Reformation Commentary on Scripture: Old Testament IX --Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs
Edited by David C. Fink
IVP Academic
ISBN 978-0-8308-2959-0
This book is part of a larger study called the Reformation Commentary on Scripture. In each of these studies, the editors attempt to go back to the original source material of the Reformation, and then put different Reformation ministers and theologians side by side in their take on a specific passage of Scripture.
The Reformation Commentary on Scripture has four goals:
- Renewing contemporary Biblical interpretation by bringing to light Reformation era interpretation
- Strengthening contemporary preaching through exposure to biblical insights of Reformation writers
- Deepening understanding of the Reformation and the breadth of perspectives represented within it
- Advancing Christian scholarship in the fields of historical, biblical, theological, and pastoral studies (xvi-xix)
This particular commentary is on Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. This is the part of Old Testament wisdom literature most closely tied with King Solomon, the man reputed in Scripture to be the wisest man in the world.
While much of Reformation commentary on Scripture is full of fierce debate on important areas of theology, much of this wisdom literature is not central to that debate. That does not mean, however, that innovations in biblical interpretation were not influential in how the Reformers read these books (xli). The introduction provides a brief, insightful summary of "Christian Hebraism" in the Renaissance and early Enlightenment eras, as well as placing biblical interpretation within its wider context rediscovery of ancient texts as Europe emerged from the Middle Ages.
Most of the Song of Songs is understood as an allegory. There is no known Reformation commentary that understood this text as primarily literal in interpretation (xlv). This raises questions about why the Reformers would interpret this text allegorically when they avoided allegorical interpretation elsewhere.
The editor, at the end of his introduction, helpfully identifies which Reformers he leans on most heavily in selecting primary sources for this historical commentary. He says, "...the reader will no doubt notice I have played favorites from time to time: Cardinal Cajetan, Phillip Melanchthon, and Michel Cop on Proverbs; Martin Luther and Jean de Serras on Ecclesiastes; Theodore Beza, Melchior Hoffmann, and the English Puritans on the Song of Songs (lv)."
As I made my way through this commentary, here is what I enjoyed:
- The efforts in Song of Songs to explain and stretch metaphors as far as they could go to illuminate spiritual truths
- Michael Cop's take on Proverbs 20:1, which the editor summarized in a subtitle as "drunkards give wine a bad name" was simply delightful.
- Jean De Serres excerpt entitled "True Happiness Contrasted with Its Imitation" was a great summary of the message of Ecclesiastes, and his bringing in the idea of providence puts him squarely in the Reformation era with its concern for God's sovereignty.
