Isaiah

I am not a fan of the NIVAC series. They try too hard to make "connections and applications." I rely on the Holy Spirit to do that as I read the Bible (with a reliable commentary.) Having said that...Oswalt's ORIGINAL MEANINGS are excellent. After Motyer and Webb, I read him. Very, very good. Motyer and Webb are excellent.

I have become a collector of commentaries ever since my seminary days in the 1990s. As such, I am only going to recommend the best overall commentary for each book of the Bible on this site. For Isaiah, for the preacher/teacher, I am a big fan of Oswalt's NIVAC commentary. In fairness, I neither have nor have I consulted with Oswalt's more extensive and academic NICOT edition, but his NIVAC contribution provides strong contextual insights along with wonderful points for relevant, contemporary application. In a field of several really good commentaries on Isaiah, this is the one I would recommend if you could only have 'one' in your pastoral library.

With so many great reviews, I expected to like this better. It doesn’t do much detailed exegesis. In a sense that’s expected in a NIVAC, but often there are readerly questions that go unanswered. The applications seem uninspired as well.

Surprisingly underwheming.