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The Literary Structure of the Old Testament: A Commentary on Genesis-Malachi
Dorsey proceeds book-by-book through the entire Old Testament, identifying the structure and offering commentary as to how it clarifies the text's meaning. He illuminates the "big picture" of each book, providing a framework for further study.
"This book will become a standard reference tool for all serious students of the Bible."--Temper Longman III, Westmont College
"This book will become a standard reference tool for all serious students of the Bible."--Temper Longman III, Westmont College
330 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1999
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 29, 2021
Dorsey, David. The Literary Structure of the Old Testament: A Commentary on Genesis-Malachi. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1999.
This is the most important book I own on the Old Testament. It might be one of the most important books written on the Old Testament in the 20th century. Had mainline Protestantism been aware of Dorsey’s analysis, the critical theories of the Old Testament would have been killed on arrival.
Chiasms are inevitable. Whether Dorsey is reading them into the text, or whether they are there naturally (or probably both), the point is they are there. Once you see them, you can’t ignore them. And given the economy of space in ancient writing, it’s almost a given that the author (indirectly God) was using chiasms. In any case, it is no more forced than the conservative preacher’s reducing every text in the Bible to “3 points and a poem.”
A modern speaker says something like, “I am moving on to point #2.” An ancient man didn’t have enough room on the stone tablet to say something like that. He had to construct the second point from within the structure itself. Chiasms do not have to make the beautiful X. They can also run in parallel (a-b-c-a’-b’c’). This book, however, will focus mainly on symmetrical patterns.
Within a symmetrical pattern we should look for the “pivot” point. It is the “d” in an a-b-c-d-c’-b’-a’ (or some variant) structure. It will probably be the main point of the text. Dorsey gives an example from Babel (Dorsey 53).
a. Introduction. All the earth had one language (11:1)
B. people settle together
C. Resolution by the people (come, haba)
D. Yahweh discovers the plot (11:5)
C’ Resolution of Yahweh (come, haba)
B’ People disperse
A’ All the earth now has many languages (11:9).
This was fairly easy and few could dispute it. Others not so much, but that’s probably the nature of the case. It will be too difficult (but no doubt worthwhile) to reproduce by hand all the outlines. I will use my smartphone instead.
The payoff for this approach is that it shows that ancient man would have written with a coherent plan in place. If that is so, then there is no reason to accept the Documentary Hypothesis.
This is the most important book I own on the Old Testament. It might be one of the most important books written on the Old Testament in the 20th century. Had mainline Protestantism been aware of Dorsey’s analysis, the critical theories of the Old Testament would have been killed on arrival.
Chiasms are inevitable. Whether Dorsey is reading them into the text, or whether they are there naturally (or probably both), the point is they are there. Once you see them, you can’t ignore them. And given the economy of space in ancient writing, it’s almost a given that the author (indirectly God) was using chiasms. In any case, it is no more forced than the conservative preacher’s reducing every text in the Bible to “3 points and a poem.”
A modern speaker says something like, “I am moving on to point #2.” An ancient man didn’t have enough room on the stone tablet to say something like that. He had to construct the second point from within the structure itself. Chiasms do not have to make the beautiful X. They can also run in parallel (a-b-c-a’-b’c’). This book, however, will focus mainly on symmetrical patterns.
Within a symmetrical pattern we should look for the “pivot” point. It is the “d” in an a-b-c-d-c’-b’-a’ (or some variant) structure. It will probably be the main point of the text. Dorsey gives an example from Babel (Dorsey 53).
a. Introduction. All the earth had one language (11:1)
B. people settle together
C. Resolution by the people (come, haba)
D. Yahweh discovers the plot (11:5)
C’ Resolution of Yahweh (come, haba)
B’ People disperse
A’ All the earth now has many languages (11:9).
This was fairly easy and few could dispute it. Others not so much, but that’s probably the nature of the case. It will be too difficult (but no doubt worthwhile) to reproduce by hand all the outlines. I will use my smartphone instead.
The payoff for this approach is that it shows that ancient man would have written with a coherent plan in place. If that is so, then there is no reason to accept the Documentary Hypothesis.
April 27, 2016
Dorsey is an immensely helpful introduction to Old Testament structures and literary devices. I'll always turn to this when beginning a study of an OT text.
May 21, 2022
I confess I have not read through this book cover to cover. However, I have used this book enough for various papers and studies to know its immense value and unique contribution to the field of Old Testament studies. One of the biggest things I have come to love and appreciate during my time in seminary - so much so that I am writing my ThM thesis on this subject - is the importance of grasping the literary structure of a biblical text. Dorsey's work seeks to do precisely that. Even if one may not agree entirely with every one of his proposals, this fine reference text should be on the bookshelf of every serious student of the Bible.
November 26, 2008
I haven't read this book cover to cover, but I have read enough to know it is an indispensable tool for Old Testament study.
Dorsey analyzes each book of the OT except the Psalms (He looks at about forty of them) He focuses on the literary structure of the books. Biblical authors organized their thoughts in written from differently than we do today. We have introductions, table of contents, chapter headings, special punctuation, etc... They used repeated words, parallel structures, chiasms, and other literary devices to communicate there messages. The modern reader will miss many of these without understanding the writing techniques of the Biblical times. Dorsey's contribution is a huge help to Biblical scholars and laymen alike.
Dorsey analyzes each book of the OT except the Psalms (He looks at about forty of them) He focuses on the literary structure of the books. Biblical authors organized their thoughts in written from differently than we do today. We have introductions, table of contents, chapter headings, special punctuation, etc... They used repeated words, parallel structures, chiasms, and other literary devices to communicate there messages. The modern reader will miss many of these without understanding the writing techniques of the Biblical times. Dorsey's contribution is a huge help to Biblical scholars and laymen alike.
September 1, 2009
I am slowly reading this commentary as I study OT books. Dorsey does a tremendous job explaining how literary structure is important to help us understand the author's meaning of OT books. He then demonstrates this fact by giving outlines with commentary for every OT book. This is so good that I now keep it on my desk perpetually to reference whenever I'm studying an OT book. Can't recommend it any more highly.
April 4, 2022
Great reference for OT Bible Studies.
April 21, 2025
An incredibly helpful resource.
February 20, 2026
Very good book. Excellent insights into how OT texts are structured. However it now needs to be updated and some of the analyses tidied up.
February 16, 2017
Dorsey analyzes the structure of each book of the Old Testament. The most interesting was his structural analysis of the Torah (and he includes Joshua) as a whole. This is a helpful reference work which I surely will return to often.
August 14, 2009
Outstanding resource for understanding the structure of OT books.
May 30, 2016
A resource I continue to use
September 11, 2016
This book was written by my favorite seminary professor, who recently passed away.
October 17, 2012
Solid, reliable resource for outlines of the OT books.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews