Genesis

I am surprised this commentary is as highly ranked as it is. I like the NIVAC format and have 12 others but I cannot recommend this one. Walton spends more time disagreeing with other commentators than he does writing commentary. What is surprising to me is that the vast majority of the time if I find 10 Genesis commentaries that agree on something Walton will disagree. This might be helpful at times but in this case, it just makes him look pedantic.

I found this commentary to be most useful concerning the first 12 Chs. of Genesis. Walton brings incredibly helpful insight on how to engage Genesis as the original readers would have engaged with it. I don't think I've ever had a commentary so helpful in gaining a proper framework what I was reading. Admittedly, the commentary becomes much more brief in its insight after Ch. 12, but this may be due to the format of the NIVAC more than anything. Either way, I was extremely pleased with this purchase, and the first few chapters are worth the price alone.

An approachable and solid evangelical commentary on Genesis. Walton has written extensively on the early chapters of Genesis in his Lost World of Genesis One and Lost World of Adam and Eve (I highly recommend both, though disagree with both in part). He sees the Genesis narrative as covenant history, [Full Review]

With an expertise in ancient near eastern literature and mythology, Walton brings a considerable expertise to the text of Genesis to unpack how an ancient audience would hear the text, and to elaborate the purpose of the book in confronting ancient near eastern pagan worldview(s). The one flaw with this commentary is of course the amount of space given to chapters 1-3 compared to the rest of the text of Genesis. But this is a very good, solidly academic, evangelical, expertly composed, relevant, and accessible commentary.

This is my least favourite of the NIVAC commentaries I own + have used (have 10, used 5). With due deference to the review by John P Newman, with which I otherwise agree, I did not find the first three chapters of Genesis in Dr Walton's commentary to contain "many great insights" but rather to be "extremely uneven" "tend[ing] to discuss in detail pedantic issues of interest to him" or, worse, to give too much airtime to what appear to be quirky personal flights of interpretive fancy. In his interpretations, he also esteems uncomfortably much the ANE sources above later Biblical texts (+ God's controlling hand in the narrative sweep of Scripture and History). I find myself continually distrusting Dr. Walton's analysis, which undermines the usefulness of this work.

I found this commentary to be among the least helpful of those I have consulted on the book of Genesis. If you are studying Genesis chapter 4 or beyond, Dr Walton will not provide much help. He spends 200 pages of a 700 page commentary on the first three chapters on Genesis. Many great insights in the first 200 pages. After that, the commentary is extremely uneven. The authors tends to discuss in detail pedantic issues of interest to him, but many times ignoring discussion that would be of interest to the lay reader. If you are looking for a commentary on Creation or the Garden, this is the commentary for you. If you are looking for a commentary on Genesis, I would look elsewhere.

A very good commentary. Walton gives excellent background and foundation going in, and the commentary is quite solid and mostly Evangelical throughout. I am not keen on the format of the NIVAC's, and Walton a few times seems to jump over or only slightly touch on some passages. Overall though, one of the better commentaries on Genesis.

This is really good. Whether or not you buy all of Walton's implications of God's design or function, over material origins, you need to have this in your library. His major contribution is in ancient Hebrew and Mesopotamian cultural analysis. Very solid.

It is difficult to decide what commentary should fill the number five slot, but in terms of general helpfulness, Walton's commentary probably deserves it. The NIVAC series does not get into as many technical issues, but it excels in terms of bridging the gap between the original audience and the contemporary world. This commentary, then, will be of particular use to preachers and teachers. [Full Review]

John Walton's NIVAC is thought by many to be one of the better expositional/applicational Genesis commentaries. The strength of this series is tracing out how to bridge the gap between the original meaning and contemporary application, and those who do it well have produced some very good volumes, especially in the Old Testament. Walton is one of the editors of the series, and he has a better idea than some contributors of what the series was supposed to be like. Also, one of his scholarly strengths is ancient near eastern background, including literary genre. I've looked at it a little bit, and what I've seen has mostly been good. The original meaning section is pretty light, though, as is typical of this series. My biggest complaint has been Walton's endorsement of Walter Kaiser's view of Old Testament interpretation that there can be no truth expressed in a biblical passage unless the original human author intended it. [Full Review]