Customer Reviews

Old Testament Commentary Survey

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

 

 

It is a great joy to finally have available the third edition of Tremper Longman's fine review of Old Testament commentaries. It has been a long wait since the 1995 second edition.

Again Longman offers judicious and careful advice on the merits and demerits of a large number of OT commentaries. As with all such comments on the commentaries, there is subjectivism at work, and not all will agree with all of Longman's assessments. After all, how can one say what is the best commentary on, say, Deuteronomy? It really depends on the needs of the reader. A busy pastor may want something more expository and devotional, while the academic may prefer the more technical and scholarly.

Thus Longman tries to rate the commentaries by what they set out to do, or what the series they are contained in set out to do. Thus he comes up with recommendations that may differ from others. For example, of the 19 commentaries on 1 and 2 Kings, he gives the highest rating (5 stars) to Iain Provan's volume in the NIBC series. While acknowledging that it is a bit too brief (in keeping with the series), he believes that in terms of accessibility and readability, along with a good balance of literary and theological emphases, this is the best thing going on Kings.

Interestingly, David Bauer, in his An Annotated Guide to Biblical Resources for Ministry (Hendrickson, 2003), does not even give Provan's volume a mention, in the 21 books he lists. However, John Glynn in his Commentary and Reference Survey, 9th ed. (Kregel, 2003), does mention it, along with 16 other commentaries.

Thus there will always be disagreements in this area, as a lot of differing criteria and measuring sticks are used to make assessments.

One omission from this volume is the section on OT reference works and Hebrew helps. They too, like the commentaries, continue to pour forth at an alarming rate. Thus cuts need to be made somewhere.

But of the three reference works cited here (the other two cover the NT as well), Longman is my first port of call. Unlike the other two authors, Longman is an OT specialist, with several fine commentaries of his own.

Longman mentions in his intro that many people emailed him, urging him to get a revised edition of this work out. I was one of them, and such lobbying has paid off. One hopes to see a 4th edition before another 8 years lapse however!

The positives -- this book is a MUST for anybody at all serious about commentaries. Longman is VERY sharp. A Yale Ph.D. with years of teaching experience, he knows his stuff. Great authroity. Very, very good resource.

The negatives -- this third edition is not what it could be.
Omissions are plentiful. How could he possibly exclude reviews of Dale Ralph Davis' commnetaries on Joshua, Judges, I and 2 Samuel and I Kings? These are some of the best commentaries I've ever used. Another example, how could he leave out O. Palmer Robertson on Jonah?

Also, he often does not clue the reader in on the ideological biases of some works. P. 23 doesn't mention that the Daily Study Bible series is highly critical. Same for p. 58 and Kath. Sakenfeld (far left).

Other puzzles -- how can a book on p. 20 be a "fine" commentary when he gives it just 2 stars (overall he is a very generous grader!).

Some are P&R publishers' editing flaws. How can Longman mention in vol. 1 of a set that the author for vol. 2 is "announced" for the future to be.... when vol. 2 is already out and reviewed by Longman? (see p. 100). Also, some abbreviations used don't appear in the Abbreviation Key ("MT" on p. 107). In three places Longman reviews his own books in the first person ("I was trying to do this..."), whereas for another of his books he refers to himself in the third person as "Longman" (see p. 89). On p. 128 he says it would be "inappropriate" for him to comment on his own book (no way!), but he does this anyway in four other cases.

Overall, excellent book. But it needs better editing, and the addition of some outstanding works that are ignored. (He could easilly cut some things, if need be, that are highly dated, and irrelevant.)

Longman's work on Old Testament resources is a very helpful guide for the person looking for what will help them where they are at in their stage of theological understanding. The rating system Longman uses serves not only to rate the commentary or resource in terms of quality, but also in terms of the purpose and audience that resource is serving. Each commentary is noted with a "star" system (1 lowest, 5 highest) as well as an indication of whom it is most suitable (Layman, Minister, Scholar). I found Longman's appraisals to be very fair to all parties- Jewish, evangelical, non-evangelical and non-evangelical Christian.

If there is a criticism to be made, he is sometimes almost too generous to resources from a radically different perspective than the typical evangelical's while harsher on evangelical works. In fact, I think that one of the on-line reviewer's comments (Rachel Brown) are quite incorrect in their assessment of Longman's bias. If Longman has a detectable bias, it would be more against pre-millenial perspectives in prophetic commentaries within the sometimes Calvinist camp than against non-Calvinists (i.e. Victor Hamilton's work on Genesis received a high rating from Longman despite their theological differences). All in all, Longman helps those of us who would rather not be surprised by an on-line book purchase that we did not get to leaf through first at the bookstore.

If you love commentaries this book will save you hundreds of dollars. He shows in a concise way the strengths and weaknesses of hundreds of commentaries. He is a well read scholar and I have profited much from his insights. My only complaint is that he is too soft on some of the more liberal critics. The book is definately a must buy. This book should be purchased along with D.A. Carson's New testament Commentary survey published by Baker.

This is one of the most clean, organized, and easy to use commentary surveys I have seen. It doesn't try to take on too much, and does a great job at selecting the best commentaries. The notes and 5 star ranking system are also very helpful.

Books are expensive! As Jim Beale's T-shirt says: So many books, so little time? Which books are you going to spend your money and time on? Longman's book is a helpful guide, and the latest edition includes many new books, not reviewed in the 2nd edition.

At times I wish that Longman would clue us in more on the theological stance of the books he recommends, but overall his book is an indispensable guide to the bewildering array of books available on the Old Testament.

I appreciate his ratings, including the 1 to 5 star system, and the rating of the work as suitable for Layperson, Minister or Scholar. An additional aid would be a rating of the scholarship's place on the continuum of conservative to critical approach.

Highly recommended.

Tremper Longman has done a wonderful job with this book. Search online, or just go to your local Christian bookstore and to see all the available commentaries is just mind numbing. They are also so expensive. But in this book Longman reviews most of the commentaries out and tells you what is good, and what you should avoid. A awesome resource to save you money and to build a awesome library.

I'm thankful that I bought only a few commentaries on the OT before finding this book by Longman. It's guided me to the commentaries that are worth having. I have the 2nd edition and now the 4th. For some reason, the 4th edition does not have the 2 chapters on OT Reference Works and on Hebrew Helps that were in the 2nd ed. The chapter on OT Reference works has been nearly as helpful to me as the section on the commentaries themselves. I'd strongly encourage the author to put these back in the 5th edition.

Longman is himself a fine and knowledgeable commentator. He reviews his own commentaries in this book, but modestly does not rate them, so I'll rate one for him. His commentary on Proverbs in the series by Baker Proverbs (Baker Commentary on the Old Testament Wisdom and Psalms) is the best commentary on Proverbs I've seen, and I'll give it 5 stars.

Not quite sure if all these commentaries are worth it? Check 'em out in Longman's survey of commentaries on the Old Testament.

An investment in this book may save you hundreds of dollars in oversimplified scholarship and shoddy research.

This is a very helpful "book on books" guide to commentaries on the Old Testament. I completely agree with a comment from the review below: Also get Carson's book on commentaries on the New Testament.

If you want a quick way to pick a commentary this is the way to do it.