Book Briefs: “A Commentary on the Psalms (vol. 2)” by Allen P. Ross

A Commentary on the Psalms (vol. 2) by Allen P. Ross

Volume 2 of Allen Ross’s superb commentary on Psalms does not disappoint. It matches the excellence of his first volume, which I previously reviewed. Ross distills the insights of decades of research and study on the book of Psalms into a single tool that can truly be a one-stop-shop for the busy pastor. When the final volume of this commentary set is made available (later this year), students of the Word will have over 2700 pages of seasoned analysis and accessible information on all 150 Psalms.

Having provided a detailed introduction in his first volume, this book starts right up with Psalm 42, and continues through Psalm 89. Ross covers each psalm separately. He begins with his own translation of the text complete with footnotes pointing out meaningful textual variants. The psalm’s composition and context is then briefly sketched and an exegetical analysis (or outline) is provided. Then comes a detailed verse-by-verse commentary focusing on exposition, and all this is wrapped up with a brief recounting of the message and application of the psalm.

Ross aims to help modern preachers and teachers to truly exposit all of the psalms in their entirety (not just a line here and there). He blends contemporary insights with gems of yesterday as he analyzes the Psalms and provides a very useful tool for the modern preacher. Ross with help from the team at Kregel, has crafted his tool to be most user-friendly. The font is large, there are helpful charts and diagrams, and clear section headings which break up the massive book. He uses footnotes throughout for more technical discussions, but chooses not to provide Hebrew transliterations as a rule, preferring just English translations and the Hebrew words themselves.

Ross’s approach sticks to the text and emphasizes linguistic study. He does comment on the use of the Psalms in the New Testament and is not afraid to mine the typological and messianic riches so often found in Psalms. Biblical theology, and intratextual allusions and connections are not featured prominently in his work. But his volume is a wealth of information for the busy pastor or lay teacher, and his care with the text is commendable.

I will be looking for volume three of this important set. I’m sure it will make a valuable addition to your church or home library. Pastors and students alike will want to pick up this resource and with Ross’s help unpack the riches to be found in the Hebrew Psalter.

Pick up a copy of this book at any of the following online retailers: Westminster Bookstore, Amazon.com, ChristianBook.com, or direct from Kregel.

Disclaimer: This book was provided by Kregel Academic. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a positive review.

About Book Briefs: Book Briefs are book notes, or short-form book reviews. They are my informed evaluation of a book, but stop short of being a full-length book review.

If R.C. Sproul, Sr. Were Marooned on an Island…

A fun Monday morning post. Recently I read R.C. Sproul, Sr.’s little booklet, What is Baptism? (Crucial Questions Series). The booklet is a helpful look at baptism, for people from a variety of perspectives. I found his defense of infant baptism helpful in understanding the other position, but not over the top or vitriolic. It also was not the central point of his book.

Anyway, the reason for this post is an intriguing reference Sproul made to his favorite verse – Genesis 15:17. He went on to give an answer as well to the age-old question, what book would you want with you if you were marooned on an island?

I often tell people that if I were marooned on an island and had only one book, the book I would want with me, of course, would be the Bible. If I could have only one book of the Bible, I would want to have the book of Hebrews because of the way in which it so richly summarizes all the teachings of the Old Testament and relates them to the finished work of Christ in the New Testament. But if I could have only one verse of the Bible, I would want Genesis 15:17.

[Kindle locations 151-153]

Genesis 15 is the story of Abraham’s covenant. God has promised great blessings to Abraham and his children, but Abraham wants a guarantee. He is told to cut sacrificial animals in half and wait. Then we see “a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch” pass through the pieces. This is a theophany, this is the Shekinah glory of God passing through the pieces — making the covenant unilateral. “Abraham saw a divine manifestation passing between the animal pieces and immediately understood the significance. God was enabling Abraham to know for sure that His promises would come to pass… only God passed through the pieces because He alone was making promises. He was instituting His covenant with Abraham [Kindle locations 165-166, 172].” As Hebrews says in 6:13-14, God could swear by none greater (in making his promise to Abraham), so “he swore by himself, saying, ‘Surely I will bless you and multiply you’.”

What a great thought to treasure today. God’s gospel promises to us are unilateral. God has sworn by himself, as there is none greater. He gave his own Son for our salvation. If he did that, how can he not also with him give us everything that we need — indeed all that pertains to life and godliness (Rom. 8:32 with 2 Pet. 1:3-4).

What would you want on a desert island? Gen. 15:17 would be good. Hebrews would be better. I agree with R.C. Sproul, Sr. on this one!

Robert Stein on the Language of Prophecy

I wanted to share an important excerpt from Robert Stein’s helpful book on biblical interpretation. This helps in understanding the prophetic genre, and makes good sense of Peter’s quote of Joel 2 in Acts 2.

An additional proof for his claim comes in the recognition that the prophets often maek use of language from the covenant curses in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. They are using a specific language intentionally – the language of covenant. They are not just describing a foreseen future in strictly literal terms.

Much of the terminology found in prophecy makes use of customary imagery used in this genre. For instance, in the judgment prophecy found in Isaiah 13:9-11 we read:

“See, the day of the LORD is coming — a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger — to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.”

Because of the cosmic imagery found in this prophecy, many interpreters assume that it is referring to the end of history. Yet it is clear from Isaiah 13:1… and 19… that the prophecy concerns the Babylonian empire of the sixth century B.C. The Babylonian kingdom that destroyed Jerusalem and the Solomonic temple, this empire that sent the cream of Judean society into exile, was about to experience divine judgment.

Yet this judgment is described in cosmic terminology. Such terminology, however, was part of the imagery and symbolism available to the prophets when they sought to describe God’s intervention in history and his sovereign rule over the kingdoms of this world (cf. Dan. 2:21; 4:17,25,34-35; 5:21). Such imagery was not meant to be interpreted literally. The sun was not actually going to be darkened; the moon would not stop giving its light; the stars would not stop showing their light. “What” the author willed to communicate by this imagery, that God was going to bring judgment upon Babylon, was to be understood “literally.” And that willed meaning, God’s judgment upon Babylon, did take place. This prophecy was fulfilled with the rise and rule of the Persian empire over the territories once ruled by Babylon, and the later readers of this prophecy knew that this prophecy had indeed been fulfilled. Babylon had been judged just as the prophecy proclaimed, and it was God’s doing just as the cosmic imagery described. The imagery, itself, however, was understood by the prophet and his audience as part of the stock terminology used in this kind of literature to describe God’s intervention into history.

In Acts 2:14-21 Peter and Luke interpreted the events of Pentecost in a similar way as they saw in it the fulfillment of the prophetic message of Joel:

“Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. These men are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my SPirit in those days, and they will prophesy. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'”

These cosmic signs did not literally take place at Pentecost, even though what the author willed to convey by those signs did. God did enter into history and bring about the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel. God in fulfillment of his promises gave to the church the blessed gift of the new covenant….

There have been attempts to deny that the prophecy of Joel 2:28-32 was fulfilled at Pentecost. Usually this is due to a misunderstanding of the figurative nature of this cosmic terminology. Some have suggested that Luke and Peter believed that Pentecost was “kind of like” what Joel prophesied but not its actual fulfillment. Such a manipulative interpretation of this passage of Acts, however, is impossible in light of Peter’s words in Acts 2:16: “this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.” Furthermore such interpretative gymnastics are unnecessary when we are willing to accept what the author meant by the use of such terminology. We need only note other passages to see how widespread the use of such cosmic terminology is in the Bible (Isa. 24:23; Jer. 4:28; 13:16; 15:9; Ezek. 32:7-8; Joel 2:10,31; 3:15; Amos 8:9; Hab. 3:11; Matt. 24:29; Mark 13:24-25; Luke 21:25; Rev. 6:12). (Attempts to see Mark 15:33; Matt. 27:45; Luke 23:44-45 as the fulfillment of this prophecy also err. They do not explain the signs of Acts 2:19 and most of 2:20. Second, and more important, they err because Peter and Luke associate the fulfillment of these signs with what is happening then and there on the day of pentecost.

— Excerpt from A Basic Guide to Interpreting the Bible: Playing by the Rules by Robert H. Stein, (Baker Academic, 1994), p. 91-93

Commentary Roundup: “A Commentary on Judges and Ruth (Kregel Exegetical Library)” by Robert B. Chisholm, Jr.

A Commentary on Judges and Ruth (Kregel Exegetical Library)Commentary Roundup posts are a series of short reviews or overviews of Bible commentaries. I’m working my way through a variety of commentaries, new and old, and hope to highlight helpful resources for my readers.

Book Details:
• Author: Robert B. Chisholm, Jr.
• Publisher: Kregel Academic (2013)
• Format: hardback
• Page Count: 688
• ISBN#: 9780825425561
• List Price: $39.99
• Rating: Highly Recommended

Publisher’s Description:
A thorough exegetical and homiletical analysis of each passage of Judges and Ruth.

This commentary sheds exegetical and theological light on the books of Judges and Ruth for contemporary preachers and students of Scripture. Listening closely to the text while interacting with the best of scholarship, Chisholm shows what these books meant for ancient Israel and what they mean for us today. In addition to his perceptive comments on the biblical text, he examines a host of themes such as covenants and the sovereignty of God in Judges, and providence, redemption, lovingkindness, and christological typology in Ruth.

Of special interest is Chisholm’s introduction to Judges. In it he asks and answers some difficult questions: What is the point of Judges? What role did individual judges play? What part did female characters play? Did Judges have a political agenda?

Chisholm offers astute guidance for preachers and teachers by not only providing insightful exegetical and theological commentary but also by offering homiletical trajectories for each passage to show how historical narrative can be presented in the pulpit and classroom for rich, responsible sermons and lessons.

Commentary Type:
This is a technical/semi-technical commentary that provides both a detailed exegetical analysis of the Hebrew text and a variety of homiletical helps for applying the message of the text for today’s hearers.

Structure and Features:
Robert Chisholm’s Commentary on Jugdes and Ruth is organized in such a way as to provide the most help for the busy preacher or teacher who will use this volume to help in preparing to teach through these books for the benefit of the church.

Each Bible book gets a detailed and incredibly helpful introduction. Questions of authorship, date and genre are covered, as are practical concerns like what to make of the dates in Judges, and how best to understand the structure of the content in each book. Chisholm displays a concern for the literary and canonical context of these books, spending some time discussing where Ruth should fall in the order of the canonical order, and how each book fits into the larger themes of this section of the Bible. Included in the introduction are a survey of available commentaries for each book, and a helpful discussion of homilitecial strategies and a sample sermon series for each book.

After the introduction, each Bible book is divided into sections. Each section of the text is then methodically studied: first the translation (Chisholm’s own, a slightly revised version of that he supplied for the NET Bible) is provided in segments, line by line – and arranged in such a way as to highlight the narrative structure. Clauses are categorized as “sequential” or “consequential,” “resumptive” or “supplemental,” “focusing” or “dramatic,” and etc. Back in the introduction, Chisholm gives an explanation of the narrative structure of each book and which Hebrew grammatical clues (wayyiqtol and weqatal clauses, negated and asyndetic perfects, and more) lead him to these syntactical conclusions. Important translational and syntactical notes appear in the footnotes in this section (and the footnotes are nice and easy to read, as is the font throughout the volume).

After offering the text and structure, the commentary provides an outline and then discussion on the literary structure. Next is a detailed exposition section, followed by an application section which fleshes out the thematic emphases, theological principles, and offers homiletical trajetories and preaching ideas. Finally an extensive list of references follows to round out the volume.

Excerpt:
This excerpt is taken almost at random, it illustrates Chisholm’s attention to detail and interaction with the Hebrew text. Normally Chisholm will offer translations for Hebrew words in the commentary, but not always, as this passage illustrates. I am not going to reproduce the ten footnotes that are interspersed throughout this section. Hopefully this excerpt will give you a flavor of Chisholm’s care in handling the text. The section concerns Judges 5:24-27.

Willing, able, and energetic Jael stands in stark contrast to unwilling, passive, and accursed Meroz (vv. 24-27). She receives a special blessing for her loyalty to Israel and the Lord. When opportunity came her way she marshaled her cunning and strength to destroy the enemy general.

This poetic account abridges and streamlines the earlier narrative in some respects, but also highlights Jael’s cunning and effectiveness through additional information and the poetic device of repetition. In the poem we read nothing of Sisera’s arrival or of Jael’s initial gestures of apparent concern. Instead the focus is on her offer of milk. The narrative tells how she gave him milk when he asked for water; the poem adds that she brought him curdled milk in a bowl fit for a noble, which he must have seen as an obvious gesture of loyalty. The poem mentions nothing of Jael’s tucking Sisera into bed; instead it focuses on the deadly deed. The narrative account uses only one verb to describe the murder stroke (see 4:21); the poem employs four synonyms, emphasizing the deadly force of the blow and forcing us to replay it in our minds. The narrative, while describing how the peg went through his skull into the ground, notes simply that he died (4:21-22); the poem uses seven finite verbal forms (כּרע and נפל appear three times each, and שׁכב once) to emphasize the efficiency and finality of the deed). The repetition serves to “slow the action almost to a standstill in order to allow the audience to vent their hatred of the Canaanites as they savor Sisera’s fall.” It also repeats the location of his death (“between her legs”) to set up an ironic connection with verses 28-30 (on which, see below), and concludes with a resounding passive form, “murdered” (שׁדוּד, literally, “violently destroyed, devastated”).

The narrative informs us that Jael killed Sisera while he was fast asleep (4:21), but the poem depicts her deed as a heroic military act. It makes no reference to Sisera sleeping (though v. 25b might suggest as much) and describes Jael’s actions as an aggressive attack–she grabs her weapons and strikes. It then depicts Sisera as slumping to his knees and falling to the floor, as if she struck him down while he stood before her. Rather than trying to harmonize the accounts at the literal, factual level, it is probably better to see the poem as a creative figurative version of the story designed to magnify Jael and to lampoon the Canaanite general, whose capitulation to Jael’s deceit was tantamount to being defeated by her in hand-to-hand combat. For a warrior to die at the hands of a woman was considered utterly humiliating (see Judg. 9:54), but in this case it was appropriate, for the fleeing Sisera is viewed as cowardly. (pg. 240-243)

Evaluation:
This is an accessible and immensely helpful volume. It is written with a pastoral heart. I appreciated its Christological emphasis, and willingness to examine the typological connections between Judges and Ruth and the other books of the Bible (as in Othniel’s identity as the archetypal judge against whom David must measure up, and the echoes of Samson’s shortcomings in Saul’s inglorious career as outlined in the books of Samuel).  The discussion on the dates in Judges was incredibly helpful, as was the section on the role of female characters in Judges, and how they pave the way for Hannah’s account which opens up 1 Samuel.

Chisholm has a mastery when it comes to Hebrew grammar, and I appreciate how he interacts with the text and helps us see the narrative flow intended by the biblical author. His eye for literary connections and the interplay of various genres, make this volume more useful and full-orbed. His interaction with the full breadth of scholarship related to these books, inform and guide the reader in their study of the text.

This commentary is a must-have for every pastor. The combination of practical and homiletically helpful, with technical and exegetically robust is unmatched. No matter your level of familiarity with Hebrew, interacting with this volume will be worth your time. If you skip the footnotes and just interact with the text you will still be rewarded for your effort. I highly recommend you consider picking up this volume and exploring other titles in the Kregel Exegetical Library.

About the Author:
Robert B. Chisholm Jr. (ThD, Dallas Theological Seminary) is Department Chair and Professor of Old Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He is a translator and the Senior Old Testament Editor of the NET Bible. Chisholm’s other publications include Interpreting the Minor Prophets, Handbook on the Prophets, and A Workbook for Intermediate Hebrew.

Where to Buy:
• Westminster Bookstore
• Christianbook.com
• Amazon.com
• Direct from Kregel

Disclaimer:
This book was provided by Kregel Academic. I was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

G.K. Beale on Living “In the Likeness of His Resurrection”

As we think on Christ’s resurrection, this Easter, I wanted to bring attention to the fact that we are not mere bystanders, watching Christ’s resurrection. We are not just waiting to be resurrected only in the future. Christ’s resurrection does and should have a big impact in our lives now.

G.K. Beale in his massive New Testament biblical theology, argues that resurrection is perhaps the key theme in the New Testament. Resurrection involves a new-creation, and is simultaneous with Christ’s kingdom. His kingdom brings new creation, undoing the sin and brokenness of our lives and all of this world we live in. Believers have begun to experience new creation life and kingdom living, but one day we will experience it far more fully than now — physically as well as spiritually — in the ultimate New Kingdom of Christ Jesus.

Let me quote Beale on the importance the Resurrection should have for Christian living:

In Romans, Christ’s resurrection is sometimes viewed as the basis for believers’ resurrection existence that begins in this life (6:4-5, 8-9, which could be taken to indicate the saints’ future resurrection). That present resurrection existence is in mind is apparent, since in 6:11, 13 Paul understands the references in 6:4-10 to form the basis for concluding that believers presently should be “alive to God in Christ Jesus” (6:11) and should “present [themselves] to God as those alive from the dead” (6:13).

Consequently, Paul’s affirmation of believers’ possession of “eternal life” (6:22-23) is likely an already-not yet reality. Hence, saints are not merely like resurrected beings; rather, they actually have begun to experience the end-time resurrection that Christ experienced because they are identified with him by faith…

That [Paul] intends to refer to literal resurrection is apparent from observing that he parallels it with being in “the likeness of his death” in 6:5a, which refers to real identification with his death, such that “our old man was crucified with Him” (6:6) and believers have really “died” (6:7-8). Paul does not refer to identification with Christ’s death in a metaphorical manner. So likewise believers are in the “likeness” of Christ’s resurrection because they actually have begun to be identified with it and participate in it…

If saints are only like Christ’s resurrection, then Paul’s exhortation to them to live as resurrected beings is emptied of its force: if Christians have begun to be end-time resurrected creatures, then they have resurrection power not to “let sin reign in [their mortal bodies]… but present [themselves] to God as those alive from the dead” (6:12-13).

The relation of the “indicative” to the “imperative” in Paul’s writings has been an issue of some debate. But if the above is a correct analysis of the saints’ resurrection life, then the basis of Paul issuing commands to people is that such people have the ability to obey the commands because they have been raised from the dead, are regenerated, and are new creatures who have the power to obey. In fact, in 6:4 Paul refers to this resurrection life with new-creational language: “newness [kainotes] of life” ( or “new life”), a cognate of the word kainos found in 2 Cor. 5:17: Gal. 6:15 in the well-known inaugurated eschatological expression “new creation,” where in both cases it refers to resurrection life….

Thus, Paul does not give commands to live righteously to those outside the community of faith. This is because they do not have this power of the inbreaking age of the new creation, but are still part of the old age (the “old man” [6:6]), in which they are dominated by sin, Satan, and the influence of the world (so Eph. 2:1-3).

Not taking seriously enough the resurrection language applied to the Christian’s present experience to designate real reschatological resurrection existence, albeit on the spiritual level, has unintentionally eviscerated the ethical power of church teaching and preaching, since Christians must be aware that they presently have resurrection power to please and obey God. This is why in Rom. 6 and elsewhere Paul employs Christ’s latter-day resurrection as the basis for believers’ resurrection identity and for his exhortation that they rule over sin. (G.K. Beale, A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the New, [Baker Academic, 2011], p. 250-251)