The Minor Prophets

A Welcome Addition - Chris Moore, The Good Book Stall

This heavyweight commentary provides a thorough, evangelical, commentary running to almost 1400 pages. This 2009 edition combines three earlier versions published in the early 1990s and, as a result, the bibliographies are in need of updating as well as the discussion. This is not the book to find current narrative or literary approaches to the text. Each section of the text is introduced by the translation from the NRSV alongside the author's own. There then follows the commentary on the text, for which the pages are split into two. The top half deals with the exegesis and textual issues. Although there is interaction with the Hebrew text, translations are given and this should not put off those who have not mastered the language. The bottom half of each page contains the exposition, which reflects the evangelical standpoint of the authors, and is more accessible than the exegetical section. It should provide the preacher or Bible study leader with ample information. As you would expect in any compilation of commentaries, the number of pages given to each of the books varies and the reader might find some sections shorter than they would like. Similarly, a reader will inevitably take to the style and theology of one commentator over the other. That said the book will be a welcome addition to any considering an under explored part of the Bible, even if it is somewhat dated.