Name: New Interpreter's Bible: 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Tobit, Judith
Rating: 4.27 (2 reviews)
ISBN: 9780687278169

Fred Kohn

1,473 reviews27 followers

April 14, 2026

*The New Interpreter’s Bible is a massive twelve volume commentary on the entire Bible including the Apocrypha. This particular volume, which is not the largest, is 1216 pages. I read one of the volumes in this set straight through about a year ago. So maybe if I read a volume a year I can read them all before I die?

My impetus for tackling this volume was the desire to read the commentary on Esther in order to in investigate claims that in Esther the term "Jew" is synonymous with "Israelite," which indeed does seem to be the case. Sidnie White Crawford, the author of the commentary on Esther, claims that this is the case, although she doesn’t explain why to the degree that I would have liked. Indeed, that is often the case in these shorter commentaries. One incident that I found confusing was when Solomon executes his brother Adonijah for asking to marry Abishag. Commentator Choon-Leong Chow only says that this was a ploy to usurp the throne, but doesn’t explain why. I had to consult the entry on Abishag in my Bible dictionary to find the reason.

In general I wasn’t a big fan of Choon-Leong Chow's commentary on Kings, although I thought the commentary on the story of Solomon and the two prostitutes and their children was excellent. The introduction to Kings was far shorter than the other introductions in this volume, which I didn’t find to be a point in its favor. Generally speaking, I enjoyed Chow's reflections more than his commentaries.

I enjoyed Leslie C. Allen's commentary on Chronicles more than Chow’s commentary, even though Chronicles, for me, is a drier book than Kings. I found Allen’s commentary more helpful than the shorter commentary in The Oxford Bible Commentary (a 1386 page commentary on the entire Bible plus Apocrypha that I am reading in tandem with The New Oxford Annotated Bible), although I actually enjoyed The Oxford Bible Commentary's article on Kings more than Chow's commentary.

Two points of notice on Chronicles are worth mentioning. I enjoyed the point that the prayer of Jabez is based on a pun on his name: Jabez sounds like the Hebrew for "pain". There was a popular book published some years ago called *The Prayer of Jabez*. I ignored it at the time it was published, but I think I’ll read it to see if the author mentions this point.

The other (somewhat amusing) point was that years ago I noticed the similarity of names between Heman the Ezrahite and He-man, the animated superhero that my kids used to watch. This was the only reason I knew this biblical character's name. But he plays more than a run-of-the-mill role in the two books of Chronicles. He also is credited with writing Psalm 88.

I enjoyed the reflections on Kings more than the reflections on Chronicles. Allen in his reflections on Chronicles made several references to New Testament passages, which I suppose is to be expected in a commentary aimed at Christians, who by and large see the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament as complementary parts of an integrated whole. I suppose this would also be helpful to pastors looking for sermon material (has Allen served a dual role as pastor and scholar?) But I, as an unbeliever, try to respect the Hebrew Bible as the voice of a people not necessarily sympathetic to Christian ideals. I also found the comment that Galatians 3.28 calls for men and women to be treated equally by others rather ironic in view of what Paul says about the role of men and women elsewhere.

The commentary on Judith was one of my favorites. I especially enjoyed the footnotes, which often referenced scholarly sources. I didn’t actually consult any of these sources, but I did appreciate the care with which they were written. I don’t anticipating having the need to revisit the book of Judith, but it’s good to know that I have such an excellent resource in my library if I do.

I didn’t intend to read the commentary on Tobit, since I had read it about a year ago. But I decided to reread it, mainly in order to compare the New American Bible translation to the more literal NSRV. The NSRV has been my go to translation for years, but in reading the *New Interpreter’s Bible* commentary, I found that my comprehension was better reading a less literal translation like the NIV. It turns out I like the NAB just fine. Currently I am reading through the NRSV, but the next time I read through the Bible, I will read through the NAB. I found a 1970 version on Abebooks for about five bucks. There is an updated version of the NAB, but since it is more literal, I am assuming the 1970 version is more readable.

I can’t believe that as a music lover I didn’t catch the reference to the folk legend of The Grateful Dead/The Monster in the Bridal Chamber in this commentary the first time I read it. It turns out that this is the origin of the band name of The Grateful Dead. Also the first time around I didn’t catch the reference to the Golden Rule in Tobit 4.15. There are many little gems in the apocryphal/deuterocanonical books which is another reason to get the NAB which includes the deuterocanonical books, as opposed to the NIV which does not.

The NAS rendering of λευκώματα in text of Tobit as "cataracts" caught my eye because I was used to the "white films" of the NRSV. Neither of these seems to be a particularly literal translation of λευκώματα, which literally means "white things," although the NRSV is closer.

It turns out that there is a longer and shorter recension of Tobit and this verse is somewhat different in each. The shorter recension reads: σὺ ἔγχρισον τὴν χολὴν εἰς τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς αὐτοῦ, καὶ δηχθεὶς διατρίψει καὶ ἀποβαλεῖται τὰ λευκώματα καὶ ὄψεταί σε (Codex Vaticanus?), and Brenton translates: "Therefore anoint thou his eyes with the gall, and being pricked therewith, he shall rub, and the whiteness shall fall away, and he shall see thee (11.7)." This translation is identical to the King James Version, except in the KJV it is v 8.

The longer recension: ενπλασον την χολην του ϊχθυος εις τους οφθαλμους αυτου και αποστυψει το φαρμακον και απολεπισει τα λευκωματα απο των οφθαλμων αυτου και αναβλεψει ο πατηρ σου και οψεται το φως (Codex Sinaiticus).

"Smear the fish gall on them. This medicine will make the cataracts shrink and peel off from his eyes; then your father will be able to see the light of day (NAB 11.8)."

The NAB's "cataracts" is more idiomatic English I think than the NRSV's "white films" or Bretton's "whiteness", but seems to be less accurate. After digging around, I discovered what the text is likely referring to is a condition called corneal opacity, which is not cataracts. And, strangely, superficial corneal opacities can be peeled off with a surface treatment such as described in Tobit, but the serious condition described in Tobit would have to treated surgically in the modern day.

A feature I found interesting in Tobit is that the book describes a thriving Jewish community in exile in Nineveh from the northern kingdom of Israel. This is contrary to the common wisdom that the ten northern tribes were "lost," that is, they lost their Jewish identity and were absorbed into the Assyrian kingdom. The book of Esther also seems to assume the existence of Jews throughout the Persian kingdom, which included the former Assyrian kingdom. Esther and Tobit are fiction, but it interesting to note that there is a robust biblical tradition which states that the northern tribes maintained their identity in exile.

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The New Interpreter's Bible Commentary - 12 Volume Set #3

New Interpreter's Bible: 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Tobit, Judith

Ralph W. Klein, Mount St Scholastica, Leslie Allen

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