Evaluation

Overall Score: 8.1/10

A weighty and reverent guide to the Song that helps us teach this book with sobriety, patience, and pastoral care.

Publication Date(s): 1973

Pages: 525

ISBN: 9780851511573

Faithfulness to the Text: 8.8/10

We find a steady commitment to the flow of the Song itself, with careful attention to argument, imagery, and repeated themes.

Christ Centredness: 7.9/10

The treatment is cautious and reverent, aiming to keep Christ and covenant love in view without forcing quick shortcuts.

Depth of Insight: 8.5/10

We benefit from patient handling of difficult images and a sustained effort to help us read the Song as a unified piece of Scripture.

Clarity of Writing: 7.8/10

Older style prose can be dense at points, but the line of thought is usually clear once we keep the section in view.

Pastoral Usefulness: 8/10

It helps us speak about love, holiness, and devotion with gravity, and it guards us from both embarrassment and sentimentality.

Readability: 7.6/10

This is not light reading, but it repays slow work and serves well when we are preparing to teach carefully.

Summary

At a Glance

Length: 525 pages
Type: Expositional
Theo. Perspective: Reformed
Overall score: 8.1 / 10
Strength: Reverent, sustained exposition that keeps the Song’s movement and themes in view.
Limitation: The older style and length mean it rewards slow use rather than quick consultation.

We find Burrowes’ Song of Solomon in the Geneva Commentaries a serious and reverent treatment of a book that many of us feel uncertain about preaching. He works patiently through the Song’s poetry, resisting both embarrassment and sentimental shortcuts.

The commentary aims to help us hear the Song as Scripture, with its own structure, images, and theological weight. Burrowes repeatedly presses us to read carefully, to honour the text’s language, and to keep the covenant setting of love and devotion in view.

Why Should I Own This Commentary?

We should own this commentary when we need help teaching the Song with sobriety. It is not written to entertain, but to steady our handling of difficult lines and recurring images, so that our preaching is neither crude nor evasive.

We also benefit from the way it slows us down. The Song does not yield to hurried application. Burrowes helps us stay with the poetry long enough to understand what is being celebrated, what is being warned against, and what kind of love Scripture dignifies.

For pastors who want to treat the Song as part of the whole counsel of God, this volume offers depth and restraint, and it can pair well with a shorter, more contemporary guide for quicker orientation.

Closing Recommendation

We recommend this as an advanced expositional resource for those preparing to teach Song of Songs in the church. It is especially useful when we want depth and reverence, and when we are willing to do slow, careful work before moving toward application.

As pastoral next steps, we can visit the Bible Book Overview, browse Top Recommendations, and use the Reformed Commentary Index to build a wiser working library.

Where to buy

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