Ezra and Nehemiah: A Mentor Commentary

Rata’s commentary combines faithful and consistent exegesis with application to the present day. Readers will find his work to be reliably evangelical. [Full Review]

Whilst the first time reading a volume from a commentary series I haven’t encountered before would normally prompt a full review, in this case I haven’t, partly because I’m dipping into various things about Ezra/Nehemiah, and partly because I found Hannah K. Harrington’s newer NICOT volume significantly more helpful. This Mentor volume was surprisingly compact – at around 270 pages it had the opportunity to be concise – but in my opinion was not a strong volume. Large font and other strange formatting choices meant it often felt cursory – and the commentary in general didn’t feel that useful. The introduction, however, particularly at under 40 pages, was quite good, and so if you are towards the more conservative end of things, this might be a useful commentary, though I’d recommend Derek Kidner’s, and it’s forthcoming replacement, in this sort of length, and Harrington’s aforementioned NICOT if you want something comprehensive.