Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah

Roberts, a scholar who is optimistic “about the benefits of historical criticism,” has produced a work that includes “extensive text-critical and philological notes, written in a way that even interested nonspecialists can understand,” writes Longman. [Full Review]

 provides an accessible presentation of textual issues, ancient Near Eastern backgrounds, and literary forms.

provides an accessible presentation of textual issues, ancient Near Eastern backgrounds, and literary forms.

J.J.M. Roberts seems to me to be a fairly standard representation of one strain of biblical scholarship throughout the mid-late 20th century. The overall tendency is to break the text down into its various components, looking at the meanings of all the words and the various grammatical constructions used, focusing at times on the historical background behind what's being said, with detailed discussion of the various textual traditions and an attempt to reconstruct what the original must have said. Roberts likes to emend the text rather than work hard to explain any coherent meaning in its current form. There's usually a desire to find different sources for different parts of a work, although he is more conservative in defending the unity of Habakkuk than he is with the other two books he covers. He does consider the possibility that ch.3 is an earlier Psalm that the prophet incorporated, but he has little patience with the more common assertion that it was a later poem added to Habakkuk's work by a later hand. He does sometimes make connections with the New Testament and contemporary application, but he spends very little time even on how individual passages relate to the book as a whole, never mind moving to an even larger context than that. This book is about as good as any in serving as a guide to exegesis in terms of the minutiae of the text, although Andersen has more detail. Like Andersen, however, the series is intended to be readable by non-scholars, and the level of detail on Hebrew language in this commentary is daunting for those who don't know the language, even if it's not quite as intimidating as Andersen. All told, this book is heavy wading for those who don't know Hebrew, and it isn't all that helpful for someone who wants what I want in a commentary, which is theological reflection and connections between this text and other parts of the Bible. It is nonetheless the standard critical commentary on the three prophets together, although I think Andersen takes that spot if you consider just commentaries on Habakkuk alone. [Full Review]

J.J.M. Roberts' OTL (1991) seems to me to be a fairly standard representation of one strain of biblical scholarship throughout the mid-late 20th century. The overall tendency is to break the text down into its various components, looking at the meanings of all the words and the various grammatical constructions used, focusing at times on the historical background behind what's being said, with detailed discussion of the various textual traditions and an attempt to reconstruct what the original must have said. Roberts likes to emend the text rather than work hard to explain any coherent meaning in its current form. There's usually a desire to find different sources for different parts of a work, and he does sometimes make connections with the New Testament and contemporary application, but he spends very little time even on how individual passages relate to the book as a whole, never mind moving to an even larger context than that. This book is about as good as any in serving as a guide to exegesis in terms of the minutiae of the text, although Spronk has a little more detail. Unlike Spronk, however, the series is intended to be readable by non-scholars, and yet the level of detail on Hebrew language in this commentary is daunting for those who don't know the language, even if it's not quite as intimidating as Spronk. All told, this book is heavy wading for those who don't know Hebrew, and it isn't all that helpful for someone who wants what I want in a commentary, which is theological reflection and connections between this text and other parts of the Bible. It is nonetheless the standard critical commentary on the three prophets together, although I think Spronk takes that spot if you consider just commentaries on Nahum alone. [Full Review]

Focuses on textual and grammatical issues. [Full Review]

Focuses on textual and grammatical issues. [Full Review]

Focuses on textual and grammatical issues. [Full Review]