Mark Underkofler

Beautifully written commentary that reads like a Christian living book while having the depth of a strong exegetical commentary. He has worked carefully with the text in detail without losing track of the big themes and moves of the book. He holds to Isaiah authorship for the entire book. One of the best commentaries on any book of the Bible for the pastor or student seeking to understand the Scriptures for preaching, teaching, personal study or research. Strength- Easy to read and written at the level of the pastor or college student to understand and preach/teach this book. Weakness- Not as strong interacting with the more recent higher criticism issues in scholarship today.

I'm reading and studying through Isaiah for the second time in ministry. WBC is a wonderful set but this commentary is a bad apple. It is the worst of contemporary scholarship- unique views which do not fit the text; flash without substance; and pushing the text to fit pre-conceived ideas of setting and structure. Strengths- Some detailed grammatical points and Hebrew study with own translation. Weaknesses- Confused authorship, pushing Isaiah to be a drama in structure, lack of building on other commentaries and scholars, and converting almost the entire 40-66 section to be speaking about Darius primarily.