First sentence: What on earth is the Song of Songs about? If that is your response to this biblical book, then you are certainly not alone.
Song of Songs by Ian M. Duguid is a commentary. It doesn't present just one way to think about the book, Song of Songs (or Song of Solomon). And I don't mean it merely presents three or four ways that scholars have interpreted it through the centuries, a mix and match approach. No, I mean it's a layered approach. Each layer reveals truth. For example, there are verses that could say something practical and down-to-earth about marriage. But those same verse have something to say to us spiritually or theologically. I really appreciated how by the end of each chapter, Duguid had found a way to take readers to Christ, back to the gospel, back to who we are now that we are joined to Christ.
As a single woman, I could appreciate this aspect of it perhaps more than any other. A how-to-have-a-great marriage book isn't topping my to-read list. But the book has a lot to say to people who are not married, who may never marry. This book had a lot to say about who Christ is and what Christ has done. For that reason alone, it is worth reading.
Another reason? Well, the author references Jane Eyre several times! (The conclusion of the biblical story is the God of all creation declaring joyously about his church, "Reader, I married her!")
Favorite quote: No matter what others say about you, or what the voices in your head say about you, if Jesus Christ the Crucified calls you his beloved, then that is what you really are.
© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible
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