Here is a volume designed to help one get more out of reading the Book of Job. Scholars John Walton and Tremper Longman, both authors of larger commentaries on Job, team to make sense of what the Book of Job is means to us.

The earlier part of the book covers issues that you might find in a commentary introduction. Part 1 discusses Job as literature in four chapters. There are interesting things like the structure breakdown (check out the chart on page 21) and a discussion of tensions in Job. I felt the chapter “Is Job A Real Person?” a dud and overlooking the information that would demand him to be a real person.

Part Two gives six chapters on the characters in Job. Despite some interesting observations, the literary angle (characters as devices) was overdone. I could not follow the chapter on Satan at all.

Part Three is where the book blossoms. Explaining the retributive principle, how it could be misunderstood, and the true theological message of Job, all give us much to think about.  Trusting God is far more the point than getting answers in this life. The final part on reading Job as a Christian is not, in my judgment, as  good as the preceding theological section.

Still, I do not see how you could not be helped by reading this volume before you begin a study of Job. Whether you would agree or not with their conclusions, you would at least know well what the questions are. That is, of course, exactly what a book of this type should do.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

This is the first volume in the latest round of revisions in the outstanding Tyndale Old Testament Commentary (TOTC) series. The editorship has fallen into the capable hands of David Firth. Debra Reid supplies this replacement of the well-respected Baldwin volume in a winning way.

The Introduction, in 55 pages, covers the bases well for a volume of this size. If you are like me, you do not the excessive discussion on the literary style of the book as it often appears a charade to attack the historicity of Esther. Still, Reid covers what one must know to realize what scholars debate here. Canonization issues are sufficiently covered too.

I gleaned more when Reid turned to a discussion of style. She taught me several things I had not noticed before. Thinks like there is little direct speech in Esther, or how key the narrator is as compared to, say, Ruth, and character discussions are all very fascinating.

The commentary proper is even better still. The unique thing was the female perspective. There was no capitulation to feminism, but deep insights throughout. All in all, this is a fine, economical volume and I recommend it.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.

Here is the latest volume in the Resonate series of unique commentaries published by IVP. Song-Chang Rah brings different perspective to the Book of Lamentations than you would get in other volumes. He highlights the Biblical genre of lament that is clearly a dynamic part of Lamentations. He attempts modern application as well as the subtitle “A Call for Justice in Troubled Times” suggests.

The volume succeeds when he discusses lament in the Bible. He reminds us that lament is much more prevalent in the Bible than in our theological understanding today. His chapter on the historical context of Lamentations is well done. He explains how the funeral dirge is classic lament. When he exegetes the text, he does well. His writing skills are engaging and good enough to make commentary reading pleasant. 

The volumes stumbles in some of his modern application and even a few historical theological conclusions. His comparison of a theology of suffering versus a theology of celebration will really make you think. His modern example of slavery in the earlier days of our country as he made you feel their plight and heartfelt lament was superb. But when he credited (?) dispensational theology for giving us “an individualistic soul-saving soteriology”, which was actually akin to revival, and discusses it as a bad thing–that is hard to swallow.

His focus on race problems in our country today as an application of his theme is marred by his unquestioned acceptance of the most liberal recounting of events. Had he been more balanced there, he would have been easier to follow. He seems so obsessed on race that I wondered as I read if he had been the victim of some particularly ugly racism in his own life. I found no value in his epilogue on Ferguson.

If you look past racial politics and focus on his commentary, you will find value here. For me, it is not a first-line resource, but a fine secondary resource to gain additional, helpful insights.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.