I wish I had this commentary when I was teaching Psalms last year. While teaching the Psalms, one of the difficulties I had was dealing with unifying themes while exploring each individual Psalm. Before going into the commentary on the text, the book provides a 25-page introduction for Psalms as a whole. This is one of the best book introductions I've read. It talks in detail about the authors of the Psalms, the date and occasion of writing, the audience, the use of the Psalms, the literary style, the major themes, and theological concerns. The majority of the attention is focused on the literary style and the theological concerns and I found both sections especially insightful.
Moving into the main portion of the book, I love the way it is laid out. First, a portion of the text is presented. Next, textual notes are presented. Finally, after the notes is the commentary. The commentary is well-written and informative. It is especially helpful for preaching and teaching, but would also be useful for personal self-study. As a simple test of the commentary, I turned to the familiarity of Psalm 23 and read the notes and commentary on it. There are 2 pages of commentary, focusing of the focus of depending on God (as a shepherd) for daily bread and daily guidance.
The section on Proverbs is just as interesting and as the section on Psalms. Again, this is the kind of commentary that I'm particularly grateful for because I am so much less comfortable with poetry than with other forms of biblical literature.
This is the second volume in the Cornerstone series that I've reviewed, the first being the pastoral epistles. The more familiarity I gain with this series, the more I like it. I highly recommend this series to anyone who teaches the Bible.
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drmellow- Greg Cohoon
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