Bible commentaries - which are best?

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Is the Matthew Henry Bible Commentary a good resource for help in understanding scripture? Are there any caveats to be aware of??

[Neil D]

When I was in College, for bible class, we had to compare various bible commentarys...and there were several that were made available to us...

I looked at Clarke's commentary and was ammazed at how similar it was to the SDA Bible commentary....Someone else did one of the Catholic commentary's on various bible texts....all of which had many similar comments on the non-contreversail texts . Of course, most of the commentarys that were available to us were written in the late 1850 or later. I am not familiar with the current ones in use, ie written in 1950 or later...

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

I don't have access to an Adventist commentary....I'd like a set, but they're kind of spendy.

The Matthew Henry commentary was written between 1708 and 1710. It seems to be one of the most common referred to by people.

I have a Commentary (Hexapla) on the book of Romans published in 1611...it's way too scholastic for me though.

[there buster]

An amazing amount of information about the Bible has been discovered in the last 50 years or so. Even the SDA Commentary is badly out of date.

For a time, the denomination began producing the "Bible Amplifier" series, where scholars would take on one particular book.

The ones I have are outstanding.

[Kevin H]

Journals are more up to date than commentaries. You can also learn a lot by studying the word studies in Strong Concordance with like the Theological Word Book of the Old Testament, and learning the history and geography in John Bright's "A History of Israel" Ahroni's " The Land of the Bible" and "The MacMillian Bible Atlas" These books will to a wonderful job in giving you the knowlege to understand commentaries and even write your own.

When a commentary is written it is usually 30 years out of date.

Realizing these weeknesses there are 4 commentaries I like, one more liberal: The Interpeter's Bible, One more conservative: The New International Commentary of the Old and New Testaments, and two moderate, one moderate but with conservative leanings, the SDABC, the other moderate but a little left leaning (although the authors are a broad spectrum so individual voulumes may be conservative, liberal or moderate either left or right, but mostly moderate) the Anchor Bible. These four usually dance around the truth someplace in the middle.

Although the SDABC is cutting edge for the 1930s, the articles are outstanding and are well worth reading.

[Kevin H]

Oh yes, the Bible Amplifier is also fantastic. Sadly they did not sell well. Also another fantastic book that the church paid a lot for but is sadly out of print is "The Sanctuary and the Atonement" by the Biblical Research Committee. The original 1981 yellow cover is fantastic. If you can get it do. The blue cover abridged re-print has so much of the good stuff edited out so don't bother with it.

Some other books you will find useful: Anything by Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heshel, especially "The Prophets" a fantastic commentary on the prophets. There is a very small book on the 23rd psalm for only a couple of dollars by Dr. Herr, one of our professors at a college in Canada. (the only short coming is that he does not come right out and point out that the phrase "Thou prepariest a table before me in the pressence of my enemies" means forgiveness and reconcilliation. What is interesting is that he almost says it, he builds a case then the section suddenly ends. I wonder if he did say it but the printer lost the punchline)

There is also the books: Prophets are People too by Leo VanDol... (oops, can't remember the rest of the spelling of his last name) and "Out of the Cities Across the Plains" and "The World of Moses" by Paul Bork. These were childrens books from the 1960s and 70s, but are full of deep Bible study. Get a hold of them (and pray for their reprint)

Oh, another fantastic book that should be on your must read list (especially if you want to understand Bible Prophecy and the Investigative Judgment) is "Before Philosophy" 1946 University of Chicago Press by Henri Frankfort and others. Another book that I don't know if I can recommend as strongly as "before Philosophy" but touching on some similar theams is "The Myth of the Eternal Return" by M. Elade. As you understand the cycles in these books the Bible prophecy will open up before you like you would not believe.

I hope this helps

[Kevin H]

PS: I've been recommending these books over a number of years, I'm wondering if anyone has read any of these and your comments from reading them... Thank you

[Gerr]

I have 3 or 4 vol of the Bible Amplifier series. The exposition is good, but I don't like the format.

Gerry

[Gerr]

SDABC cutting edge for the 1930's? I thought they were produced sometime in the 1950's?

Gerry

[Gerr]

The SDA Commentary can be had for a very reasonable price if you get the CD format. Throw in a few $$ more and you can have all the writings of EGW with it, plus some other good resource books, including an award-winning book on how to study the Bible by Lee (can't remember his last name), who used to be a minister in another denomination but became SDA. BTW, the award was not given by SDAs, it was given by a Christian organization.

Gerry

[Stan]

I was at the award ceremony with Lee Gugliotto. It was at Anaheim. The table next to us was Philip Yancy and he received a similar award for "The Jesus I never knew".

Here is the book.

http://adventistbookcenter.com/Detail.tpl?sku=0828014612

Lee was a Presbyterian Minister before accepting the advent message.

He has consented to be interviewed here, if someone would be interested in doing so.

[Stan]

I was at the award ceremony with Lee Gugliotto. It was at Anaheim. The table next to us was Philip Yancy and he received a similar award for "The Jesus I never knew".

Here is the book.

http://adventistbookcenter.com/Detail.tpl?sku=0828014612

Lee was a Presbyterian Minister before accepting the advent message.

He has consented to be interviewed here, if someone would be interested in doing so.

Here is his website http://www.biblestudyinstitute.org/

[David Koot]

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SDABC cutting edge for the 1930's? I thought they were produced sometime in the 1950's?

Gerry

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They were indeed published in the 50's. As for being available at a very reasonable price on CD . . . what are talking about? Last time I checked (a few years back) the price tag was somewhere in the hundreds.

Dave

[Jeannieb43]

Leo Van Dolson, and Paul Bork. Thanks for suggesting their books, Kevin. I knew both of those men, casually, years ago. Didn't know those books were actually written for children. (In fact, I hadn't heard of either of the books.) I'd like to pick up copies now, for my grandkids. Wonder if they're available anywhere. I'll look on a used books website.

I agree about the SDA Bible Commentary. It was produced in the '50s -- and one or two volumes didn't come out till the '60s. I'd say they're priceless. The articles were written by outstanding theologians, each of whom was an expert in the particular book of the Bible assigned to him. The only problem is that the principal authors' names were omitted. I think that's tragic. [Even the truly great Encyclopedia Brittannica shows the authors' names--or initials--on each of its entries.]

[Jeannieb43]

Pam, My input would be that reading the Bible in several modern translations would be a great beginning. Studying the Bible commentaries helps, too. But I've found by just reading a passage in modern language, I get a lot more out of it than by just reading the King James Version.

Some of the ones I like are the New King James Version, the New Living Translation, the New English Bible, and the New International Version. If you put each of these side by side, it's so enlightening.

I believe a good Christian bookstore might even carry one single volume containing four or five side-by-side translations. I have one entitled "The New Testament in Four Versions." It has every passage printed side-by-side on the page, showing KJV, RSV [Revised Standard Version], Phillips Translation, and NEB [New English Bible]. At the time this volume was printed, the NIV and NKJV hadn't yet come out.

One thing I enjoyed was reading Christ's parables in each of the four versions. Also the historical life of Christ -- some of the gospel writers omit certain events.

Which brings me to another volume I like: "A HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS For Students of the Life of Christ," first compiled by Broadus and later by Robertson. This volume contains side-by-side columns showing each event in Christ's life as it was portrayed in each of the four gospels. (Many events are found in only three or two of the gospels.) It's great fun to explore, thinking of how much each of the gospel writers knew of the actual life of Christ.

Happy studying!

[Kevin H]

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SDABC cutting edge for the 1930's? I thought they were produced sometime in the 1950's?

Gerry

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Oops, I made this post earlier today, but did not find it when I got back.

It takes a long time for commentaries to get written and they tend to usually go for more established material. The new information tends to be debated in journals for a number of years before a writer incorporates it in a commentary. Thus it has been stated in different Bible classes in college, the Seminary, lectures in churches for lay members on Bible study and articles I've read is that the general rule of thumb is to consider commentaries to already be 20 to 30 years out of date when they are printed.

This is not hard to believe. Probably about 75-80% of the information in my posts are reflections on what was pointed out in classes from AUC and the Seminary (and Jim Fleming's class) from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The rest is newer (but I'm not working in the field, I'm trying to keep up with the mental health nursing field, so my Biblical studies are not keeping up with most new research, only coming across it from time to time.)

But when you consider that most Adventists are still at the repeating and finding new ways of wording (and new photos) to go with evangelistic meetings of the 1920s and 1930s, or the 1800s, and that most other Christians are in the same time frame, and that many in the evangelical movement believe that Biblical knowlege ended with Luther, so they are stuck back in the 1500s. So to get up to date with where the Commentary is would be a giant step forward. Much of our evangelistic series, say studies in Daniel, are lagging decades behind of what the ultra conservative Adventist Theological was teaching in the 1980s.

But again, any Bible commentary written in the 1950s is pretty much the knowlege of up to the 1920s or 30s, and the SDABC was one of the more advanced and is cutting edge of the 1930s. It was too early to include much than make a brief speculation on the potential of what they could learn from Dead Sea Scrolls or the discovries of digs by people such as Yaden and even what the contirbuters themselves, such as Sigred Horn was in the process of discovering.

I did not mean it to be an insult to the commentary, just the general rule of thumb. As I said, when it comes to commentaries my three favorites that I love using are the SDABC, Anchor Bible, Interpeters and New International Commentaries and assume that they end up dancing around the truth. These 4 commentaries are outstanding and I found them, for myself, outshineing any other commentary series I've read or tried to read. These are the 4 that I jump to if I want to look into something.

In a college class on tools for Bible studies, the teacher had a group of Bible Study tools up front and invited us to pick out where we wanted to start. I stupidly fell in with some of my classmates in running to the commentaries. I like what I ended up learning in that class and other classes that the steps are:

1. Read the text itself in different translations.

2. Learning how to use Strongs.

3. Learn how to use Strongs with word studies such as the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. (And if you can also leran about journal articles that look at the lattest discoveries on what words mean as even the wordbooks are dated)

4. Read the three books: John Bright's a History of Israel, Aharoni's "The Land of the Bible" and "The MacMillian Bible Atlas" (after reading these books you could teach a college level course in Biblical Studies)

5. Read Abraham Joshua Heshel's "The Prophets" and Henri Frankfort's "Before Philosophy" (and Elaide's book "The Myth of the eternal return" would also be useful)

Then with this background you can start to use and be critical readers of journals and commentries, and they will make more sence. And of course journals are more cutting edge than commentaries.

I like to recommend the books by Bork, VanDolson's "Prophets are people too" Herr's book on the 23rd Psalm and Fleming's works as they have clearly read most if not all the above and give deep Biblical studies written on a children's level (or for Fleming, a level that children should be able to understand although more geered for the lay adult).

I hope you find these useful.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

I've acquired a number of Bible translations...I think the Bible I like best so far is a NIV one with archeological insights on scripture - the name of it is the "Archeological Study Bible" (duh...)

I was asking about commentaries, though, because it just seemed like it would help so much to have something besides different translations to try and figure out what something meant. Some things are very clear....but other things - oy vey!!! []http://img.inkfrog.com/pix/Rudywoofs/headscratch.gif[/]

[Pockey]

I hear you. These are not bible commentaries, but the Conflict of Ages series by EG White clears up a lot of questions and confusion I have when I read the Bible.

For example, reading about Jacob and Esau, I was thinking, "wow, Jacob lied to Esau yet God still blessed him." But in Patriarchs and Prophets, EGW goes into detail about Jacob's thoughts, his sorrow for his sin, and the consequences he had to deal with as a result of his sin. The Conflict of Ages series are quite a magnifying glass to accompany the Bible.

[Gerr]

I don't have the Interpreter's Bible or the Anchor Bible that Kevin mentions, but of the one's I have, I find the SDABC & EGW's commentary to be superior. Matthew Henry is also excellent, just too verbose.

If you know how to use Strong, as Kevin suggested, you will learn more for yourself what the passage is really saying by seeing what range of meanings the original words had rather than getting it second hand.

Gerry

[Robert]

John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth....

I like that commentary!

Rob

[Kevin H]

Yes indeed Robert, however we need to be willing to use what the Holy Spirit has given us to lead us into truth. Sadly too many people have an attitude towards the work of the Holy Spirit which could be compaired to a family who has a thriving garden and orchard in their back yard, but instead of plucking the fruits, and vegies and preparing meals, they let the garden rot as they sit around the table with empty plates praying for God to put food on their tables.

We can either approach the words of scripture with the information given that was part of everyday life for the original readers and listeners, but is lost to us were it not for these discoveries over the past century and a half, or we can approach the words with our imagination instead.

If we approach with our imagination only, our imagiation tends to take control, and sadly I believe that it ends up fitting Mrs. White's discription of Spiritualism.

But if we approach with the re-discovery of the ancient world, I believe that we are enjoying the second compartment ministry of Jesus and that the ability to investigate the pages of scripture as we have not been able to do since soon after the scriptures were written and we lost that culture, that this investigation is the heart of the Investigative Judgment.

[Gerr]

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John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth....

I like that commentary!

Rob

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[:"blue"]How do you know whether the spirit that is giving you a commentary is from above or below? [/]

Gerry

[Robert]

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John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth....

I like that commentary!

Rob

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[:"blue"]How do you know whether the spirit that is giving you a commentary is from above or below? [/]

Gerry

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1 John 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; and this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

[Gerr]

Satan and his angels witnessed the birth of Christ, so don't you think they also believe that He came in the flesh?

Gerry

[Kevin H]

Here is an example of looking at historical context and principles. John was refering to people who believed that Jesus was divine and thus only had the apperence of being human but did not really come in the flesh. Today we have the DivinciCode which says that Jesus came in the flesh and leaves him flesh and makes him other than that holy thing. Dispite the criticiziams, and yes, well deserved criticisms we may have of the Passion, that was still a work of someone standing up and sharing their faith, and the DivinciCode is how Satan is trying to fight back at the Passion. And in relation to this thread it shows us the differnce between looking at the words and looking at words and historical context to apply the principles to our life today.