Customer Reviews

Handbook on the Historical Books

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had Hamilton's Handbook on the Pentateuch assigned for a Seminary class and found it to be balanced, fair, and clearly and concisely written. The Handbook on the Historical Books is more of the same from an excellent, well read, scholar. Particularly helpful are the bibliographies for each of the historical books; the interested reader can easily follow up on commentaries and studies that may interest him or her.

Another commenter, a "Baptist preacher", is, I think, unfair in his criticism. He appears to take a very fundamentalist approach. For those readers who haven't already made up their minds about what the texts SHOULD mean or MUST mean, Hamilton's book is a terrific resource and a God-honoring work.

I really like the overview that Hamilton gives on all the books. I don't agree with all of his statements, but he does a great job on summarizing the 12 books of history.

Go to a good library and read it, and then judge for yourself. It has been an immense help to me in my teaching ministry.

I had to read this book for a college level class, but I still found it enjoyable. He basically goes through each chapter and provides a summary of what took place and their significance. He doesn't get bogged down in the nitty-gritty details, but keeps the commentary going. I wish it would be a little more in-depth and specific in certain passages, but overall this book is a very handy guide when reading the historical books of the OT.

I've only read his sections on Samuel and Chronicles so far, but they are very insightful. He does a great job of showing the repetition of themes/words in the books, highlighting what the original authors were highlighting (which is more obvious in the original Hebrew). I own all his books - wish he wrote more.

I bought this book as a requirement for a masters level class for the Baptist Seminary I attend. The book at first glance seems to be conservative and orthodox, but buyer and reader beware! It reads like a novel and treats the Word of God like one. The author considers himself to have written a "unique" and intriguing history of Israel. The history of Israel is already intriguing and inpsired by God. He views Samuel as a bitter, vindictive old man, and reads between the lines to trash the normal understanding and interpretation of biblical events and history. Rather than simply summarizing the history of Israel in a scholarly fashion, Hamilton takes it upon himself to write something "new", using nuanced language to subtily cast doubt on standard, logical, and faithful interpretations; for example.. he tries to make David and Solomon look vindictave to establish their kingdoms, when in reality it was God who established them and sanctioned the removal of enemies. He villifies Samuel, making him look like an enemy of Saul, when in reality Samuel weeps over Sauls removal as king. ( this part is left out). The book is an excellent example of the abuse of scholarship and elite academic snobbery.

Nate Ellis, Teach4theson2@aol.com