Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) [Paperback]

David W. Baker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1988 | Series: Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries

Nahum's prophecy of Ninevah's coming destruction.Habakkuk's probing dialogue with the Lord of Israel.Zephaniah's warning to Jerusalem's last great king.The texts of these minor but important prophets receive a fresh and penetrating analysis in this introduction and commentary. David W. Baker considers each book's historical setting, composition, structure and authorship as well as important themes and issues. Each book is then expounded passage by passage in the concise and informative style that has become the hallmark of the Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries.

Product Details

• Paperback: 121 pages
• Publisher: InterVarsity Press (August 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0877842493
• ISBN-13: 978-0877842491
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,797,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

David Baker is Professor of Old Testament and Semitic Languages at Ashland Theological Seminary, Ashland, OH, where he has taught for 25 years. Prior to that, he taught at the University or Durban-Westville and the University of the Witwatersrand, both in South Africa, and Bethel College in St Paul, Minnesota. He has also lectured at: Laidlaw College, Auckland, New Zealand; Queensland Theological College, Brisbane, Australia; South America Theological Seminary, Colon, Argentina; River Plate Adventist University, Libertador San Martin, Argentina; Tyndale Theological Seminary, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Ontario Theological Seminary (Now Tyndale Seminary), Toronto, Ontario, Canada; and Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. As well as traveling, David enjoys editing as well as writing, having written or edited over 40 publications.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brief but no better commentary at this level, October 19, 2006

By 

Parableman (Syracuse, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries) (Paperback)

Baker's commentary is very brief. This would be an excellent guide for a Bible study leader or pastor without much training in biblical studies. For more detailed exegesis, I recommend O. Palmer Robertson's NICOT or Waylon Bailey's NAC. This would provide a nice supplement to those volumes.

Baker takes a conservative, evangelical approach to these three minor prophets, selecting what he considers to be the most important information for the basic interpretation of the books. He defends the unity of each book, along with the traditionally ascribed authorship, dating all three books to the traditional period of the 7th century.

Baker is broadly Wesleyan in his theology, and I am more Reformed, but I did not find much in this commentary that I disagreed with theologically. At most I would have worded things slightly differently. Baker thus tdoes well at capturing the theological message of these books without trying to score points for his particular viewpoint. He simply discusses what the text is saying. He has room for enough linguistic, textual, and background issues to show the general sense of what the text is saying, even if he does not always give full details on matters that have a smaller effect on the overall message. A more detailed commentary would be required for that.

I know of no work at this level that does as good a job, even if it turns out to be not even as detailed as a number of other volumes in the Tyndale series, even the other minor prophets volumes. I would not prefer to have to teach these books with just Baker's commentary, and there are a lot of good commentaries on these books, but this is one of the ones I want on my shelf. This may well be the lowest price-to-information ratio among the evangelical commentaries.