Every new release of the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary (EEC) series that I come across reinforces my thoughts that this series has something special brewing. It’s almost like when this series releases a new volume it immediately becomes the go-to exegetical commentary, especially for pastors who want a truly scholarly work. This latest volume covering Amos, Jonah, and Micah by Joanna Hoyt lives up to the lofty standards this series has already established. This volume is easily one of the best on either of these three prophets and you are blessed to have all three of them covered in this large (800+ pages) impressive volume.

For this review, I gave the most attention to Jonah because so many scholars today seemingly fall off the cliff when they get to Jonah. Delightfully, I found a commentary here that is not ashamed of Jonah, does not laugh off his historicity, or roll its proverbial eye at his grand message. Pastors will get solid help here. Scholars, though so many of them run left of the line found here, will find this an incredibly detailed scholarly look at the prophet. It seems no stone is unturned. In fact, the weakest area of contribution would be on structure, but the volume is still too wonderfully thorough to criticize.

I’m not saying that I agree with every sentence the author writes in this volume, only that everything is so well explained and in such depth that I have a thorough grasp of the issues involved to make my own decision. That is always what I’m looking for in an exegetical commentary.

To be sure, Amos and Micah are as well handled as Jonah in this book. The introductions to each are ideal and the things that scholars need beyond what pastors are looking for can all be found as well. Every passage bears traces of painstaking care and work. There are no signs of haste. From what I’ve read, Hoyt is a young scholar who strikes me as making quite a splash here. I’ll be using this book for years to come!

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.

When I reviewed the original volume of this work just a few years ago, I was thoroughly impressed with it and gave it the highest rating. Quite simply, it was one of the best exegetical commentaries I had ever seen on Jonah. As it turns out, this Second Edition is very little changed from the earlier one. Nevertheless, my opinion has not changed either. There’s a new EEC volume that covers Jonah with two other prophets. It would be fair to say that these two volumes supersede all exegetical commentaries in print today on Jonah.

I love the approach of a ZECOT volume. Modern scholarship has had many developments that are of no detectable value for pastors, but discourse analysis really opens up the understanding of a passage. Youngblood is outstanding in handling the discourse analysis and gives dependable, conservative help throughout.

As I said for the first edition, Mr. Youngblood’s Introduction to the book of Jonah struck me as being of the perfect length and depth. He discussed the usual suspects – placement in the Canon, historical context, literary context, and an outline – with verve. Much of the information was of the kind that really aids one preaching on Jonah. He beautifully wove in his discourse analysis as well throughout the entire work.

The commentary itself is superb. Again, he always keeps us grounded in the context at large. Still, he draws out the needed background, word meanings, and other important detail. At the end of every periscope, there is fine theological reflection too.

You may not need to replace your first edition, but this is a commentary that you cannot do without!

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.

What pastor hasn’t heard of Charles Hodge? You will often see his commentaries in worn condition in used bookstores because generations of pastors have used his works. For some years now, Banner of Truth has become THE publisher of his works and fortunately are keeping them in print in far better quality volumes than used to be the case. What we have here, however, is something the older pastors have never had: Charles Hodge on Hebrews.

If you get this lovely hardback edition, be sure to take the time to read the introduction that was prepared by William Vandoodewaard. He provides a brief biographical overview of Hodge’s life before he explains how this Hebrew volume came about. In short, it took some work on his behalf to gather and edit Hodge’s material into what became this new commentary!

The commentary, of course, is not as full as his other commentaries, but you will enjoy having it on hand to study. The first section contains exegetical lectures that though briefer are in the Hodge style that we are familiar with. He even has comments on the Greek interspersed throughout his perceptive comments. The next section is called sermons and outlines. They are mostly sermons rather than outlines and are hit or miss in terms of texts addressed. Still, they cover some of the most important texts in Hebrews in quality sermons, again though shorter, that may be quite helpful in suggesting approaches to preaching these texts. In addition, they will make fine devotional reading.

You know you can count on Banner to create a volume that will last for years to come and I highly recommend this latest volume!

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.

The Tyndale Old Testament Commentary (TOTC) series keeps turning out these replacement volumes at a rate that would be a model for other series. The series retains its status as the best shorter commentary series that still has real depth with each of these new releases that I have seen. Knut Martin Heim upholds the standards that we have come to expect from the series. As a matter of personal taste, I may not have liked this volume as much of some of the other recent releases, but that probably has as much to do with the uniqueness of Ecclesiastes as anything else. In other words, scholarship on Ecclesiastes has gone a direction that some of us feel only gets us farther from its truth. Perhaps I’m a little too much of the old school to follow his theory about Qoheleth rather than Solomon, but I must confess he’s in line with the majority of what’s being written today. I can’t quite swallow that the writer of Ecclesiastes is mostly being sarcastic either. On a more positive note, the writing and scholarship in this volume are impeccable. He clearly communicates what he thinks and is adept at succinctly presenting current scholarly thinking.

The Introduction is crystal clear in explaining his viewpoint. While he has trouble with Solomon as the author, he highlights inter-textual issues, Canon, date and historical context, language and genre, as well as the theological and practical message of the book. I found him easy to follow. There’s a good select bibliography and analysis outline as well as his own translation. The commentary proper is never trite or simplistic and whether you agree with what he says or not you will appreciate gaining so much information in a short compass.

I’m an advocate of having all these TOTC volumes in one’s library and so I recommend this new release on Ecclesiastes as well.

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.

John Goldingay is a big name in the scholarly world, and I can understand why the editors of the Word Biblical Commentary (WBC) series would ask him to revise his popular volume rather than replace it. It’s also good to see this revision since we haven’t seen many new releases from this series in quite a while. A page near the beginning shows that several volumes are now in revision or are forthcoming. Likely you are aware of how highly rated this book is to scholars while in many cases it might not be as well-loved by conservative pastors. In short, the author has not changed his overall conclusions on the Book of Daniel, but he has expanded his explanations in several cases. The page count has grown by nearly 300 pages! I’ll make it easy for you to rate this volume if you’re already familiar with the one that has been around since 1989. The perspective has not moved to the right, but the scholarly contribution has been successfully updated to the point that I see this volume holding its lofty status for several more decades to come.

I compared his Introduction in the original volume since I had it on hand and have used it several times. I do not personally endorse his viewpoint, but I felt he explained it well and, in many cases, took on more introductory issues that were even found in the original volume. He even followed the reception of Daniel through the New Testament and into later history all the way to the current time. That is a fascinating contribution, to say the least. I thought his conclusion after studying Daniel scholarship in the 20^th century was that nothing changed at all during that time was quite surprising.

For you scholarly types, the bibliography has also significantly grown. He knows how to operate in the unique WBC format and his notes for scholars in every passage are extensive. He looks at structure more than some of these volumes do and the part that pastors would find most interesting still remains in the Explanation section. Sometimes his conclusion about the text or historicity leads him to places where I would strongly disagree. I don’t think this revision will majorly raise perceptions that pastors hold about this volume, but scholars are likely to give it the highest rating. Even if you don’t subscribe to all the author’s viewpoints, the book is simply too significant not to have access to for any kind of study or research on Daniel.

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.