I must confess that I knew nothing about paratext before picking up this book. I’ve always loved studying structure of biblical books, and heard paratext might intersect with it. It is also a study that emphasizes the “final form” over pointless study of sources and I fully favor that as well. It turned out to be fascinating, even if it at best is only of secondary importance.

The first section looks at paratext in terms of book order and the differences and what they suggest. This was my favorite as it made helpful comparisons and even more fruitful interconnections between Bible books.

The middle section on book titles just didn’t seem as fruitful to me. The final section on book divisions made a few help connections to structure and was more profitable.

Without doubt, this book taught me paratext clearly and with a skill that I could easily say, “I got it”. That’s a success for any book. The significance of the concept of paratext, though, will vary among readers. I’ll leave that for you to decide.

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.

In a surprising development, Ruth is replaced in the NICOT series here. It’s surprising because the replaced commentary was by editor Robert Hubbard and, as it turns out, Hubbard himself enlisted Peter Lau to produce this new volume. While the Hubbard volume was top notch, and will doubtless remain in print as an Eerdman’s Classic Commentary, Hubbard knew what he was doing. This is a dandy commentary. Peter Lau already produced Unceasing Kindness and his expertise on Ruth is now established.

The Introduction is all you could want. Lau is on point as he begins with structure. He wades through the muddy waters of genre of Ruth and comes out on the right bank. On authorship and date he surveys the horizon and picks the spot with the best view. Next, the discussion of purpose raises the standard even higher. He covers canonicity and textual issues but there isn’t much to see there.

To me, the Introduction fully blossoms in the theology section. In what’s really just a continuation he starts covering themes. Don’t miss “applying the law” and “Ruth’s ethnicity and Israelite identity” as you will connect many dots. The latter is not some latter-day political nonsense, but something that really gets at the heart of Ruth.

I loved what I read in the commentary proper. The great ideas introduced in the Introduction infuse the commentary in ways that really help. There is an embarrassment of riches in commentaries on Ruth but you’d better consider this one for your studies.

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.