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Some time ago I did a series on the one commentary I would pick on any NT book - I now expect to do that with the OT as well, but I am going to expand my recommendations to three volumes - there will still be a first choice, but I really want to hear more than one voice and sometimes need a different approach.

I have not decide if we will proceed from Genesis- Malachi. Perhaps we will mix it up a bit.

John

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"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Gal 5:6b

Pastor John C. Blackburn

I am excitedly awaiting this update Pastor John ! Waiting with bated breath!!! (I hope you don't take too long cause I don't know how long I can go without breathing ).

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Let me start with Samuel - I love to preach these books - narrative preaching is an important balance to the detailed exegesis of the epistles. btw - my wife loves to hear me preach OT narrative - need I say that i am encouraged?

One definitely needs a commentary that understands the book as a whole and can give sufficient detail to answer the basic questions one would bring to the text. There are 5 evangelical works that may meet this need: Bergen, NAC; Tsumura, NICOT; Youngblood, EBC; Arnold, NIVAC; and Firth, AOTC.

Firth is brand new and I have not seen it - I am hopeful, but I just do not know - and I may not get to a theological library until next year. If any of you have examined it - please let me know what you think.

Tsumura is more technical than some of the NICOT volumes , but not as much as the WBC. I have found him profitable and might well pick him. Yet Bergen is pretty good with the analysis of the books - so it's a tie. Arnold has enough expository help - that perhaps we should match him with other works as long as we do not underestimate his scholarship. I find Youngblood helpful, but unexciting - at least in the first edition. Another edition is expected in the future.

There are some other books one should consider before investing their money. One of my seminary professors said this of expository commentaries - "anyone can write that drivel." He was correct in most of the things he told us, but he missed the boat with respect to the OT. There are few great or even very good expositions for many of the OT books, So let us consider Dale Ralph Davis, Walter Brueggemann, Mary Evans, & Joyce Baldwin.

Brueggemann has some fairly liberal presupposition and his left wing political orientation shows, but I do find him helpful at times. Yet, I would not recommend him unless you intend to have more than 5 commentaries on these books, Baldwin is less important now that we have Bergen, Arnold, and Tsumurra (vol 1), but still pleasant. I have only used Evans a little, but she cannot compare with the exciting sermons from Davis. He is an excellent preacher and there is some scholarship in those sermons. He would be a great choice as your second or third commentary on these books. Ronald Wallace also has a fine exposition of 1 Samuel 1 & 2 - I think that it is worth the money.

I did not mention the WBC volumes - I do own the 1st edition of Klein. Unless you are really working with the Hebrew, I do not think that an evangelical minister needs Klein. Double that thought for McCarter in the Anchor set. Now the volume by Robert Gordon is not that technical, but I found it only occasionally helpful.

There are 2 volumes on these books by Cyril Barber - these are expositions without great literary sensitivity, but they can still be fun to read - and he has mined some of the older expositors for their best points.

So, it is time for me to choose. Since Tsumura is not complete, I will pick Bergen, Arnold, and Davis. Let me know what you think.

John

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"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Gal 5:6b

Pastor John C. Blackburn

I enjoyed and appreciated Bergen, but would like to see the finished (2nd) volume of Tsumura and think this would supplant Bergen when completed. I have heard great things about Arnold, but have not read his commentary on 1-2 Samuel. As to others mentioned here...I can't comment. Thanks Pastor John for your comments on Samuel.

_________________
Everyone is equal at the foot of the cross...just some are more equal than others.
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Some day I will put these in order, but consider the prophet Micah. I was blessed to take an exegesis course at Grace from Dr. Don Fowler - a godly and learned man - who knew how to laugh - and was quick to see irony in the OT.

There are 7 authors to consider, and one of them, Bruce Waltke, provides us with three options. I think that you ought to have one of Waltke's efforts - and if you are preaching, preferably either his entry in the 3 vol set edited by McComiskey or the stand alone volume. His TOTC volume would be of help, but just cannot compare with the other two choices.

There are two other volumes that are seriously good: Gary Smith in the NIVAC and Walter Kaiser in his MOT exposition, but I am not sure the Pastor would not want a little more than either would provide alone. In addition to the works by Waltke, Barker in the NAC would work very well with either of them. Now Allen in the NICOT writes from a less conservative perspective, but remains respectful and helpful. I have used him with profit, but now that I have Barker, we will have to see. Stuart in the WBC is also an excellent choice - like most other folks, I do not care for the format. Now McComiskey in the EBC is quite good for its size.

I have profitably used each of these books except Barker - and he is excepted only because I have not preached Micah since I acquired that volume. Soo0 - here are my thoughts -

If you can find the 3 volume set edited by McComiskey, buy it. Gideon has told me that he was not impressed by the one volume consolidation. I have not used it, but i would note his caution. That set gives you Waltke. I love Walter Kaiser's expositions - so that makes 2 for me. Now I am not sure where Barker would rank, but I an confident from the skim which I have given him that he would be good. Yet based upon what I know right now it would be Smith in the NIVAC.

So it is Waltke, Smith, and Kaiser as my choices, but I would not argue someone who substituted Stuart, Barker, or Allen for my latter 2 choices.

John

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"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Gal 5:6b

Pastor John C. Blackburn

Deuteronomy is my Pastor's favorite book. (Steve Taylor of Northeast Park Baptist where I now serve as a deacon as God has guided,) Of course there is much of the loving covenant God made with His people in the book. The situation with regard to commentaries on Deuteronomy has greatly improved in recent years - though I am not sure that the one "best" commentary has yet been published.

One falls in love with certain books - and I think that the NIB entry by Christopher Wright is one of my more cherished commentaries. I would buy it even before some of the major works. Likewise the small TOTC volume by Thompson is too brief, but excellent for its compact size. I would start with them - and then pick one of the big guys.

Evangelicals are then left to chose from Craigie (NICOT), McConville (AOTC), and Merrill (NAC). Merrill is the more conservative, has much information, and reads like a reference book. McConville is better prose, but not always helpful, while Craigie does not always comment where I need a comment. I am hoping that the future volumes by Block and Arnold will excel all of them.

I own Currid, Macintosh, and Kalland (EBC) -none are bad, but none excite me either.

Meanwhile - try to read the others in a library to see who helps you more. I would pick Merrill by a mote.

I may say more later, but duty calls, John

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"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Gal 5:6b

Pastor John C. Blackburn

On Deuteronomy...I have VERY high hopes for the volume by Dan Block (NIVAC), but am not sure when that will be published. Also, I noticed that the NICOT by Craigie is being replaced (also at an unknown time, but apparently underway) by Bill Arnold...which would be VERY promising as well. I would be surprised if these two (when published) wouldn't make it into the top 3 of any Evangelicals list on Deuteronomy.

_________________
Everyone is equal at the foot of the cross...just some are more equal than others.
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bluechippastor.org
Twitter: @RickWadholmJr

I have the same hope! John

_________________
"The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Gal 5:6b

Pastor John C. Blackburn