Genesis: An Expositional Commentary, Vol. 1: Genesis 1-11

Genesis Expositional Commentary

by James Montgomery Boice

A newly repackaged edition of a classic commentary from James Montgomery Boice. The first of three volumes, Creation and Fall discusses the first eleven chapters on the book of Genesis.

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

464 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

James Montgomery Boice was a Reformed theologian, Bible teacher, and pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia from 1968 until his death in 2000. He was also president and cofounder of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, the parent organization of The Bible Study Hour on which Boice was a speaker for more than thirty years.

Reviews

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Are you studying through the book of Genesis and wish you can understand more of what you read? A book that would be helpful is this title. The book is an expository commentary, which is between a devotional and heavier exegetical Bible commentary. It was written by the late preacher James Montgomery Boice and covers first eleven chapters of Genesis. Overall I enjoyed this and learned a lot of new things from the book of Genesis as the result of reading the Scripture in conjunction with this commentary as a learning tool.
This four hundred plus page commentary had sixty chapters of biblical insights. Boice’s preacher side definitely comes out in the book with his illustrations, analogies, applications and exhortation based upon the text of God’s Word. Yet some times the chapters can be topical rather than verse by verse but when Boice does that often time it is for an important reason.
Some of the new things I learn from the book include the significance of the meaning of the name “Methuselah” which have a meaning in Hebrew of “he dies, a sending forth” (292). That is, the idea is that when Methuselah dies, the flood shall come. And from the way Boice figured out the timeline from the dating of people’s birth and death in the genealogy, it turned out that’s what happened with Methuselah and the Noahic flood. I really enjoyed the chapters related to Noah and the Flood. This book really helped me to understand the timing and duration of the flood. Also the discussion about Genesis 10’s Table of Nation and how the descendants of Noah became nations and people group was also very valuable and worthwhile for those want to purchase it. Also I thought it was neat to see Boice point out how when Noah pronounced blessing to Shem, one of Noah’s son, careful reading of Genesis 9:26 reveal Noah blesses God (Yahweh) though in the context we know Noah’s supposed to be blessing Shem’s descendants; Boice makes the argument that this promise of blessing to God and Shem makes sense if we are expecting the Messiah to be God coming to save sinners, in light of Genesis 3:15. I thought that was a powerful argument after all Jesus’ genealogy fulfull Old Testament prophecy that the Messiah would come from the line of Shem. Mind blowing!
I do have some constructive criticism of the contents. Boice is not a six day creationist. Also in Genesis 4 with the story of Cain and Abel he gets rather strange with being against the death penalty for the sin of murder yet he also cite verses where death penalty for murder is biblical with the Noahic Covenant. It gets kind of subjective here and I think he’s not accounting for the argument that the stipulation for the death penalty for murder in Genesis 9:6 is part of an eternal covenant with all people, which makes this a universal law. Also while I think creation science is important and there’s a place for Bible commentators to speak about this subject still I think its possible for commentaries to spend too much time on this topic. I think Boice did that with his discussion of Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:1-1:2 in which he talked about all the various views and interpretation of how God created the world for nine chapters from pages 13 through 79. That’s sixty six pages which I thought was quite long for an expositional commentary.
Still overall I recommend this commentary.

[Rod Innis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent commentary. I don't agree with the author in the earlier chapters as he seems to be ambiguous about the age of the earth. I know that we cannot date the earth exactly but we can, if we believe that Genesis is the inspired word of God, say that it is a few thousand years old, not millions of years. As the book goes on the author uses a lot of information from Henry Morris who also believed that the earth is a few thousand years old. I think that the author was conflicted about the date, but he certainly believed that the book of Genesis is an accurate history of the creation and the early history of the earth. I learned quite a lot reading this volume and look forward to starting volume 2.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I also enjoyed or at least admired two other great biblical commentaries on the Sermon on the Mount and Romans by Luther and Barth respectively*, this fairly large book on the first eleven chapters of Genesis has got to be my favourite so far. Boice is absolutely brilliant at really diving into the ancient Scriptures and demonstrating the profound level of wisdom and complexity buried layer upon layer within the text. He treats the harder aspects, all those less appealing to many modern readers, in a way that is both unflinching but also humane and compassionate, as any worthwhile Christian writer really ought to do. In reading this book, my love for and understanding of Genesis has been greatly enriched, though of course one can never truly and extensively appreciate the weight and gravity of the Bible, even after decades of studying it.

[David Campton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Based on a prolonged series of sermons, as many of his writings seem to be, this is an accessible if frustrating commentary on the early chapters of Genesis. Boice was for some time an influential voice in American, and therefore because of its commercial power, global reformed evangelicalism, preparing the way for much of what we see in the Gospel Coalition etc. A fierce devotee of Biblical inerrancy this obviously shapes his reading of this most contested of Biblical chapters when it comes to reconciling the text with scientific and historical records. Given its size and scope, and Boice's reputation for scholarship, this is a comprehensive exposition of these texts, although the direction taken in some chapters is somewhat tangential and a symptom of its origin as a series of sermons. But whilst he gives the illusion of evaluating scientific and archaeological material which would challenge the established conservative evangelical reading of these stories, he often misrepresents or misunderstands the scientific evidence and does not subject favourable "evidence" or anecdotes to the same level of scrutiny. Nor does he give much weight to Jewish understandings of the text (particularly those midrashes that do not treat the text as a historical record). I actually have much more time for older, more traditional commentaries from a similar perspective, because Boice wilfully ignores compelling textual and historical evidence that suggests that the writing or curation of the stories was not as ancient as he and others would argue, which ironically, strikes me as much more disrespectful of the scriptures.

[Philip Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wealth of information in there that's thorough and well organised. Boice is measured and thoughtful. Even in areas I'm not sure I'm with him on, he makes his case well. Particularly useful was his work on Noah's flood as well as the table of nations in chapter 10 of Genesis. Some mind-blowing stuff in there.

[Ming Chen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to it via Audible+.

Useful and applicable - classic Boice. I particularly appreciated his addressing of controversial issues around the text and the implementation of historical, archaeological, etc. evidence.

Good.

[Joe Molinari · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great commentary, both informative and devotional. I am quite eager to begin volume 2!

[Julie Mabus · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent and thorough commentary on the first 11 chapters of Genesis. There was a lot to think about and I learned a lot.

[Marcy Kennedy]

I might pick this back up again later, but I decided to go in a different direction with my studying for now.

[Steve Hemmeke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent series of sermons. Though Boice is a bit too accommodating to modern science and soft on the old earth position for my taste, his expositions are always clear and helpful.

One of the best features is how he links the more obscure and ignored passages with the major themes of Scripture. Lamech and Noah drunk in his tent, and Nimrod all connect to God's purposes.

[Edwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

very clear and well explained commentary. what i liked about this book is that Boice reviews different views and theroies and examines them.
I have read numerous Commentaries on gensis but this is a job done well.
check out wiersbe's Commentary. he has his own way of analyzing the bible.