Ezra/Nehemiah

Word Biblical Commentary #16

by H.G.M. Williamson

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship.

Genres: Christian, Reference, Biblical Studies, Religion, Theology

476 pages, Hardcover

First published July 27, 1985

About the author

H. G. M. Williamson was Regius Professor of Hebrew at Oxford University. His expertise in the texts of the Old Testament is complemented by his active participation in the archaeology of the Biblical period in the Holy Land.

Reviews

[Peter]

I read this alongside Kidner and Fensham's considerably more conservative commentaries; Williamson, while on the conservative end of critical, accepts far more of the nonsense about development of Torah (say) than they do. The "Form/Structure/Setting" part of the commentary I found almost inexpressibly tedious, and the "Explanation" rather light.

On the other hand, I came away appreciating it more than I expected to. The "Comment" section yielded several valuable nuggets that I didn't get from the other two commentaries. And while I differ enormously with Williamson on prolegomena, I ended up rather liking the man.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read the introduction and the commentary on a couple of the first few chapters. Quite frequently both in the introduction and in the commentary discussions of redaction criticism take a large portion of the space and important questions about the text itself are left unanswered. I also feel that the author makes questions of the redaction of Ezra/Nehemiah unnecessarily complicated, perhaps especially in discussing how the Nehemiah memoir was edited to reach its final form. There has clearly been a degree of editing, but I the book takes relatively simple questions about the process and convolutes them, seemingly in the process becoming distracted from answering questions about the final version of the text. Besides, the WBC is notorious for its horrible format. Out of respect for the series it will collect dust in my bookshelf until my children divide up their inheritance and discard it.

[Comfort Akon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rigorous and textually detailed contribution to the Word Biblical Commentary series, this volume offers careful linguistic, structural, and theological analysis of Ezra and Nehemiah. Williamson’s scholarship reflects academic precision while remaining deeply anchored in biblical theology. An essential resource for pastors, seminary students, and scholars seeking a historically and exegetically grounded study of these post-exilic books.

[Bradley Somers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Commentary flows in three parts- Technical, verse by verse and explanation. Technical focus is kept to the necessary. Vs by vs comments are concise and stays within the historical context. Explanation is well done and considers the greater redemptive historical work of God with his people is considered.

[B.G. Brainard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the easiest commentary to read, but does has nuggets for the post-exilic scholar, minister, and lay person wanting to learn more about an obscure period of time in Israel's history. The author has certainly presented a multitude of positions on almost every subject addressed, but more practical application would have been nice.

[Leviticus Ferris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This commentary series is only good for it's bibliography