This was my favorite commentary in terms of commenting on the text. Lots of helpful notes and sidebars and background information. He brings up many interpretive issue but does not get bogged down in details. He comments on hard textual issues and seeming contradictions in passages but overall treats the text as we have it and as Scripture. The application portions, however, are pretty week. The other drawback is that it is expensive. Since I got it from the library it was a helpful companion. But not sure I would recommend based on the price.

Jeremy Pierce (parableman)

August 7, 2009

Tony Cartledge's S&H (2001) is an awful lot of money for a lot of bells and whistles but not all that much content. I think this series would be bad enough to count as exploiting pastors, if it weren't for cheaper alternatives at the same level (which there usually are). This volume may be more substantial in size than most in the series, but I still don't think it's worth the price of some of the most expensive academic commentaries. Despite Cartledge's focus on the final form of the text, many evangelicals will be bothered by his attitude toward its historicity. He is familiar with scholarship, but he doesn't really interact with it much. For a $70 book, I'd expect a lot more. [Full Review]