Exum, C. Song of Songs. OTL. Westminster, 2005 (263 pp.). A select but busy bibliography adorns the first several pages at the front of the commentary. It is an impressive collection of sources this side of 1900, but I found none of the Fathers. So it was less surprising than it might otherwise have been to read in the first paragraph that the Song is a love poem, and that, apparently, is about it. I was still less surprised to find the Song’s canonical context treated last in a section entitled “The Song of Songs and its World” (after Literary Context, Historical-Cultural Context, and Social World). For E, the Song cannot be allegorical, because that would somehow render its meaning(s) unverifiable (76), and scriptural texts exist, naturally, to be verified. So the answer to the “fascinating” question, What is the Song doing in the Bible? can only be, “we do not know” (70). What redeems an otherwise uninteresting commentary is the careful discussion of the text itself (the textual notes are actually fantastic), and it is here that readers will benefit from E’s scholarship as an important voice among other interpreters.

Garrett, D. and P. House. Song of Songs/Lamentations. WBC. Word, 2004 (479 pp.). G like Murphy below, spends a fair bit of space attending to early Christian and Jewish interpretation, but he is quite critical of it. He caricatures Origen as someone who was muddled in his thinking and who saw no theological value in the Song’s plain sense (65). (One wonders what Origen’s allegorizing was if not a valuing of the theology of the plain sense.) G does offer us a very instructive discussion of the poetic devices we will meet in the Song, as well as an analysis of its structure, and of the communicational attributes of Hebrew poetry generally. There is also a small section comparing the language of the Song with its Ancient Near Eastern and Egyptian parallels for the curious. The commentary is very engaging, somewhat strident at moments, but a very informative resource.

Hess, R. Song of Songs. BCOT. Baker, 2005 (285 pp.). H notes, in agreement with Robert Alter, that “figurative language is used more prominently throughout the Song than anywhere else in the Bible.” By this H means the poetic imagery used by the lovers in their descriptions. It is somewhat puzzling, then, that he has no room for allegory (34). Instead, the Song celebrates physical love “without concern for issues of theology” (11), though somehow “sex enables an experience of love whose intensity has no parallel in this cosmos and serves as a signpost to point to the greater love that lies beyond it” (35). In any case, the strength of H’s contribution will be found in his linguistic expertise and his grasp of Ancient Near Eastern poetic traditions. The commentary itself is not overly technical, though the textual notes do exhibit H’s capacity for the details, so we may certainly assume that we are reading his well-considered reflections.

Jenson, R. Song of Songs. Interpretation. John Knox, 2005 (106 pp.). A startlingly refreshing approach to the Song, with penetrating insights into its richness. It is an absolute pleasure to read (and probably could be done in an evening), not least because J strolls articulately on his way, completely unbothered by the pomp of scholarly dismissal directed toward anything which smacks of figural reading. He clearly appreciates–and is therefore clear about (pace Exum)–the Song’s “explicit, though never quite pornographic, poetry of physical love” (1) and the extent to which such marital love is attached to the relationship between God and his people (throughout). As a result, J deconstructs the assumption that if allegorical, then unuseful in romantic relationships. It is a theological reading, and is therefore not a commentary in the usual way that commentaries are. There is textual discussion, but not as a task unto itself. So it is brief and provisional and included in the prose. This renders the commentary efficient for thought and reflection, particularly for the busy minister. Highest marks here, though it should be supplemented with a more detailed treatment (perhaps Murphy).

Murphy, R. The Song of Songs. Hermeneia. Fortress, 1990 (237 pp.). M is the counterpart to Garrett (above). He spends about thirty pages in an interested engagement with early Jewish and Christian interpretation, medieval Jewish and Christian interpretation, and interpretation from the Reformation to the modern era. The commentary itself is perhaps the most technical of those reviewed here. M’s textual notes, while perhaps not as sharp as Exum’s, are every bit as informative, though a knowledge of Hebrew will be very helpful. Readers may also appreciate the format of the Hermeneia series, which is just visually pleasant, with its pages as wide as they are long. This gives the layout a very clean look. Text is found on the left (even) pages (M has conveniently labeled the speakers), textual notes on the right (odd). These are followed by the commentary and its footnotes, vertically separated from each other (as in the Introduction) by a line across the page. An excellent and even-handed treatment.

Norris, R. The Song of Songs. TCB. Eerdmans, 2003 (325 pp.). This commentary (and its series) is essentially an anthology of early Christian interpretations of the Song (e.g., Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Ambrose). In addition, N provides his own fresh translations of the Septuagint and the Vulgate, as well as the original sources used by the commentators themselves. As such, it constitutes an intriguing and tremendously valuable repository of Christian reflection. [See also the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (ACCS) for another series committed to providing a book-by-book collection of early Christian voices.]