Psalms 73-150

This volume is the second one on the book of Psalms written by Clifford. The first volume was published in 2002 and was reviewed by James L. Crenshaw (see the review at http://bookreviews.org/pdf/3051_3316.pdf). The book is part of the new Abingdon Old Testament Series and is intended for college students as well as for use in the parish. The commentary format requires the same categories for each psalm: introduction, literary analysis, exegetical analysis, and theological and ethical analysis. Unfortunately, the commentary format also demands that scholarly discussion and debate be kept to a minimum. This type of commentary style that has become popular recently hampers scholars such as Clifford, who have great linguistic abilities and theological depth, and ultimately shortchanges the reader who could benefit from the ongoing debates on how the psalms have been studied as well as from the authors wealth of academic knowledge. Despite this negative however, Clifford provides the reader with a well-presented overview of each psalm. His central focus uses Mowinckels categorizations for the place of the psalms in Israels worship (e.g., hi s treatment of the enthronement psalms). As noted above, each psalm is presented via four sections. [Full Review]

This text is the second volume of Richard J Clifford’s commentary on the Psalms. As in the case of its predecessor, this work addresses biblical students and ministers with this helpful contribution to Psalms commentary. This work is a part of the Abingdon Old Testament Commentaries series, which is particularly designed for both undergraduate and ecclesiastical settings. As such, its focus is setting forth a clear, concise examination of each psalm. Since this is the second volume of his exploration of the Psalter, Clifford omits any reference to introductory material. Following a general introduction by the series editor, the author immediately begins with Ps 73. While the omission of any introductory material was obviously an editorial decision, a consequence of that decision is that the reader approaching the second volume will have little guidance to Clifford’s overall approach. Clifford follows a set pattern for each of the individual psalms. First he explores the poetic dimension of each psalm in a section entitled “Literary Analysis.” In this section Clifford examines issues such as form and any poetic or stylistic characteristics of the psalm. [Full Review]