I Kings

Cogan’s 1 Kings and Cogan and Tadmor’s 2 Kings form an outstanding specialist commentary set and are indispensable for serious work on the historical world of Kings. Their particular strength is the integration of Hebrew philology, textual criticism, archaeology, Assyriology and the documentary evidence of Israel’s ancient Near Eastern neighbours. Cogan repeatedly illuminates obscure expressions and institutions through comparative Semitic material, while the treatment of the Assyrian period in 2 Kings is especially valuable. The commentary is also careful about the limits of archaeological evidence rather than simply using archaeology apologetically or sceptically. Its principal weakness for Christian interpreters is that canonical and theological exposition is not its primary concern, and some of its redaction-critical reconstruction remains debatable. Nevertheless, for historical and philological questions I found no commentary in the collection more consistently informative. An essential reference work rather than the ideal stand-alone theological commentary.

These commentaries are strong because of Cogan’s and Tadmor’s familiarity with Syrian/Mesopotamian/Egyptian historical contexts. Both authors are familiar with the relevant (mostly Akkadian) texts. These two commentaries are exegetically superb and relatively conservative for the Anchor series. [Full Review]

Cogan and Tadmor have expertise in Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern History. These commentaries are the standard reference works on both the Hebrew text of 1–2 Kings and the history that stands behind it. [Full Review]

Cogan's work pays careful attention to the 1 Kings text and is probably the best technical commentary in English on the book to date. It is clear and well-written. Until the 1 Kings commentaries come out in the Hermeneia and NICOT series, this is probably the best choice for a pastor or scholar who needs an in-depth, historical and grammatical commentary. Cogan also interacts with other Jewish scholars (ancient and modern) who are often overlooked by Christian scholars. I combine this with Leithart's excellent theological commentary on 1/2 Kings where he continually and brilliantly looks at the OT through the lens of Jesus Christ.

Cogan and Tadmore together wrote the volume on 2 Kings; a decade later Cogan alone produced the volume on 1 Kings. Mathison both commends them and warns of their weakness: “These commentaries are written from a somewhat critical perspective and should be used with care, but the author’s knowledge of the ancient Near Eastern context makes these works very helpful for those interested in more technical commentaries.” [Full Review]

Cogan and Tadmor co-wrote the volume on 2 Kings in 1988. Years later, in 2001, the commentary on 1 Kings was published. The volume on 1 Kings was written by Cogan alone. These commentaries are written from a somewhat critical perspective and should be used with care, but the author's knowledge of the ancient Near Eastern context makes these works very helpful for those interested in more technical commentaries. [Full Review]

Thorough discussion of the textual, critical, and archaeological problems and data. [Full Review]