The Apollos Old Testament Commentary series is starting to get out enough titles to see that we are going to have a major series on our hands. They run from conservative to moderately critical and are far more conservative overall than, say, the Word Biblical Commentary series. This latest release is a helpful volume on one of the Minor Prophets, Hosea. I enjoy having individual commentaries on even the smaller books, and this is one of the few major ones on Hosea. Only Dearman in NICOT comes to mind, yet their strengths are different enough to make both worthwhile. Both have impeccable scholarship, yet I suspect pastors might favor this one while scholars will go with Dearman. I’m glad to have both within reach. Joshua Moon is the younger scholar, and perhaps like me, you hadn’t heard of him before. I suspect a productive career for him after writing this quality commentary on Hosea. He seemed adept at commentary writing as he pitched this book perfectly for both scope and length.

The Introduction begins with an overview of Hosea’s historical backdrop. He holds to a conservative chronology. From there, he broadens his purview to Hosea’s place among the prophets. The next section looks at Hosea from a writing perspective. He says, “As will be amply demonstrated, no part of the text requires a date earlier or later than the era stated in the superscription”. He does discuss editing which always strikes me as fanciful. The sections on text and structure are a little too brief, but the one viewing Hosea in light of the Covenant was well done. Theology could have used more space too, but I suppose he saved it for the commentary itself.

The commentary is truly helpful. It’s presented in the usual Apollos style: translation, notes on the text, form and structure, comment, and explanation. I liked what I found here.

The Apollos series has another quality title here and I warmly 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.