his bride, the church.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Entering marriage is not the end of your search for a spouse. It is the beginning of a lifelong pursuit, as you continually sin against each other, and then ask for forgiveness, pushing through the obstacles that threaten to divide you in search of true intimacy.” (Page 98)

“The Song of Songs is not primarily a book about sex, or a manual of dating tips, or an ‘agony aunt’ column of relationship advice. It is a book about desire from beginning to end—desire stirred, desire frustrated, desire satisfied, desire frustrated again—but above all, desire. The woman wants something—or rather someone—with a passionate and breathless desire.” (Page 4)

“It glorifies as the ideal human relationship a single-hearted, lifelong, devoted, and exclusive relationship between one man and one woman.” (Page 8)

“We are all broken people, and the answer that the Song gives to our sexual brokenness is to show us with incredible beauty what sexual wholeness would actually look like: one man and one woman deeply and permanently bonded together in a unique relationship of love.” (Page 9)

“So the finest of songs surely has to point us in some profound way to God’s love for us in Christ, the love that entered our fallen world, lived the perfect life in our place, and suffered and died for our sins.” (Page xviii)

Product Details

• Title: Song of Songs
• Author: Iain M. Duguid
• Series: Reformed Expository Commentary
• Publisher: P&R
• Print Publication Date: 2016
• Logos Release Date: 2017
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Bible. O.T. Song of Solomon › Commentaries
• ISBNs: 9781596389489, 9781596389496, 9781596389502, 9780830842865, 9780830899142, 9781783591909, 1596389486, 1596389494, 1596389508, 0830842861, 0830899146, 1783591900
• Resource ID: LLS:REC22SO
• Resource Type: Bible Commentary
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T02:39:03Z

About Iain M. Duguid

Iain M. Duguid (PhD, University of Cambridge) is professor of Old Testament at Grove City College and pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Grove City, Pennsylvania. He has also served as a missionary in Liberia, taught at Reformed Seminary and Westminster Seminary California, and planted churches in Fallbrook, California, and Oxford, England. Some of Duguid's other work includes books such as Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality and Hero of Heroes, as well as commentaries on Ezekiel, Daniel, Ruth, Esther and more. He was a translator for the Holman Christian Standard Version of the Bible and is a contributor to the New Living Translation Study Bible, the HCSV Study Bible and the ESV Study Bible. He and his wife Barb have five children.