Customer Reviews

The Message of Ezekiel: A New Heart and a New Spirit (Bible Speaks Today)

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Typical of The Bible Speaks Today series the author lists more than twenty Ezekiel commentaries, and he quotes extensively from a couple. Formerly a seminary professor of O.T. studies he has a good grasp of all the Bible and uses other scriptures well to derive sane and sensible meanings from Ezekiel.
As a former pastor Mr. Wright communicates well. As a layman I found this commentary to be a real page-turner. Less than 5% is devoted to "preaching."

My initial reading in this volume has been very satisfactory. He takes the text of the Bible seriously and doesn't engage in higher criticism. Instead he seeks to illuminate the text in whatever ways are available to him. I was especially impressed by his comments in which he pointed out that the enemy of Israel is God, not Nebuchadnezzar. And yet, very much unlike an enemy, he appoints Ezekiel to stand watch for Israel.

This commentary does an outstanding job of providing the big picture and context of Ezekiel which is necessary for understanding the details. The details come alive in their historical setting, and Ezekiel's message for today comes through loud and clear. The neat thing about Christopher JH Wright is that he writes in a way that anyone can understand. He is clearly a well informed scholar, but his writing is not academic. He brings the history of Israel alive and relates it to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have read many of his books and feel that he is more in touch with God's heart than any other author I've come across. Two other books of his I would recommend are: 'The Mission of God' and 'Old Testament Ethics For The People of God'. Both of these should be required reading for all Christians.

One of my favorite all around commentaries (applications to the contemporary world, depth, scholarship etc.). Used this book as a basis for a full semester graduate class on Ezekiel. Good treatment of the text critical issues without pushing too many varied and conflicting view points that tend to generate more heat than light. Good bibliography for leading you to more specific studies. Very little original language work here so if you are not a fan of Hebrew, no worries there. If you're looking for an excellent treatment of Ezekiel from someone with a conservative view of Scripture, look no further. Wright is a great scholar with a mission heart (see his book "The Mission of God;" also excellent). Thus, he understands that theology must live and breathe else it is a waste of time.

Sorry to say, this is not one of the better volumes in this series. It is about twice as long as it needs to be: wordy, rambling, and pompously didactic.

The entire series ("The Message of ...") is directed at the more general student of the Bible. It stays away from highly technical textual crtiticsm, aiming instead at the lay reader who just needs a little help with context, imagery, etc. Some volumes of the series are excellent in this respect. This is just not one of them.

The author successfully avoids the technical and scholarly emphasis, but falls right off the other side of the mountain by letting his generalized "preachiness" quite run away with him.

The end result is that the reader must filter through a great deal of extraneous vaporizing to get to the meat of Ezekiel.