Daniel C. Fredericks and Daniel J. Estes, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs,
AOTC 16, Apollos/InterVarsity Press, Notting-ham, UK/Downers Grove, Illinois 2010; ISBN 978-0-8308-2515-8;
hb. 472 pp.; price $32,--.
In 2010 in the Apollos
Old Testament Commentary (red. David W. Baker and Gordon J. Wenham) a
commentary on Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs was published written by
Daniel C. Fredericks on Ecclesiastes and Daniel J. Estes on the Song of Songs. Estes
rightly says that the Song of Songs is the most poetic of all the books of the
Bible. He shows that it is undeniable that both the Christian church and the
Jewish synagogue nearly unanimously accepted the Song of Songs as belonging in
the biblical canon.
Estes tends to the view that the allegorical
interpretation of the Song of Songs is not the cause but the consequence of its
canonicity. This is a view that I cannot accept. I am not only sure that the
Song of Songs was accepted as canonical because of its allegorical
interpretation but also that the literal interpretation is the allegorical
interpretation. In this view I follow the view already propagated in the Early
Church among other by Augustine.
According to Esters the Song of Songs focuses upon
erotic love within the marriage relationship. His commentary is helpful to get
a more clear view on the structure of the Old Testament book and also on its
philology. He makes valuable comments about the marriage relationship, but as I
stated already, I do not believe that this is the first intention of the Song
of Songs.
We must start with the love between Christ and his
church and we can only in the second place see this as the perfect although
partial (because of the dissimilarities between the divine Bride-groom and human
husband) model for the love between a faithful husband and wife in the marriage
relationship.