The Message of the Song of Songs

Here is a take on the Song of Songs from the back cover of Tom Gledhill's excellent commentary:

At first reading the Song of Songs appears to be an unabashed celebration of the deeply rooted urges of physical attraction, mutual love and sexual consummation between a man and a woman. Tom Gledhill maintains that the Song of Songs is in fact just that—a literary, poetic exploration of human love that strongly affirms loyalty, beauty and sexuality in all their variety. With tender metaphor and extravagant imagery, the Song writer spins a tale of human love into the cadence of verse, innocent of our quest for historical persons behind the text. But in God’s story, human beauty, intimacy and sexuality are not ends in themselves. They are transcendental longings, whispers of immorality. Like all of creation they point beyond themselves to their divine author, who in this Song is nowhere mentioned but everywhere assumed.

Gledhill deals fairly and faithfully with this sacred text, giving due attention to the song in its historic context, noting that the realities of which the Song sings ultimately point way beyond themselves to something more lasting, more satisfying, more invigorating.  Take up, and read!  This is a very readable commentary!