Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Old Testament Set

a very good book

I bought so many Theological books so far... but this illustrated Bible Backgrounds commentary not up the mark. Missing the Theological significance & failed to connect the scripture relevance. Excessively furnished with pagan cultural stories & stone inscription. Literally, I'm disappointed with this. I want to return it. Please consider

Il s'agit d'un excellent commentaire de l'arrière plan historique, géographique, littéraire et archéologique de l'Ancien Testament. Le commentaire n'est donc pas théologique mais contient une mine d'informations qui permettent de nous plonger dans le contexte des écrits vétérotestamentaires.

Please note this is not a Bible commentary like you normally think of, but rather a commentary with highlights from the cultures and peoples of the region around the setting for each book of the Bible covered in this series. It's extremely helpful that this material is organized by Bible book, chapter and verse. So you can open up your commentary to the passage in the Bible you are studying and see relevant data in a few minutes. And since this set is focused on the Old Testament, the background is the Ancient Near-East (ANE) region. That is in the book's title (Bible Backgrounds Commentary) so the book is successful in hitting it's stated target. That's partly why I give this book five stars. This is probably my favorite illustrated commentary. The photos are truly insightful and inspiring. And some of them are "worth a thousand words" as the old saying goes. This commentary then is not like a regular commentary at all. Having said that, it may become your favorite tool as you study passage after passage. To illustrate what I mean by this, let me share with you the overall difference between this commentary and a 'regular' commentary. I will select another commentary that I consider a five star as well, the NICOT volume on Genesis 18-50 by Victor P. Hamilton. I will show you a little on Genesis 22, the famous story about Abraham and Isaac going up the mountain to make a sacrifice. In Hamilton's commentary we have a full 20 pages of discussion about the overall text and what other scholars have written about the meaning of the text, a verse by verse detailed discussion of the meaning of each verse, and some final comments. For Genesis 22's account of Abraham and Isaac going up the mountain, the ZIBBOT Vol 1 contains two and a quarter pages of material. In those two pages there is a map (nothing special) with an explanation as to why this event may or may not have happened in Jerusalem, a photo with a special article on child sacrifice in the ANE that gives a two paragraph summary, two photos of knives from the period (those are interesting and very insightful), and a photo of a Ram in the thicket from a royal tomb (ANE). Perhaps the most interesting photo in the two pages of material is the one showing a ram in the thicket taken from a royal tomb in Ur. However, no commentary is provided on this at all. I was disappointed with that. In short the emphasis in this article yields a couple key points: Where this happened may not be in Jerusalem since Abraham brings wood and the hills around Jerusalem had plenty of trees already. (My own aside: this may weaken the idea that this passage foreshadows Christ's death on the cross which was outside Jerusalem, or it may have no significance on the Christological implications of this passage. ZIBBOT does not address application issues like this). Secondly the sacrifice of an older child (like Isaac) was not normal in the ANE. Interestingly enough, Hamilton argues (in NICOT) that the verb used in Genesis 22:10 is reserved for child sacrifice in the Hebrew texts. So Hamilton attempts to focus the meaning (on verb selection alone) directly on a comparison of the ANE practice of child sacrifice and states this darkens the meaning of this passage. The ZIBBOT almost directly contradicts this in my opinion. In my understanding it narrowed the scope of child sacrifice and transformed my understanding of the context quite a bit. In light of that, the emphasis in ZIBBOT for this passage makes more sense. In essence, it adjusts or modifies how you might interpret a regular commentary like NICOT. Combined, the two resources give a pastor or Bible teacher a fuller view of the passage. I do often wish the ZIBBOT had more details in the text. For example, I think the ram in the thicket statute from a royal tomb in Ur is relevant to this story, providing no text to explain that leaves me hungering for something. Perhaps some detail on what are the potential options in relevance? So I could summarize my comments by saying this: Very cool and rarely found photos for each passage with scant explanation. All information is focused on ANE, where a typical commentary focuses mainly on the biblical text. I don't know of another tool quite like this one. If you are serious about Old Testament studies, you ought to get a copy of this series. Enjoy it! It's a great way to kick off further study on the ANE background of the Old Testament. I tend to go to ZIBBOT before I go to OT Commentaries. I love the look and feel of it and I love the photos. There are a couple thousand of them and many of them are difficult to obtain. It's a fabulous resource.

Amazing resource for pastors, bible students - *Christians* - *followers of Christ - *Doers. 🙂🙏🏾❤️

... you already own the Cultural Background s Study Bible. The text of this commentary series is identical to the notes of the Study Bible! The two are basically the same, except the commentaries include Endnotes and more illlustrations etc. on higher quality paper. If you want to work academically or if you want the illlustrations get this commentary box set. If you want to save money, just get the Study Bible.

Intended perhaps for more of a lay audience, the set is still very informative and depending on your level of scholarship and what you hope to get out of it, easier to read and follow than a more scholarly publication. Good pictures, maps and charts etc. help to break up the text into more "digestible" bites. An excellent addition to any biblical library.