Commentaries

Deuteronomy is a book about Israel’s preparation for a new life. Hardship and the wilderness lie behind; the conquest of the promised land lies ahead. What remains at this crucial stage in Israel’s history—the end of the Mosaic Age—is a call for a new commitment to God and a fresh understanding of the nature of the community of God’s people.

Interpreting Deuteronomy from a conservative perspective, Peter C. Craigie highlights the centrality of the book’s theme of covenant commitment while also taking great care to demonstrate how Deuteronomy is a book with considerable contemporary relevance. He uses resources of recent research in Old Testament studies to effectively bridge the gap of more than three thousand years that separates the modern reader from the events described in Deuteronomy, thus clarifying the primary message of the text for the modern reader. In its simplest phrasing that message is “Commit yourself to God wholeheartedly.” Deuteronomy, according to Craigie, provides a paradigm for the kingdom of God in the modern world.

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The book of Numbers tells a story that has two main characters—God and Israel. The way the story is told sounds odd and often harsh to readers today. In spite of the difficulties imposed by Numbers on today’s readers, the main point of the book is of immense importance for God’s people in any age: exact obedience to God is crucial.

This comprehensive and erudite commentary—resulting from nearly a decade of study of Numbers by Timothy Ashley—presents a thorough explication of this significant Hebrew text. Ashley’s introduction to Numbers discusses such questions as structure, authorship, and theological themes, and it features an extended bibliography of major works on the book of Numbers, concentrating mainly on works in English, French, and German.

Dividing the text of Numbers into five major sections, Ashley’s commentary elucidates the theological themes of obedience and disobedience that run throughout the book’s narrative. His detailed verse-by-verse comments are intended primarily to explain the Hebrew text of Numbers as we have it rather than to speculate on how the book came to be in its present form.

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Leviticus used to be the first book that Jewish children studied in the synagogue. In the modern church it tends to be the last part of the Bible that anyone looks at seriously. Because Leviticus is largely concerned with subjects that seem incomprehensible and irrelevant today—rituals for sacrifice and regulations concerning uncleanness—it appears to have nothing to say to twenty-first-century Christians.

In this excellent commentary on Leviticus, Gordon Wenham takes with equal seriousness both the plain original meaning of the text and its abiding theological value. To aid in reconstructing the original meaning of the text, Wenham draws from studies of Old Testament ritual and sacrifice that compare and contrast biblical customs with the practices of other Near Eastern cultures. He also closely examines the work of social anthropologists and expertly utilizes the methods of literary criticism to bring out the biblical author’s special interests.

In pursuit of his second aim, to illumine the enduring theological value of Leviticus, Wenham discusses at the end of each section how the Old Testament passages relate to the New Testament and to contemporary Christianity. In doing so, he not only shows how pervasive Levitical ideas are in the New Testament but also highlights in very practical ways the enduring claim of God’s call to holiness on the lives of Christians today.

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This collection includes the two volumes of Victor P. Hamilton’s study of Genesis from The New International Commentary on the Old Testament

Volume 1

The first of Victor P. Hamilton’s two-volume study of Genesis in the NICOT series, this commentary contributes a solid, thorough explication of the wealth and depth of material embedded in Scripture’s foundational book.

Hamilton’s substantive introduction—which serves both this volume and the one covering chapters 18–50—discusses the structure of Genesis and its composition, its theology, the problems involved in its interpretation, its canonicity, and the Hebrew text itself. The commentary proper, based on Hamilton’s own translation, evidences his extensive knowledge of the ancient Near East and of contemporary scholarship, including literary, form, and text criticism. Siding with the arguments in favor of the literary and theological unity of the Genesis text, Hamilton stresses the main theme running throughout the book—God’s gracious promise of blessing and reconciliation in the face of evil and sin.

A unique feature of this book is Hamilton’s emphasis on the reading of Genesis by the New Testament community. Following his commentary on each section of Genesis, he discusses where and how the New Testament appropriated material from that section and incorporated it into the message of the New Covenant.

Volume 2

The second of Victor P. Hamilton’s two-volume study of Genesis for the NICOT series, this prodigious and scholarly work provides linguistic, literary, and theological commentary on Genesis 18–50. Beginning with Abraham’s reception of the three visitors and his intercession before Yahweh on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18) and continuing through the end of the Joseph story (Gen. 50), the overarching theme of Hamilton’s commentary is Yahweh’s faithfulness to his promised word and his covenant commitments to those whom he has chosen to receive that promised word.

Special features of this commentary include its serious attention to important matters of biblical translation from the Hebrew language into English, copious footnotes that direct readers to further and more extensive sources of information, and frequent references to the New Testament writers’ reading of Genesis. Hamilton’s work will greatly benefit scholars, seminarians, and pastors who seek solid exegesis of the Bible’s foundational book.

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The second of Victor P. Hamilton’s two-volume study of Genesis for the NICOT series, this prodigious and scholarly work provides linguistic, literary, and theological commentary on Genesis 18–50. Beginning with Abraham’s reception of the three visitors and his intercession before Yahweh on behalf of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18) and continuing through the end of the Joseph story (Gen. 50), the overarching theme of Hamilton’s commentary is Yahweh’s faithfulness to his promised word and his covenant commitments to those whom he has chosen to receive that promised word.

Special features of this commentary include its serious attention to important matters of biblical translation from the Hebrew language into English, copious footnotes that direct readers to further and more extensive sources of information, and frequent references to the New Testament writers’ reading of Genesis. Hamilton’s work will greatly benefit scholars, seminarians, and pastors who seek solid exegesis of the Bible’s foundational book.

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The first of Victor P. Hamilton’s two-volume study of Genesis in the NICOT series, this commentary contributes a solid, thorough explication of the wealth and depth of material embedded in Scripture’s foundational book.

Hamilton’s substantive introduction—which serves both this volume and the one covering chapters 18–50—discusses the structure of Genesis and its composition, its theology, the problems involved in its interpretation, its canonicity, and the Hebrew text itself. The commentary proper, based on Hamilton’s own translation, evidences his extensive knowledge of the ancient Near East and of contemporary scholarship, including literary, form, and text criticism. Siding with the arguments in favor of the literary and theological unity of the Genesis text, Hamilton stresses the main theme running throughout the book—God’s gracious promise of blessing and reconciliation in the face of evil and sin.

A unique feature of this book is Hamilton’s emphasis on the reading of Genesis by the New Testament community. Following his commentary on each section of Genesis, he discusses where and how the New Testament appropriated material from that section and incorporated it into the message of the New Covenant.

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This collection includes all of the volumes from The New International Commentary on the Old Testament to provide an exposition of Scripture that is thorough and abreast of modern scholarship, yet at the same time loyal to Scripture as the infallible Word of God. This conviction, shared by all contributors to The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, defines the goal of this ambitious series.

This decades-long project has become recognized by scholars, pastors, and serious Bible students as critical yet orthodox commentary marked by solid biblical scholarship within the evangelical Protestant tradition. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament serves as authoritative scriptural guides, bridging the cultural gap between today’s world and the Bible’s. Each volume in the NICOT aims to help us hear God’s word as clearly as possible.

Scholars, pastors, and serious Bible students will welcome the fresh light that this commentary series casts on ancient yet familiar biblical texts. The contributors apply their proven scholarly expertise and wide experience as teachers to illumine our understanding of the Old Testament. Gifted writers, they present the results of the best recent research in an interesting, readable, and thought-provoking manner.

Each commentary opens with an introduction to the biblical book in question, looking especially at questions concerning its background, authorship, date, purpose, structure, and theology. A select bibliography also points readers to resources for their own study. The author’s own translation from the original Hebrew and Greek texts forms the basis of the commentary proper. Verse-by-verse comments nicely balance the in-depth discussions of technical matters—such as textual criticism and critical problems—with exposition of the biblical writer’s theology and its implications for the life of faith today.

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