Psalms 73–150
in Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries
Pages
336
Publisher
Abingdon Press
Published
11/1/2003
ISBN-13
9780687064687
This second volume completes Richard Clifford's Commentary on the Psalms. The rich imagery of the Psalms has guided and molded pray-ers since ancient times. As we seek to understand the threads and colors of the Psalms, Clifford helps us see their inner dramatic logic, how they organize the experience and desires of the pray-er, and how they seek to move us. His primary concern is to help readers see the pattern and progression within the Psalms, while attending to their complex, evocative nature.
Reviews
A remarkably insightful commentary for its relatively modest size. Clifford is particularly strong on literary structure, ancient Near Eastern background and the theological movement of individual psalms, and he frequently offers interpretations that are both distinctive and exegetically illuminating. His treatment of Psalm 73 is an excellent example: structural observations about repeated Hebrew terms illuminate the psalm’s movement from scandal and doubt to the discovery of God’s presence. The theological and ethical sections are also unusually successful in explaining why the exegesis matters without becoming detached application. It cannot provide the technical detail of Hermeneia or WBC, but the amount of genuinely useful insight packed into the volume is exceptional.