Tremper Longman, who will need no introduction to readers of Themelios, has written an attractive contribution to the well-established NICOT series in this scholarly technical commentary on the Song of Songs. It is very readable in spite of continual detailed reference to the transliterated Hebrew text. He includes a 12 page up-to-date bibliography, and in the commentary itself he constantly interacts with the standard modern works of Brenner, Falk, Fox, Goulder, Kee, Landy, Murphy, Snaith, Trible et al. About one third of the book is taken up by matters of introduction, and there follows a detailed verse by verse exegesis of the Song, which he divides up into 23 poems.

He sets out his stall in the introduction. There are no surprises here, as he follows modern scholarly trends in his interpretation. Solomon plays a minor role in the Song, in both authorship and characterisation. Longman draws a comparison between his role in the Song and his role in the book of Proverbs and in Ecclesiastes. Language, canonical considerations, and the ambiguity of Solomon’s character, cause Longman to distance the historical Solomon from the Song. He regards the Song as an anthology of independent poems, linked together rather loosely by multiple refrains and metaphors. One consequence of this is his rejection of any kind of consecutive plot-line; he rejects the so-called dramatic view, in both its two character and three character forms. His own division of the Song into a number of independent poems is somewhat arbitrary; at times he seems not at all convinced of his own actual divisions of the boundary lines. He floats the idea of a female author but concludes that in this, as in other matters of interpretation, the hypothesis tells us more about the commentators than the text itself. He gives an extended survey of the history of Jewish and Christian interpretation of the Song, up to the present day. Longman rejects the allegorical approach, as well as more modern psychological, political and cultic approaches. Against the background of ancient Near Eastern Love poetry of Egypt and Mesopotamia, he regards the Song as a celebration of love and beauty, and the intimacies of the relations between a man and a woman, with all their joys, fears, tensions, passions and various moods. He calls the collection of songs an erotic psalter, and delicately explores both the explicit and euphemistic sensual imagery, whilst rejecting the wilder speculative hypothesis of some modern authors. In his introduction Longman also follows Phyllis Trible in regarding the Song as a story of sexuality redeemed, based on the Garden of Eden account. The implication of a canonical reading of the Song is that the book speaks of a healing intimacy, albeit not yet fully complete as we still live in the tension between the present age and the age to come. This canonical approach permits Longman to draw parallels between the relationship of two lovers and the relationship of God with his covenant people. But beyond a few notes in the standard texts from the OT prophets in his introduction, he disappointingly never develops this theme in his textual comments. The exegesis itself is very thorough; but in his survey of the opinions of other scholars he occasionally leaves questions open, rather than arguing his own conclusion. I could detect very few sparkling new insights in his work.

One of the dangers of a technical commentary like this, is that of missing the wood for the trees. Its value could have been enhanced by stepping back after the detailed exegesis, and giving a more extended survey of the nature of imagery and metaphor, the characterisation of the relationship between the lovers, the various contrasts such as the royal/rustic scenarios, and the various typological relationships which he only hints at in his introduction. It is this drawing of the threads together that I missed in this commentary.

All in all, it is a thorough, accessible commentary of the Song of Songs, giving the novice theological student an introduction to a wide range of scholarly opinion, both ancient and modern. But for any extended discussion on the issues of God and human sexuality, the preacher and pastor will have to look elsewhere.