Numbers

I had the opportunity to lead a weekly Bible study on the book of Numbers. Morales’s commentary was my main reference, which gave me the opportunity to read the whole thing. There is a lot to like. Morales pays close attention to the text, treating it as authoritative Scripture. He tends to avoid the critical discussions of sources, preferring instead to interact with traditional Jewish readings of the text. Morales does not share the modern bewilderment at God’s punishments of His people and instead emphasizes God’s holiness and its demands. At times Morales seems too fond of patterns and for the most part the images and schematics do not help me very much. Good maps would have been much more helpful. The publishers seem to have split Morales’s text in half for the two volumes, but the bibliography and index are added only in volume 2. This makes the second volume much fatter than the first, fat enough to make it hard to hold with my athritic hands. It also means that to check a reference in volume 1 I need to pull out volume 2. The biggest value of this commentary is that it takes Numbers seriously as Scripture.

As someone recently out of seminary, reading fatigue is a real thing. But when Morales's commentary on Numbers came out I knew I wanted to get my hands on it and read through it. Numbers has always been a book that interested me, but I never had the time or the resources to really get to study it. I taught through a Sunday School class on Numbers this summer and Morales was a faithful guide through the book. His insights were helpful on every page and he really helped me gain a real understanding of everything going on in the book of Numbers. I really appreciate that the editors allowed this to be a two volume work where Morales could express his whole thoughts on the matter. For the serious student of the Bible, this commentary is a must. It gives invaluable insight to the wonderfully rich narratives of Numbers. For me, this is not only the best commentary on Numbers but one of the best commentaries on any book of the Bible. I would rate it right up there with Carson's commentary on John. It really is that good.

Volume two fulfills and completes the vision and ambition of volume one. The editor who saw the wisdom in breaking form with the series and allowing Morales two volumes instead of one in which to present his commentary was obviously prompted by the Holy Spirit. This set is more than a gift. It's a scholarly mitzvah.

As per my comments on the individual volumes, I do think this is a generation-defining commentary. That it is from an evangelical press and perspective, is exciting. Working, even in a very small way, with Morales on this, has been a career highlight. [Full Review]