The Book of Judges
in New International Commentary on the Old Testament
Pages
480
Publisher
Eerdmans
Published
10/31/2012
ISBN-13
9780802826282
Eminently readable, exegetically thorough, and written in an emotionally warm style that flows from his keen sensitivity to the text, Barry Webb's commentary on Judges is exactly what is needed to engage properly a dynamic, narrative work like the book of Judges. It offers helpful guidance to Christian preachers, teachers, students, and other readers not only on unique features of the stories themselves but also on issues such as the violent nature of Judges, how women are portrayed in it, and how it relates to the Christian gospel of the New Testament.
Rather than overload the body of his commentary, Webb concentrates on what the biblical text itself throws into prominence, and he gives space to background issues only where they throw significant light on the foreground. For those who want more, the footnotes provide helpful guidance. The end result is a welcome resource for interpreting one of the most challenging books in the Old Testament.
Rather than overload the body of his commentary, Webb concentrates on what the biblical text itself throws into prominence, and he gives space to background issues only where they throw significant light on the foreground. For those who want more, the footnotes provide helpful guidance. The end result is a welcome resource for interpreting one of the most challenging books in the Old Testament.
Collections
This book appears in the following featured collections.
- Basic Library Booklist by Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary
- Top Old Testament Commentaries by Crux Sola (Nijay Gupta's Blog)
- TGC: Preaching Commentaries by The Gospel Coalition
Reviews
The Gospel Coalition
June 1, 2024
June 1, 2024
Webb’s commentary is a helpful tool to pastors who are looking for a detailed verse-by-verse exposition of Judges. Webb seeks to faithfully employ a conservative hermeneutic when working with the text.
[Full Review]
Crux Sola (Nijay Gupta's Blog) (Michelle E. Knight)
July 12, 2021
July 12, 2021
Barry Webb’s NICOT is another more recent volume (2012), but it builds on a monograph Webb wrote decades ago that has shaped literary and theological discussion of Judges. His literary observations are brilliant and provide a foundation for rich and robust exegesis of the book as a whole.
[Full Review]
Warren Truesdale
September 15, 2017
September 15, 2017
Don’t let Webb’s ranking fool you, this commentary is also very good. To be honest, any of these top five commentaries, especially 2-5 could be switched up. All of them will serve a student of God’s Word well. Webb’s commentary is semi-technical, although the footnotes do include much technical discussion for the reader that is interested...
[Full Review]
G Ware
October 18, 2016
October 18, 2016
Other than a real serious misreading of the Deborah narrative, this is a very, very good commentary. Webb tries to downplay the obvious in the Deborah cycle, and upholds a complementarian view of gender by making Deborah less of an authority figure in Israel than the text presents, and even brings in the notion of the eternal subordination of the Son to make Deborah's authority a mere bi-product of Barak's failure to fulfill his role. But Webb's analysis of the Samson narrative in particular is very, very good. The formatting of NICOT is one I really appreciate, and the commitment to both detail and accessibility makes this series a really praiseworthy achievement. Webb provides a thoroughly engaged scholarly exegesis of the text, but manages to maintain a good, readable flow by keeping most of the technical data in the footnotes for interested readers.