Other Special Studies in the OT
Several new or revised surveys have come out this year. Eric Mitchell has joined Paul House as co-author in the second edition of Old Testament Survey (B&H; hb., 368 pp.). Mitchell wrote new portions for the book adding more material on historical background. This is a solid survey of the Old Testament which can be useful in a variety of ways in preaching and teaching. Gleason Archer’s well-known A Survey of Old Testament Introduction (Moody; hb., 510 pp.) has been reprinted with some new graphics. Moody has also published an updated edition of C. Hassell Bullock’s An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophetic Books (hb., 473 pp.). Robert Chisholm, Jr.’s Interpreting the Historical Books (Kregel, pb., 231 pp.) provides a standard survey of these books but, unlike other handbooks, also provides a chapter on preaching from these books and a chapter which contains some examples of such preaching. A more theological approach is taken by Christopher Seitz in Prophecy and Hermeneutics: Toward a New Introduction to the Prophets (Baker, pb., 264 pp.). This is a stimulating but more complex book dealing primarily with the Minor Prophets.
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Ronald Heine’s Reading the Old Testament with the Ancient Church (Baker; pb., 208 pp.) is an excellent book that will be helpful in assimilating the Old Testament personally and as a result in preaching the Old Testament. I particularly enjoyed the section on the Psalms. The discussion of the Psalms and their use as guides for prayer connects well with James Sire’s new book Praying the Psalms of Jesus (IVP; pb., 222 pp.) and a new offering from Concordia Reading the Psalms with Luther (hb., 363 pp.). These books encourage us to use the Psalms as Jesus and his followers through the ages have, not just as reading material but as guides for our own prayer and praise. The Luther volume combines the ESV text with Martin Luther’s brief introductions to each psalm and his prayer drawn from each psalm.
Commentaries
Christian Focus has reprinted several good volumes in its Focus on the Bible Series including 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel, both by Dale Ralph Davis, and Proverbs, by Eric Lane.
Nobuyoshi Kiuchi has written the Leviticus volume for the Apollos Commentary Series (IVP; hb., 538 pp.). In keeping with the series this commentary deals with the Hebrew text and seeks to draw out contemporary application. Unlike more critical commentaries Kiuchi favors Mosaic authorship and assumes the text as it stands is theologically coherent. He particularly pays attention to symbolic meanings of the rituals.