Proverbs

Ansberry’s ZECOT volume is one of the most distinctive and useful recent evangelical commentaries on Proverbs. Its central contribution is to read the book as a program of character formation: Proverbs seeks not merely to communicate useful rules but to shape the reader’s intellect, desires, emotions, perception, imagination, and worldview into wisdom and virtue. Ansberry combines this with a persuasive account of the book’s pedagogical progression and a sophisticated treatment of metaphor and poetry, while remaining commendably cautious about forcing every adjacent group of sayings into a tightly constructed unit. The conceptual-metaphor and virtue terminology can occasionally become somewhat schematic, and aspects of the curricular model build upon earlier scholarship, but the synthesis is fresh, illuminating, theologically rich, and consistently useful for interpretation. One of the finest recent commentaries on Proverbs and perhaps the best single contemporary evangelical treatment.

Ansberry gives absolutely no verse-by-verse commentary on chapter 26. Nothing. It's not there. An entire chapter—28 verses in all—without any comment.

Ansberry’s ZECOT commentary masterfully combines serious linguistic analysis with exegetical insight and pastoral application. Its literary analysis offers readers a refreshing way to think about and teach the book of Proverbs. For readers looking for a commentary that deals extensively with the Hebrew text, this work is highly recommended. [Full Review]