Customer Reviews

Proverbs (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries)

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

 

 

I have owned this fine book for almost 30 years. I just started looking at it again and thought I should write a review.

Derek Kidner's small book is incredibly full of insight. My version has 192 pages. I have spent hours reading and studying from this wonderful book. The introduction is very rewarding. How many books can you say that about? His introduction is really a great lesson on how to read and understand the Proverbs. I don't know of any author who can pack so much thought into so few words. This book is great for sermon preparation and / or Sunday School class preparation. He gives you the big picture so well and helps you to see the big picture. He keeps you focused on what the Proverb is saying. I have taught the first 9 chapters of Proverbs at least 3 times and this small book was a tremendous help. He is very good at giving meaning to particular words - the important words. And that so often is the key to interpretation of the Proverb. One way he does this is by showing you how the same words are used in other parts of the Bible. You learn about the Proverbs and other parts of the Bible as well. Once you know the meaning of the word(s), you can draw your own application(s).

This books is fine for reading, but I find it best to be read, studied, and re-read as I try to grasp the meaning of the Proverb. I have my Bible open and pen and paper handy as I read this book. I find this book on Proverbs to be one of the first I go to when I want to study and gain insight into Proverbs. Your mind is filled with ideas and thoughts as you ponder the meaning of what the author is saying.

Definitely, the best buy for the money.

I bought this commentary on a recommendation from C.J. Mahaney video I watched on line. What makes the book worth the money is the introduction. The introduction exposed me to categories and descriptions of these categories that made the book hugely edifying. It's very short, as I believe most commentaries in this series are. You won't get a huge exposition of every word or syntactical expression, rather you'll get the thrust of a passage or section of passages. If you're a laymen (like me) and not a pastor, I would whole-heartedly say start here.

Kidner is a true scholar, and his commentaries on the Psalms have become a classic. With Proverbs, he does comment on each verse (which makes this better than most supposed "commentaries" on Proverbs), but his comments are very, very brief and thus do not get into the text deeply (as Bridges does). This is a good work to own if you already possess some more thorough treatments. For a layman just wanting to get the basic flow of the proverbs, this would be a fine book. If you want to do a deeper study in Proverbs, this will help you in a limited way only.