Month: January 2018

Proverbs (OTL) by Clifford

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If you are like me, even though you are conservative Bible student, you like to turn to the Old Testament Library (OTL) series to get a good grasp of the critical position. Though there are some things you will greatly disagree with in the series, there often observations on structure and theology that others miss. This volume by Richard J. Clifford that replaced McKane’s earlier one accomplishes all those things. It does it in spite of the fact that the Book of Proverbs lends itself less to such observations.

After a bibliography, Clifford jumps into an Introduction of the Book of Proverbs. There’s a very interesting outline given. The discussion of dating and the editing of the text matches the critical position, as does the historical context. My least favorite aspect of the introduction that can also be found in the commentary itself is the author’s conviction that the book of Proverbs is modeled off Mesopotamian, Egyptian, and other such cultures. When Clifford addresses the distinctive ideas found in Proverbs he’s especially helpful. He has a unique way of expressing himself that really gets you to thinking.

Any commentary on the Book of Proverbs, including the best ones out there, is of necessity a little hit-or-miss on any specific verse. In any event, what’s found here is much helpful exegesis and theology, despite the sentences you may have to dismiss out of hand.

This book fully lives up to the OTL standard and is worth consulting if you can ignore his Mesopotamian obsession.

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.

 

Judges and Ruth (TOTC) by Evans

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This volume on Judges and Ruth by Mary J. Evans is the latest new one in the highly-respected Tyndale Old Testament Commentary (TOTC) series that is being completely revised. The volume it replaced was nearing 50 years old, and was done by Arthur Cundall and Leon Morris. Morris, who was a prolific scholarly writer on New Testament issues, handled Ruth in the older book, which I thoroughly enjoyed. No doubt, however, it was time for IVP to produce a new volume to keep the series up-to-date. Evans, who produced this new volume, has written a commentary on Samuel in IVP’s BST series several years ago.

As I read through the introduction to both Judges and Ruth by Evans, the strengths and weaknesses of the book became quickly apparent. When matters of history or sources were under discussion, I was completely unimpressed. When the discussion turned to background, theology, or other such matters, I found it quite readable and enjoyable.

In the Introduction to Judges, the author first tackles literary issues including overall structure. When she finally worked her way to recurring motifs, I found it quite interesting as well as a discussion of author’s intention. When overviewing canonical context, discussion of sources somewhat marred the relationship of Judges to Deuteronomy, Joshua, or Samuel. Particularly helpful was a discussion of all the surrounding tribes and nations and false gods found in Judges. The discussion of theological themes was solid, and even if I think more could have been said regarding the ethical issues facing readers today from the difficult Book of Judges, at least the questions were brought up. The commentary itself shared some of the same pluses and minuses as were found in the introduction, but there was real help to be found.

I found Evans more inspiring in the Book of Ruth. The background information was excellent as were the character studies. The theological discussion of themes found in Ruth was excellent, only falling short when discussing the Kinsman Redeemer. Her discussion of recurring motives brought up some things I hadn’t thought of before and was quite interesting.

This book is a solid entry in a great series!

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.

 

Grant by Chernow (Presidential Bio. Series)

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Ron Chernow has struck gold again. After writing his earlier Washington, a book that many of us feel is the best presidential biography ever written, you had to wonder if that earlier success was the biggest competition for this volume. While I would rank Grant a notch below Washington, this biography stands triumphantly beside the author’s earlier work. This book even accomplished one thing the earlier book did not: I knew Washington was great, but Chernow convinced me that Grant was far greater than I ever knew.

There were even a few astonishing similarities between Washington and Grant that may be easily overlooked because of their broad dissimilarities. Both had an annoying parent, both had financial difficulties both before and after their presidencies, both persevered at times with health difficulties, both were loved as a general even more than as a president, and both were revered at their death on a scale that few others could duplicate in American history.

In this work on Grant, Chernow makes Grant so alive that by book’s end, you feel you know him so well that you could anticipate what it would be like if he walked in the room, sat down, and begin talking to you. Though Grant was notoriously one to keep his emotions to himself, he was unable to hide them from Chernow. The portrait is so exquisitely drawn that we have the timbre of Grant’s voice, even if we lack the pitch of one who lived before the days of recordings.

Chernow doesn’t hide Grants faults. His fine trait of seeing people without guile sunk him to naïveté and made him the sucker for countless hucksters. His amazing powers of concentration were at times counterbalanced by his lack of counsel. His drinking blackened his eyes at times throughout his career even if he inwardly hated it and appeared to conquer it several years before he died.

Chernow is not as explicit with Grant’s faith as he was with Washington, but the fault was likely Grant’s. Grant’s life-long trait of holding so much inside robs us of knowing how sincere his Christianity was. We do learn in this book that he was raised in a Methodist home, and though his dad was unscrupulous in the extreme, his mother had a true piety. Grant was never known to use foul language, nor to have any substantiated trouble with women. In fact, he was a gentlemen’s gentleman in that regard. We do know he was a faithful churchgoer, attended revival meetings with D. L. Moody, and had a pastor often around him in his final days. Chernow shares the disputed stories of how sincerely Grant wanted the baptism he received in his final days. Some say he loved the idea while others say he did it to please his wife.

Chernow draws a good picture of Julia Grant as well. She was a homely Southern Belle, more ambitious than her husband, held grudges, got caught up in the glory of the White House, and seemed to have little of the Methodist piety that her husband grew up with. Still, she loved her husband and he loved her. She believed in him when it even didn’t make sense.

This book never lags. With 959 pages of text, it is quite long, but I can’t imagine what could be left out. Grant’s life of struggle before the Civil War had as much drama as a novel and made for great reading. As you would’ve guessed, the portion of the book that covered the Civil War was enthralling – both the writing and the subject were thrilling in this section. The misnomer of Grant the butcher is thoroughly laid to rest. He was an accomplished general, wrongly overshadowed by Robert E. Lee, and was both relentless and fearless in battle. Along the way, you will have a good overview of the Civil War without ever sinking into the dryness that afflicts some historical writing.

When you pick this book up, you are preconditioned to think that Grant’s life after the Civil War is boring, but I still couldn’t put the book down and found it all fascinating. His presidency was far more than the caricature of scandal that has been wrongly attached to it, even if the scandals were real. He wanted to preserve the gains of the Civil War and was sincere. It wasn’t until after his presidency that I soured somewhat on his character as one who was becoming too egocentric and one too easily piqued toward others. But then his determination to care for his wife and write his memoirs brought him back to the Grant I had grown to love.

This book is a tour de force! It could serve as a virtual clinic on how to write historical biography. Chernow, though perhaps not as well-known as the beloved David McCullough (though a play called Hamilton may have changed that observation), must in no way defer to him with this masterpiece. I’m confident that this will be THE biography on Ulysses S. Grant for my lifetime.

This book is so wonderful that it makes you ask: what’s next, Mr. Chernow? If the trend of jumping to the next century and finding the general who lead its most important war and later became president, it must be Eisenhower. Whoever it ends up being, I’ll be in line to get and read it!