Customer Reviews

Song of Songs / Lamentations (Word Biblical Commentary)

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Volume 23B of the WBC Series covers the Song of Songs written by Duane A. Garrett and Lamentations by Paul R. House. Garrett's part of the commentary is 266 pages long and House's is 206 pages. This review is of Lamentations.

House has written a thorough and up-to-date commentary on Lamentations. It is outstanding and one of the best commentaries that I have read. House has also written an excellent commentary on 1 & 2 Kings (NAC), an Old Testament Survey, and an Old Testament Theology.

The first 10 pages of the commentary consist of the preface, a commentary bibliography, and a general bibliography. These are followed by a 51-page introduction covering topics such as authorship and date, liturgical uses, poetic form and meter, place in the canon, and genre. This introduction is so good that I could write a review just on it. For example, in the section on authorship and date, House says that Lamentations is traditionally thought to have been written by the prophet Jeremiah, but most scholars believe that Lamentations was composed by several authors or compilers. He then does an extremely thorough survey of what scholars have said through the years, beginning with Introductions to the Old Testament, quoting S. R. Driver, Otto Eissfeldt, R. K. Harrison, and Raymond Dillard and Tremper Longman, among others. He next surveys commentaries, monographs, and articles, citing commentators such as John Calvin, C. F. Keil, Hermann Gunkel, and Claus Westermann.

Finally House gives his own opinion. He thinks that Lamentations was composed between the time of the fall of Jerusalem (587 B.C.) and the rebuilding of the temple (520-515 B.C.) by a single individual who loved the people of God very much, but who was grieved by their troubles because they were self-inflected woes. However, House would not go so far as to name Jeremiah as the author because the author chose not to reveal himself, which means that the author wanted the text to be read as an anonymous work.

The commentary proper is 145 pages long. Lamentations consists of 154 verses, which means that there is approximately one page of commentary proper per verse of Scripture. Following the WBC format, each section begins with a bibliography, House's own translation, a form/structure/setting section, a comment section, and an explanation. House's translation follows the MT (for the most part) and it is literal. He uses the form/structure/setting sections to full advantage, since the form and structure of the book of Lamentations are among its most distinctive and creative features. Lamentations is shaped as a series of four acrostic poems and one concluding acrostic-like poem. "A brief examination of the book's use of acrostic format, meter, echoing techniques, general structure, and mixing of genres will at least offer some glimpses into the artistic excellence of the book of Lamentations."

In the comment sections, House provides the verse-by-verse exposition. His writing is intelligent and thorough, with many theological insights. Throughout his exposition are discussions on divine severity, human responsibility, innocent suffering, and the actions of the wicked. House interacts with many other commentators, especially Hillers (AB), Berlin (OTL), Provan (NCB), and Renkema (HCOT). House gleans many of the best insights from these other commentators, at times agreeing with them, at times not, before he provides his own analyses. This interacting with, and quoting of, other great commentators is one of the highlights of House's commentary.

Not coincidentally, the commentaries that House interacts with the most are also the best ones on Lamentations. Renkema is very comprehensive at 641 pages but costs $78.00 (and it's a paperback!) on Amazon. Provan is excellent but evidently out-of-print and hard to find. Berlin is also excellent (I would rate her third best) and is a reasonable $29.00 on Amazon. Hillers is second best and currently sells for $32.00 on Amazon.

The best commentary on Lamentations is House's, which goes for $33.00 on Amazon (I bought mine new for $24.31 from an Amazon seller), and as a bonus you get Garrett's commentary on the Song of Songs. Highly recommended.