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Reformed Expository Commentary
Song of Songs
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.
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.
216 pages, Hardcover
Published May 31, 2016
13 people are currently reading
40 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 21, 2024
Just an outstanding, wise, encouraging, practical, Christ-exalting exposition of the greatest song.
I am not well read on Song of Songs. I was taught early on at least two different, mutually exclusive, readings of the text that I found to be confusing, not very helpful, not easy to sort out, and not especially Christian. Over the years, I've come to appreciate the Song vaguely, as in some sense reflecting on the dangers and beauty and power of love and sex. I knew, in some general and vague sense, that it was about marital love, and marital love is about Christ. But the book still intimated me and seemed locked behind a gate.
But Duguid really helped me to fall in love with the book, to desire to keep searching it out and to know it better. He has a sense of the right things to comment on. Some good practical advice. And authentic, helpful ways to connect the Song to our Beloved. It helped me to learn wisdom from the book for my own marriage, and my own pastoral counsel. And it helped me to love my beloved better, and to know that He is mine.
Again, I've not read much on the Song, but I can easily recommend this to teachers who are looking for help in how to teach, preach, and counsel others with the wisdom of this oft neglected book of scripture. As a side note, I basically read straight through this book. That is not something I do with commentaries (not sure I have ever done it with one before). The book is written in a relatively simple, engaging style.
I am not well read on Song of Songs. I was taught early on at least two different, mutually exclusive, readings of the text that I found to be confusing, not very helpful, not easy to sort out, and not especially Christian. Over the years, I've come to appreciate the Song vaguely, as in some sense reflecting on the dangers and beauty and power of love and sex. I knew, in some general and vague sense, that it was about marital love, and marital love is about Christ. But the book still intimated me and seemed locked behind a gate.
But Duguid really helped me to fall in love with the book, to desire to keep searching it out and to know it better. He has a sense of the right things to comment on. Some good practical advice. And authentic, helpful ways to connect the Song to our Beloved. It helped me to learn wisdom from the book for my own marriage, and my own pastoral counsel. And it helped me to love my beloved better, and to know that He is mine.
Again, I've not read much on the Song, but I can easily recommend this to teachers who are looking for help in how to teach, preach, and counsel others with the wisdom of this oft neglected book of scripture. As a side note, I basically read straight through this book. That is not something I do with commentaries (not sure I have ever done it with one before). The book is written in a relatively simple, engaging style.
March 4, 2021
“This poem takes something that we have ruined and shows us with breathtaking beauty what the proper expression of our sexuality ought to look like. Its motivation is to stir our desire for purity and joy. In so doing, however, it cannot help but expose the reality that we all fall far short in this area. In this way, our broken sexuality drives us back once again to see all the more clearly our desperate need for the gospel.” (p. 83)
March 8, 2025
On that day, Jesus will finally say to us: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, [and] the time of singing has come” (Song 2:10–12 ESV). On that day, we will finally know that “my beloved is mine, and I am his” (v. 16): we will be his and he will be ours, forever and forever.
I can remember well the day I started reading this book in May 2022, and I'm happy to have finally finished it—almost three years later. Because of the nature of the Song and the nature of this commentary series, some of the applications were quite repetitive, and therefore it doesn't make the easiest book to read straight through. But the way I used it, occasionally reading a chapter or two, has been a balm to my soul. I'm actually looking forward to picking up another book by Duguid soon.
December 9, 2020
Iain Duguid’s commentary excels for several reasons. First, he understands that the Song of Songs is a book about covenant sexual love (marriage). Second, he understands that marriage is about Christ—that it is a prophetic foreshadowing of the relationship that He will enjoy with God’s people forever, and that we will enjoy with Him. Third, he combines these two understandings with sensitivity, humility, and balance; he invites us to hope, to wrestle with the broken realities of a broken world, to set our hope fully in Christ and to embrace God’s good earthly gifts as they come to us. Fourth, he looks for what the Song is saying about the relationship as a whole; he doesn’t gloss over the parts of the song that express the most intimate experiences of the couple, but he appreciates them in context. As a result, he’s able to see a larger story playing out in the Song that other commentators miss because they’re looking to find as many body parts and sexual acts in the song as possible. Fifth and finally, unlike some commentators (Tremper Longman, cough cough) he doesn’t knowingly and rather tastelessly strip the metaphorical language down to its most physical potential referents to see how much frank sexuality is underneath it, and consider his task done at that point. One gets the impression in reading such writing that the metaphor is there only to be torn away, not to add something. But Duguid recognizes that the metaphors are there to salvage our sexual desires and experiences from the disenchantment wrought by sin; he treats the poetry like something of artistic beauty to be savored, rather than a math equation to be solved. He recognizes that mystery and concealment and metaphor are an expression of honor, not a protection of shame—he understands the value of poetry in restoring our appreciation of the beauty of covenant sexual love, which becomes lost through our greed and unbelief.
I agree with other reviewers that this book is much more a great work of devotional literature or lay theology on the intersection of faith and sexuality than it is expository commentary. That doesn’t diminish its value at all. In fact, I think it’s a little unfortunate that this book is presented as a commentary, because its highest value may be for lay people. Far from academic austerity, it’s highly accessible to the ordinary Christian reader; and because of the strength of its premises, and how carefully those premises are worked out, it has great value. This might be the most helpful, useful, and biblical book I’ve read on the subject of sexual purity (and as a young guy seeking to know what’s pleasing and acceptable to the Lord in this aspect of life, I’ve read a handful). Jay Stringer is so right in “Unwanted” when he calls us to fully bless what God has blessed, and identifies are unwillingness to do this as the root of so many sins and struggles in our sexuality. This book is an excellent exercise in that for anyone who wants to practice Paul’s words: “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” (Romans 6:13) It’s quite foolish to think that we can do that without careful study, reflection and application in all those areas of life where we experience strong temptation to do otherwise. This commentary, along with Doug O’Donnell’s, has helped me significantly to that end.
I agree with other reviewers that this book is much more a great work of devotional literature or lay theology on the intersection of faith and sexuality than it is expository commentary. That doesn’t diminish its value at all. In fact, I think it’s a little unfortunate that this book is presented as a commentary, because its highest value may be for lay people. Far from academic austerity, it’s highly accessible to the ordinary Christian reader; and because of the strength of its premises, and how carefully those premises are worked out, it has great value. This might be the most helpful, useful, and biblical book I’ve read on the subject of sexual purity (and as a young guy seeking to know what’s pleasing and acceptable to the Lord in this aspect of life, I’ve read a handful). Jay Stringer is so right in “Unwanted” when he calls us to fully bless what God has blessed, and identifies are unwillingness to do this as the root of so many sins and struggles in our sexuality. This book is an excellent exercise in that for anyone who wants to practice Paul’s words: “Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.” (Romans 6:13) It’s quite foolish to think that we can do that without careful study, reflection and application in all those areas of life where we experience strong temptation to do otherwise. This commentary, along with Doug O’Donnell’s, has helped me significantly to that end.
February 17, 2020
Used as a devotional, this is an excellent way to get into the Song of Songs. As an exegetical commentary, it is less so.
A comment on the series: The Reformed Expository Commentary series are sermons turned into book form and so exhibit both the strengths and weaknesses of that approach. The strength is found in the Christological emphasis that is found in a good sermon. The weakness is twofold: each chapter is reflective of a single sermon and so is a self-contained unit which makes thematic continuity difficult to develop; each chapter ends with a fairly abrupt and complete halt which allows the reader to put the book down and not continue to the next chapter uninterrupted.
That being said, I enjoyed reading this volume at the pace of one chapter a day (approximately 20-25 minutes at a stretch) as a devotional guide on a fairly complex and difficult topic with Christ as the center, but not to the exclusion of the human element of love and relationships.
Who would this benefit?
My suggestion would be: teens and college students who are considering how they can honor God with their bodies and their sexuality. Iain Duguid takes a gentle and encouraging position which emphasizes Christ’s love for his bride. He paints a lovely portrait for which we can see Jesus better.
A comment on the series: The Reformed Expository Commentary series are sermons turned into book form and so exhibit both the strengths and weaknesses of that approach. The strength is found in the Christological emphasis that is found in a good sermon. The weakness is twofold: each chapter is reflective of a single sermon and so is a self-contained unit which makes thematic continuity difficult to develop; each chapter ends with a fairly abrupt and complete halt which allows the reader to put the book down and not continue to the next chapter uninterrupted.
That being said, I enjoyed reading this volume at the pace of one chapter a day (approximately 20-25 minutes at a stretch) as a devotional guide on a fairly complex and difficult topic with Christ as the center, but not to the exclusion of the human element of love and relationships.
Who would this benefit?
My suggestion would be: teens and college students who are considering how they can honor God with their bodies and their sexuality. Iain Duguid takes a gentle and encouraging position which emphasizes Christ’s love for his bride. He paints a lovely portrait for which we can see Jesus better.
June 10, 2024
What a beautiful commentary. I began reading this a few months before Ames and my wedding and have continued to slowly read it throughout our first 9 months. Iain Duguid has been to me a pastorally sensitive, Biblically safe, and immensely practical writer. Here he is no different, as he exposits the Song of Songs wonderfully, showing the beauty of the text while remaining careful to allow the meaning pulled to be aligned with the author's intention. I love the middle-ground approach Duguid brings in how he reads this book, as it feels gracious, natural, and Christ-honouring. On this last point I also appreciate how he makes much of the person and work of Christ in every chapter. Overall, a fine work.
April 4, 2024
A very good, but different take on the Song. Duguid spends most of his effort from a pastoral perspective providing godly guidance on male-female relationships, including premarital, marital, and yes, Biblical guidance on sexual relationships. Of course, he also includes references to the church and her Bridegroom, but most of the commentary is written on the first, male-female relationships
As I was reading the commentary, it occurred to me that this book would be a good basis for pastoral premarital counseling.
As I was reading the commentary, it occurred to me that this book would be a good basis for pastoral premarital counseling.
October 6, 2025
4.5/5!! What an easy and engaging read! This was a sweet wedding gift and so fitting! I really enjoyed the author’s parallel between romantic love in marriage and God’s relentless pursuit of us as His bride throughout each chapter. An all-encompassing journey through infatuation, falling in love, getting married, conflict, and reconciliation. My only fault with this book was it had too many references to novels/songs/poems/etc, I understood some of them but some went completely over my head as I haven’t read or heard the references before.
September 24, 2016
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.
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.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews