A Book Review from Books At a Glance
by David Young
Overview
In Love by the Book, Walter Kaiser Jr. provides an overview of Song of Solomon and invites readers to reflect on the implication of Solomon’s writings on sexuality, romance, and marriage for today’s world. Each of the three chapters in this short work contains a list of conclusions and a list of questions to prompt further study or discussion. The introduction provides some brief background on the work and Kaiser’s interpretive choices. Kaiser takes the three-person approach in his interpretation, stating that he sees the approach fitting more naturally with the text than the more recent two-person interpretation. Kaiser addresses the allegorical approaches which scholars have held throughout the years and argues that source of meaning in these interpretations comes from the interpreter’s imagination. As a result, each unique allegorical interpretation has done more harm than good to help God’s people understand the meaning of the book.
Kaiser spends most of the commentary explaining the poetic language of the Song of Solomon and how the text flows between the three characters. The first chapter covers Song of Solomon 1:1-2:17, as Kaiser focuses on God’s gift of romantic love, highlighting how the love between the Shulamite and her shepherd boyfriend is superior to all the riches of the royal court. The second chapter covers Song of Solomon 3:1-5:8, focusing on God’s gift of intimate marital love. Kaiser specifically addresses the corruption of same-sex marriage and views Solomon’s teaching as a polemic against the sexual depravity of our culture. The third and final chapter covers Song of Solomon 5:9-8:14, focusing on God’s gift of abiding love, as the Shulamite woman is reunited with her beloved. Kaiser identifies the following five prominent qualities of marital love in the Song of Solomon: it is intimate, intense, indestructible, invaluable, and ineluctable.
Evaluation
Kaiser’s work is short and accessible for any Christian who has sought to understand Solomon’s enigmatic book and how it applies to their life. The discussion questions in each chapter are a helpful tool to aid couples or small groups in moving beyond understanding the narrative of the poem to the application of theological truths. Kaiser promotes a high view of marriage and marital romance, encouraging married couples to continuously affirm their love and affection toward one another and to resist the cultural lie that romance dies after marriage.
Kaiser takes special care to address how same-sex marriage deviates from God’s standard for marriage, focusing more on homosexuality than any other sexual sin or perversion, even though Solomon never directly addresses same-sex intimacy. This targeted refutation of same-sex marriage is likely due to the 2016 release of the book in the wake of the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision. While Kaiser’s arguments against same-sex marriage are timely and biblically sound, he focuses on this specific perversion of marriage and neglects to directly address many other issues which arise in Song of Solomon, opting to leave those topics for the discussion questions.
David Young