In the recent spate of new releases in the New International Commentary on the Old Testament (NICOT), we get this updated commentary on Numbers by Timothy Ashley. The first question, obviously, is what is different here from the original edition. Fortunately, he tells us right up front in the preface. First, he tries to take in a sampling if what’s been written in the last 25 years. Second, he changes a major earlier emphasis on arguing against the Documentary Hypothesis. Though he was on the right side of that issue, there could hardly be a more wasted labor than that of surveying the garbage can where that theory now resides. So this update has to be better!

For starters, this commentary has been rated in the top few on Numbers since it was released and the intervening years and releases of new commentaries did nothing to knock it off its perch. I’m convinced this update will keep it relevant and important for the next 20 years. The changes weren’t dramatic because its value was already established. The editors clearly made a wise choice in retaining Ashley.

The bibliography is quite large, though there aren’t as many post-1993 listings as you might have anticipated (where is Dennis Cole?). The Introduction is only 20 pages, but it does get sufficiently to the heart of the matter. Apparently, he prefers to discuss more issues in the commentary proper itself as that part is rather full. Structure gets short discussion, but it is not really debated as much as other books anyway. He still has an-depth discussion on authorship and composition that assumes sources and editing, but focuses on the final form of the text that he believes is authoritative. His section on theological themes looks at Numbers chronologically and well develops those themes. He is brief on his discussion of text and versions, but most of us would find little loss there.

It’s the commentary proper where this volume excels. The exegesis is masterful and top-flight. I couldn’t agree with his skepticism of the large numbers we find in this book, but otherwise there is all you’re looking for in a major commentary. In fact, the quality of the exegesis compensates for any criticism that you could level at this book. For that reason alone, the impressive exegesis, I must label this commentary 5-star all the way!

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 we get a brand new entry in the Tyndale New Testament Commentary (TNTC) series, in this case covering all three Epistles that make up the Pastoral Epistles. The new author in this replacement volume is Osvaldo Padilla. His writing matches what I saw in an introductory work on Acts of his that I encountered a few years ago. He writes clearly and yet his academic background is ever evident.

He begins his Introduction by discussing authorship. He surveys from the early church to the eighteenth century. Since very few doubted Pauline authorship for centuries, he quickly shares that he agrees, along with a clear affirmation in the veracity of Scripture at large. From there, he suggests textual reasons for agreeing with that premise of Pauline authorship. He works his way to the Enlightenment and the forces at work of those days that derailed belief in Paul’s authorship. It was an interesting overview. His conclusions are solid.

Genre comes next and again he explains the scholarly options well. Sometimes genre is an overdeveloped idea by scholars where it’s unimaginable that authors thought through so many categories before they wrote. Even more troublesome is how scholars often draw bold conclusions for the whole epistle on what is really hairs split three or four times. In any event, it’s clearly laid out here.

He addresses the recent debate about the Pastorals even being linked as a unit. His argument that the linkage is more theological than a historical uniformity is well played. He also makes good observations on the occasion of the Pastoral Epistles.

My only criticism of the Introduction is how he, after helpfully pointing out the use of “good works” and “godliness”, too strongly ties their usage to addressing Greek ideas rather than their straightforward Christian meaning. He then carries that reasoning to the commentary proper and uses it, in my view, to get around some of what the “household code” is stating . In those places, if you’re keeping score at home, he closely aligns with Towner and Marshall. To be sure, I’m in more of a minority position than him, but in any event you have your own opinion.

Please don’t think I’m downgrading the commentary overall because I disagree there. That’s just one little portion of the Pastorals and I love his theology, particularly on the Trinity, Christ, the Spirit, and salvation. He commentates exactly as this series is designed and it’s truly helpful. You can make good use of this book.

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.

Bill Arnold gives us here the first of two volumes to replace the long-used work of Peter Craigie in the venerated NICOT series. Deuteronomy is one of the pivotal books of the Old Testament, so it is key to the success of the series. Bill Arnold, who has become the editor of the series, tackles Deuteronomy himself. What he has delivered is a quality work of mature scholarship.

The thorough introduction begins with background on narrative horizons and unity of composition that really highlights structure and distinctive features that actually open up the big picture for Deuteronomy. As he continues, he dives deep into how scholarship has thought of Deuteronomy including the famous redaction criticism that dominated Deuteronomy studies for decades. Though the theories of Graf-Wellhausen and Noth strike me as intensely rancid as found on the trash heap where they justly landed, Arnold laid out that history in an understandably, and I must add, surprisingly for me, an interesting way. Arnold is more accommodating to some ideas than I feel comfortable with, but he compensates for me with tone and clear writing to still find much value.

I enjoyed the rest of the Introduction and thought its greatest strength was its big picture presentation rather than some occasional details that seemed suspect to me. The theology section was especially rich and seemed to work in more big-picture analysis that delivered more than you get in many such theology overviews. He kind of showed off his scholarly prowess here in an accessible way.

The commentary proper covering Deuteronomy was all you would hope from a series designed like the NICOT. Mature, thoughtful, thorough, even penetrating, all come to mind. I will look forward to the second volume until it arrives. This volume will easily be one of the better major commentaries on Deuteronomy. For example, I thought it a more successful production than McConville’s Apollos volume on Deuteronomy.

NICOT is really picking up steam as a series and this one treats Deuteronomy with the star treatment it deserves.

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 latest release in the Christian Standard Commentary (CSC) series is the first to replace an author from the NAC that the CSC is replacing. To be honest, I was surprised to see the John Pohill work replaced as I had enjoyed using it in the past. In the author’s preface where he mentioned the type of commentary Pohill and others had written, he laid out his desire to especially focus on “the narritival and theological content of Acts with an eye toward the ecclesial.” I only had to start reading before I realized that he was on to something.

He begins the introduction by telling us of the main proposals for the “theological heart” of Acts. From there he develops quite convincingly this theme as our Triune God sharing with us. He traces the big picture through the Father, the Son, the Spirit, the Word, salvation, the church, and witnessing. Now that’s what I call getting the big picture. The Trinitarian perspective is brilliant and undoubtedly correct.

Next, he takes on narrative, genre, Lucan concerns, and structure and imparts much meaningful material along the way. There are even some helpful graphs provided. He ends with traditional introductory issues and has conservative conclusions.

The commentary proper is at once well researched and well written. Despite the expertise, I think pastors and Bible students can score a winner in this volume.

Count be as won over! This is a real treat.

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.

I’ve loved all the ZECOT volumes releases to date, but this latest entry by Gary Smith deserves special commendation. Perhaps he has grasped the format of the ZECOT the best I’ve seen so far. His work is good; his presentation is near perfect. I even enjoyed it more than his widely-received work on Isaiah (NAC/CSC). In that vein, I liked it more than a recent release on Ezra and Nehemiah in the NICOT series as well.

After a bibliography and translation, he dives into a strong Introduction. He begins with a clear presentation of historical background. It’s spruced up with some pictures and graphs that were particularly effective. His conclusions are conservative here as well as the following section on date and authorship. The concluding work on literary features is his best work here and, of course, matches the distinctive contribution of the ZECOT series.

The commentary proper is even better and continues the use of timely charts. Every section gives a main idea, the literary context, structure and literary form (rich), explanation of text ( what most are looking for), and canonical and theological significance (perceptive).

This is one to get!

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.

Philippians is the latest new release in the rapidly unfolding complete revision of the time-honored Tyndale New Testament Commentary series. Brown replaces the somewhat controversial Ralph Martin volume that was itself a revision of his earlier work. Without doubt, that Martin volume took the most criticism in the series. For that reason, this is a welcome replacement.

This work, fortunately, is not going to be as controversial. I wouldn’t call this book riveting as it aims slightly more toward scholars than is typical of this series. At times, what Bible students or pastors would want takes a back seat to more scholarly interests. The author seemed quite knowledgeable, but took, perhaps, too academic an outlook for this series.

I also saw something, too, in this volume that I had not seen in any other I could remember. When I said it had an academic tone, it seemed as though she wrote for younger seminary students. She would explain what she was talking about as if it were the reader’s first encounter with the subject. For example, when discussing reconstructing the situation of the Philippians she had two full paragraphs on how to have a balanced approach in historical reconstruction. That would be helpful to a new student but perhaps others wouldn’t like it. She sounded like a professor teaching at many points.

I’m not suggesting this is a bad commentary just that it might not be for all tastes. She is an accomplished scholar and has written and edited major works. Perhaps that is more her forte than a work for Bible students and pastors or the typical TNTC user.

Still, she handled Philippians 2 far better than Martin did and has for sure superseded his work. I wouldn’t want this volume to be my only one for Philippians, but it one be fine as one of a few I’d consult.

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 book replaces the thirty-year-old Charles Fensham volume that had been widely used. This new entry is much more geared to scholarly types than the more pastor-friendly earlier work. Most new NICOT volumes lean that direction, but this one seems to especially answer the detailed questions that scholars ask. I imagine scholars would rank it highly while pastors might only marshal information from it that would require them to put it together themselves. There is a place for such works, but make your expectations in that direction.

If you are after introductory issues, you’ll get over 90 detailed pages here. Some subjects will be more illuminating than others, but I can’t think of any omissions. The sections on the text and date cover many ideas with mostly conservative conclusions at until a discussion of the final compilation of the books. The discussion of setting covers some themes and structure clearly in the latest parlance. The final 2/3 of the Introduction covers historical background and is the best work here. With that information you can reconstruct the times with distinct advantage. As I understand it, themes of Second Temple Judaism are a specialty of the author. It shows. I thought it was good except when she put how Ezra and Nehemiah dealt with mixed marriages as harsher than, and perhaps a departure from, the Pentateuch. Could not the Lord for His Own purposes have led them to take a stronger stand during times of the acute stress of a seventy year captivity? Our scholarship can collapse under its own weight if we disconnect it from Whose word it is.

The commentary proper exhibits what we found in the Introduction. Expert scholarship that outranks its theology. The bibliography and copious footnotes show the author’s scholarly prowess. Application is not really in view. Take the mass of quality scholarship and make your own application . Then you will be able to squeeze out all this book has to offer.

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.

It took a few years for this latest volume to arrive, but this commentary on Matthew brings nearer to completing coverage of the New Testament for this NTL series. We can wish them well in light of all the series that never quite made it to the finish line. To be sure, this series is firmly on the critical side that collides with conservative readers like me and this volume is right in line with those expectations.

Still, I’ve often thought that consulting one from the other side of the fence has distinct benefits. Primarily those benefits come from unique observations on the text and sage theological insights. (My trusted conservative commentators, as helpful as they are, sometimes trip over each other carving out the same analysis). On that score, this series has had more hits than misses compared to other critical series. Label this volume on Matthew as a success on that specific criteria. For the record, people with more of a critical mindset will likely rate in highly across the board.

The Introduction with its discussion of sources and other such distinctively critical ideas is not to my taste, but it clearly presented. He also compares the voice of Matthew with Paul, James, and John though he imagines them in conflict at times. In a discussion of themes he suggests Christology, Scripture, and Eschatology. His synthesis of all he discussed seems off the mark to me, but offers some wry observations.

The commentary proper is as I described above where the best value is in suggestiveness and theological input. Fortunately, he isn’t so anti-miracle as many critical writers are. On several passages I checked I enjoyed what he had to say though I had to work around the critical perspective.

Mark this one down as a nice secondary resource!

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.