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NICOT: The Book of Song of Songs

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$38.00

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Product Highlights

• Evangelical Christian Publishers Assocation Gold Medallion finalist for Reference/Commentary (2002)

"One of the most helpful commentaries there is for understanding the details of the text sensitively but with full focus on the physical and sexual aspects of the poetry."

—Heythrop Journal

"An attractive contribution to the well-established NICOT series...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."

—Themelios

"Faithful to the format of this fine series, [Longman’s] extensive introduction treats questions of authorship, literary style, the history of interpretation, and other features that are specific to this particular biblical book. The commentary itself takes the literary characteristics of the book seriously and engages the thinking of other scholars in its explanation. The rich metaphors that fill the poems are carefully examined and their obvious sexual connotations are delicately interpreted. The book is highly recommended."

—The Bible Today

Relationships are a wonderful, mysterious, often elusive, sometimes painful part of the human experience. The most intimate of all human relationships, according to the Bible, is that between a husband and a wife. It is no surprise, therefore, that there is a book of the Bible, the Song of Songs, that focuses on this relationship. What is surprising is how little attention is given to the Song of Songs by scholars, by the church, and by readers of the Bible. With this volume Tremper Longman III unpacks for modern people what this ancient love poem says about the male-female relationship - and, by analogy, about God's love for his people.

Longman's superb study begins with a thorough introduction to the Song of Songs and its background. Longman discusses the book's title, authorship, date, literary style, language, structure, cultural milieu, and theological content. He also canvasses the long history of interpretation of the Song of Songs, a history too often characterized by repression of the text. In the commentary itself, Longman structures the Song of Songs according to its twenty-three poetic units and explains its message verse by verse. The exposition is made clearer by Longman's adoption of an anthropological approach to the text and by his frequent comparisons of the Song of Songs with other ancient Near Eastern literature.

Learned yet highly accessible, innovative yet fully informed by past scholarship, this commentary shows the beautiful Song of Songs to be a timeless celebration of human love and sexuality.

About the New International Commentary Old Testament Series
“In the Old Testament we read God’s word as it was spoken to his people Israel. Today, thousands of years later, we hear in these thirty-nine books his inspired and authoritative message for us.”

These twin convictions, shared by all of the contributors to The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, define the goal of this ambitious series of commentaries. For those many modern readers who find the Old Testament to be strange and foreign soil, the NICOT series serves as an authoritative guide bridging the cultural gap between today’s world and the world of ancient Israel. Each NICOT volume aims to help us hear God’s word as clearly as possible.

Scholars, pastors, and serious Bible students will welcome the fresh light that this commentary series casts on ancient yet familiar biblical texts. The contributors apply their proven scholarly expertise and wide experience as teachers to illumine our understanding of the Old Testament. As gifted writers, they present the results of the best recent research in an interesting manner.

Each commentary opens with an introduction to the biblical book, looking especially at questions concerning its background, authorship, date, purpose, structure, and theology. A select bibliography also points readers to resources for their own study. The author’s own translation from the original Hebrew forms the basis of the commentary proper. Verse-by-verse comments nicely balance in-depth discussions of technical matters - textual criticism, critical problems, and so on - with exposition of the biblical writer’s theology and its implications for the life of faith today.

About the Author
Tremper Longman III is Robert H. Gundry Professor of Biblical Studies and Chair of the Religious Studies Department at Westmont College, Santa Barbara, California. His other books include Introduction to the Old Testament, How to Read the Psalms, Reading the Bible with Heart and Mind, and Literary Approaches to Biblical Interpretation.

This book is available in the following money-saving bundles:
New International Commentary on the Old and New Testaments WITH Four Former NIC Volumes	New International Commentary on the Old Testament	New International Commentary on the Old and New Testaments