Review: Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality

Gregory D. Cook. Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality: The Gospel According to Abraham.  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, January 16, 2015. 208 pp.

4 out of 5

Purchase: Westminster |Amazon

Are you reading the narratives in Genesis about the life of Abraham?  Also are you looking for a good devotional commentary that also have a redemptive historical awareness and also conscious of biblical theology?  This would be a resource in understanding the portion of the book of Genesis.

This book is part of the series titled “The Gospel According to the Old Testament” published by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing.  In past years I have enjoyed this series’ commentary on Esther and the book of Nahum which I thought the editor did a good job selecting the authors that have great exegetical observations of Biblical passages with an eye for things like literary device, word play, a big picture perspective and use of background information, etc.  So when I found out that the editor for the series himself wrote a volume on the Genesis narrative of Abraham’s life I knew I had to get this book.  The author Iain Duguid is an Old Testament professor from Westminster Theological Seminary.  While I didn’t think this particular volume is as good as the other two volumes I have read previously still it is a good commentary that I would recommend for others to read, both pastors and laymen.

The book covers Genesis 11:27 to Genesis 25:18 in fifteen chapters in the book.  Each book chapter covers roughly a chapter from Genesis.  Besides observation from the text the author also applied God’s truth from the passage to the readers’ lives.  This I appreciate very much and he does the application skillfully.
Here are some of the insights I gained from this book:

• Going to Egypt is often an alternative to trusting in God often in the Old Testament. It is often seen as making a choice that sounds good; but in the end is not a wise one.
• There’s an interesting parallel of Abraham with Jesus. Abraham left his father’s side, so did Jesus.  Abraham is told that he will be great in Genesis 12:3 which of course Jesus is above all names in Philippians 2:9-10.
• Abraham in Genesis 14 was acting out as a blessing to Gentiles already when he went to rescue Lot and others.
• In Genesis Melchizedek blessed Abraham but the king of Sodom did not; we should also interpret this in light of Genesis 12:1-3 where those who bless Abraham will be blessed and those who do not will not be blessed.
• In Genesis 16 there seems to be an echo of Adam and Eve with Abaham and Sarah’s life. In both stories the couple were in land that was supposed to be a land of blessing.  Sarah “took” and “gave” her maid servant Hagar to her husband Abraham, using the same verb of “took” and “gave” in Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve concerning the forbidden fruit.  Like Adam, Abraham gave in to his wife’s request and followed his wife.  This is followed by a blame game between husband and wife and negative consequences unfortunately.

Of course more insights are found in the book.  There were times I wished the author could have gone over more details of what was going on in the narrative.  The author in the book often write in a manner summarizing the passage without referencing specific verse in the chapter in Genesis he is talking about; I think as a constructive criticism he could be more explicit with the reference of which verse in the narrative  he was referring to.  Despite these drawbacks I recommend the book to anyone studying Genesis 11-25.