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.

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Review: Severe Compassion

Gregory D. Cook. Severe Compassion: The Gospel According to Nahum.  Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, April 29th 2016. 288 pp.

5 out of 5

Purchase: Westminster |Amazon

How many people have read the book of Nahum in the Bible?  For believers we can’t just dismiss it as an irrelevant book from the past since it is God’s Word for us today.  Yet readers will no doubt have questions since we are quite removed from the historical context.  A good help in understanding the book of Nahum would be this Bible commentary.

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Review: Ruth by Daniel Block

First Christian book finished for 2020!  And finished it yesterday while waiting at the Courthouse pending for Jury Duty.

Daniel Block.  Ruth.  Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, December 15th 2015. 308 pp.

5 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

This is the best technical commentary on the book of Ruth I would recommend.  If you read the book of Ruth in the Bible it is only four chapters and yet this commentary is 271 pages long (308 pages if you go by what the publishers say), filled with insights properly extrapolated from God’s Word that is exegetical in nature; that is, it is filled with grammatical and syntactical observation from the Hebrew text along with word study and exploration of a passage’s intertextuality.  An aspect of this commentary that makes it unique is the author’s use of discourse analysis.  There are many things readers will learn from God’s Word here and I was blown away with what I discover in this book that led me to worship God and Christ more!  While I have in the past enjoyed other titles in the Zondervan Old Testament Exegetical Commentary Series this one would be one that I would highly recommend.

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Review: Slogging Along in the Paths of Righteousness: Psalms 13-24

 

Dale Ralph Davis. Slogging Along in the Paths of Righteousness: Psalms 13-24.  Ross-Shire, UK: Christian Focus Publications, March 20, 2016. 192 pp.

4 out of 5

Purchase: Westminster | Amazon

Are you looking for a devotional commentary on selected Psalms?  Here is a work covering Psalm 13 through 24 written by Dale Ralph Davis, a Pastor and Professor of the Old Testament with Reformed Theological Seminary at Jackson, Mississippi.  The book is under two hundred pages covering twelves Psalms which makes it manageable in size in terms of one chapter per Psalm that can be read in one sitting.

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Review: God in Everday Life: The Book of Ruth for Expositors and Biblical Counselors

 

Brad Brandt and Eric Kress. God in Everday Life: The Book of Ruth for Expositors and Biblical Counselors.  Woodlands, TX: Kress Christian Publications, September 27th 2007. 187 pp.

4 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

Are you looking for a commentary on the book of Ruth that helps you not only with exegetical insight into the text but also connect to application for daily life?  This commentary is one you must have in your library!  The subtitle of the book says this is “for Expositors and Biblical Counselors.”  Reading this I can definitely see the authors’ attempt to gear this for expository preachers and Biblical counselors.  This is my first time reading a commentary that is expositional in nature that is also designed for biblical counseling.  I used this book as a resource for my preaching through the book of Ruth and after finishing this book I must say I was impressed.

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Review: Christ in Genesis

This is a book by one of our own WordPress blogger.

 

Steven Teske. Christ in Genesis.  North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, March 6, 2017. 120 pp.

5 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

Does the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible point us towards Christ?  Here in this book the author Steven Teske shows us how in the very first book of the Bible the Savior of sinners can be found in its pages.

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The Trinity in Jewish and Christian Scriptures Series by Anthony Rogers

Note: I was working on a book review late last night but one of my daughter was really sick so I couldn’t finish the review.  I thought I share these helpful videos by Christian apologist Anthony Rogers.

The Doctrine of the Trinity is foundational to Christian thought.  Christian Anthony Rogers begins his series on the Trinity in Jewish and Christian Scripture with an introduction, then discusses the Trinitarian implication of Genesis 1:26, followed by a response to two objections.  These two objections are: (1) The text is using the “plural of majesty”; and (2) the text is including angels as co-creators with God.  After that Roger discusses the Trinitarian implications of Genesis 19:24 which teaches there are Two Divine Persons.  Finally there’s a discussion of the divine “Angel” of the Lord in the book of Genesis.  All of this is just from the book of Genesis!  This is a well done series.

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Review: Exegetical Gems from Biblical Hebrew

 

H.H. Hardy II. Exegetical Gems from Biblical Hebrew. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, July 16th 2019. 224 pp.

4 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

The publisher have said of this book that it is “perfect for students looking to apply their Hebrew and for past students who wish to review the essentials of Hebrew grammar.”   But before you dismiss that this book is something you can overlook because you don’t know Biblical Hebrew consider the possibility that this makes a great gift (Birthday, graduation, Christmas, etc) for someone you know in seminary, ministry and those who teach God’s Word and want to learn Hebrew or do use Hebrew regularly for teaching and preaching!

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Review: The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament

Eugene H. Merrill, Mark Rooker and Michael A. Grisanti.  The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, June 15th 2011. 560 pp.

5 out of 5

Purchase: Amazon

How well do you know the Old Testament?  If you are like most Christians you can improve on your knowledge of the Old Testament.  In this book The World and the Word: An Introduction to the Old Testament three Old Testament scholars collaborated to write a helpful textbook on the Old Testament.  Together these scholars have a combined experience of decades if not even a century worth of research, teaching and writing on the subject of Old Testament.  Readers will greatly benefit from reading this title.

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Audio Series: We can know the words of the Old Testament

Textual Criticism is the art and science of studying ancient manuscripts to find out what the text says from what the author first wrote a book, be it the Bible or other ancient writings.

For Christians textual Criticism is an important field both to know what God’s Word says and also as an apologetic.

There’s a lot of materials out there on the New Testament Textual Criticism, both in terms of books and internet resources.

There’s less for the Old Testament.

So below I have links to a three part audio series on MP3 on why we can know the words of the Old Testament are from the human authors (that is, it wasn’t changed).  Check it out!

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We can know the words of the Old Testament: Table of Contents

Back in July we did a three part outline series on how “We can know the words of the Old Testament.”  There’s a total of 13 reasons given of why we can know and reconstruct what’s the content of the Old Testament.

The response to these posts have been overwhelming in terms of views and comments and feedback.

Since it is such an important topic I thought I make a post with a table of contents to them.

Here’s the table of contents:

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We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 3

We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 3

Review: Last two lessons we saw a total of nine reasons why we can know the original words of the Old Testament

• Reason #1: God’s Word says the Word of God will endure forever
• Reason #2: The Old Testament was written down.
• Reason #3: Temple officials were intentional in checking the manuscripts
• Reason #4: Masora Finalis
• Reason #5: Jesus affirms the words of the Scriptures will endure
• Reason #6: Masora Parva
• Reason #7: Dead Sea Scroll
• Reason #8: Oldest Hebrew Witness
• Reason #9: Other language translations

Purpose: In this session we shall consider more reasons why we can believe why we can know the actual words of the Old Testament so that we will have faith in God’s Word being God’s Word.

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Survey of Minor Prophets Outline Series

It’s a shame that the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament is often neglected and ignored.

Here’s our series of outlines surveying the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament.

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We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 2

We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 2

Review: Last week we saw four reasons why we can know the original words of the Old Testament

1. 1. Reason #1: God’s Word says the Word of God will endure forever
   2. Reason #2: The Old Testament was written down.
   3. Reason #3: Temple officials were intentional in checking the manuscripts
   4. Reason #4: Masora Finalis

Purpose: In this session we shall consider more reasons why we can believe why we can know the actual words of the Old Testament so that we will have faith in God’s Word being God’s Word.

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We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 1

We can know the words of the Old Testament Part 1

Establish the need: Have you hear people say things like the Bible that has existed for thousands of years and you can’t believe the words as coming from God since it has been changed over time?

Purpose: In this session we shall consider definitions and then reasons why we can believe why we can know the actual words of the Old Testament so that we will have faith in God’s Word being God’s Word.

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