Here’s the inaugural volume in the Pillar Old Testament Commentary series. You just know this series is going to be good. The Pillar NT that has been around for some time is unusually consistent for a series. It’s probably the editor you have to thank for that. So it was with high expectations that I picked up this volume and opened it. It delivered!

I’ve read Duane Garrett quite a few years and found him pretty solid. I must say, though, this is the best I’ve ever seen from him. Maybe it’s just me, but it’s the best by a wide margin. His reasoning was so mature and well thought out. I don’t want to be trite in a review, but it really was impressive.

My only complaint is that I wish these commentaries could be released complete rather than have years between them. It’s common these days, but it’s disappointing if you really like a volume. Maybe it’s the constraints facing all publishers (Eerdmans is one of the best), so we’d better be understanding I guess.

This commentary is such a compliment to many other commentaries that I have on the psalms. I’m a bit of a sucker for discussions about structure. It’s not that I think these structures unlock the secret meaning of a book, but that they just kind of reinforce it and show a divine hand at work. Still, Garrett argued so persuasively that we can get a bit out of hand. In fact, in so many cases, he was reeling people like me back in. I’m sure we needed it. At least we needed the balance. In many cases, he would explain all that we really know for sure. And it could be at times less than we would like to think we know. I could see myself picking up this volume and reading it right after I read, say, James Hamilton. Both have so much to give, but reading them both could keep you in the right lane I’m sure.

Other features I loved included reminding us that there is a personal and devotional function to the psalms. He is correct that we can get carried away thinking it’s always for formal temple worship. He was calm and sensible in his discussions of superscripts too. One of the best sections in the introduction is on recurrent theological motives in the Psalter. That section is nothing short of fascinating and so insightful in studying this portion of scripture. The short section on patterns of repetition were also eye-opening for me.

The commentary proper was outstanding. I read over several of the psalms and thought he provided distinct help for us.

This is a grand commentary, and I can’t wait until the other volume is released and finishes his work on the psalms. 

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