Psalms

Hans-Joachim Kraus’s two-volume commentary remains one of the major works on the Psalms and, despite its age, is still remarkably rewarding. Each psalm receives substantial attention to the Hebrew text and textual problems, poetic form, possible historical and cultic setting, detailed verse-by-verse exegesis, and finally its theological “purpose and thrust.” Kraus is especially strong when moving from technical analysis to theological interpretation, as in his discussions of Psalms 22, 72, 73, 89, 110 and 137, and his Christian theological reflections are often perceptive without simply bypassing the psalm’s Old Testament setting. The main limitation is that some of his form-critical, cultic and tradition-historical reconstructions reflect an earlier generation of scholarship and can be stated with more confidence than the evidence warrants; he also predates much recent work on the final shape and canonical arrangement of the Psalter. Nevertheless, these dated elements rarely overwhelm the commentary, and much of the exegesis remains insightful, independent and theologically substantial. Still one of the most important full commentaries on the Psalms and well worth consulting alongside more recent works.

Detailed, inclides discussions about the cultic use of psalms and is very helpful in order to read the Psalms as they were written for the original audience. Has supplements based on the Christian beliefs of the author. When I have time I read it for the Bible study group together with Jewish (Midrash Tehillim, RaDaK) and some ancient Christian (Chrysostome, e.g.) commentary, otherwise I use van Gemeren.

This two-volume commentary on the Psalter is more critical than Ross but full of exegetical and theological insight. This commentary has taught me the more than the others. Kraus is very detailed. Each Psalm is (1) translated with footnoted text-critical issues (2) a discussion of the form of the Psalm—organization, structure, meter (3) possible setting and author of the Psalm (4) detailed verse by verse exegesis and (5) the purpose and thrust of the Psalm. [Full Review]

The Continental Commentary is by Hans-Joachim Kraus. It's dated as well and has the same tendencies as most critical commentaries, especially from the previous generation. The publication date is deceptive. This English translation was completed in 1989, but the commentary was published in German in 1979. Yet Amazon lists the publication date for one of the volumes as 1993. Kraus garners more respect than most critical commentaries, and it hangs on in most bibliographies and commentary reviews as a very important commentary, even though it's well out of date on many issues and lacking in some features that newer commentaries tend to spend more time on. [Full Review]

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