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ESV Expository Commentary #4
ESV Expository Commentary: Ezra–Job
Designed to help the church understand and apply the overarching storyline of the Bible, the ESV Expository Commentary is broadly accessible, theologically enriching, and pastorally wise. It features clear, crisp, and Christ-centered exposition and application from a team of respected pastor-theologians. With exegetically sound, broadly reformed, biblical-theological, passage-by-passage commentary, this volume was written to help pastors and Bible readers around the world understand the riches of God's Word. Contributors:
W. Brian Aucker (Ezra, Nehemiah)
Eric Ortlund (Esther)
Douglas Sean O'Donnell (Job)
W. Brian Aucker (Ezra, Nehemiah)
Eric Ortlund (Esther)
Douglas Sean O'Donnell (Job)
576 pages, Hardcover
Published September 1, 2020
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September 22, 2020
The great preacher once said, “Of the writing of books there is no end” (Eccl 12:12). This is no more evident than in the case of commentaries. Given the sheer volume of commentaries that have been written since the days of the early church, it would seem hard to justify a new commentary—let alone a new series. Yet commentaries and series continued to be published—and I am guilty in this regard. There can be many good reasons for a new commentary: sometimes it is the cost, making long accepted research accessible; the size, reducing a lengthy technical discussion to an accessible level; the audience, making an inaccessible insight available; or the need to continually address the shifting language and the needs of any culture. There are also times when the prevailing commentary tradition is in error and needs to be revised. I was pleased to receive a review copy of volume 4 in Crossway’s ESV Expository commentary. The following review will address the series as a whole and then the specific books covered in this volume, namely, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Job.
ESV Expository Commentary
The series preface does not seek to justify the decision to publish a new commentary series, but several reasons could be drawn from the decisions made in the volume. First, it achieves the desirable goal of reducing the space and cost of having a pastor’s library, having four books covered in a single work (though 50 USD is not cheap). It is also tailored to congregations using the ESV and is sheered of much of the technical detail of the larger, single-volume editions, being oriented to the perceived needs of the pastor or the “serious students of God’s Word” (9). To highlight several of features noted in the preface, the series is grounded in a broad reformed worldview and oriented to Biblical theology and application. The format used is commendable, providing the ESV translation, a section overview, comments, and then response.
As a general comment on all four books in this volume, the response is sometimes spot-on, sketching a broad theological or biblical-theological reflection on the text, but sometimes falls into the trap of being too specific to aid the pastor in discerning the appropriate application to his congregation (which is the problem, as I perceive it, with the NIV application commentary). The comments range from quite helpful comments on the imagery, symbolic background, or meaning to generic paraphrases of what is said clearly enough in the translation. This is a general problem with commentaries that seek to avoid getting caught up in questions of syntax and word use, for if you are not resolving the difficulties leading to a specific translation nor offering a new translation, all you have left to “comment” on is a translation that should be clear enough, if it was translated well in the first place. To be sure, there are some places in the books included in this volume where a clarifying comment is necessary, but for an audience of pastors and serious students, the points explained are often quite basic. This brings us to the books in question
Ezra-Nehemiah
I was quite pleased with W. Brian Aucker’s commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah. For one, he treats them as a unified whole, which is a great start. The presentation of the narrative of these books is generally helpful. A year or so ago I preached a sermon on Nehemiah at a friend’s church; I know I would have found the narrative focus of this commentary quite helpful in my preparation.
On a more critical note, as a student of Hebrew, I am always saddened by a lack of discussion concerning the syntactical, text-critical, or lexical issues around a book. Though this is beyond the stated purpose of the series, such discussion is essential for any Evangelical interpretation of the Old Testament, yet is so rarely provided. Also, despite the series’ stated intentions, there was a surprising lack of biblical-theological integration. I was left without an answer to many key biblical-theological questions resulting from these books; what is the status of the restored community? how does this restoration relate to Deuteronomy 30 and the prophets? what is the significance of the diminished glory of the temple? It is particularly conspicuous that Aucker does not comment on the lack of fidelity among the restored community; this was to be the defining feature of God’s returned people (e.g. Deut 30:1-6). The absence of the faithful heart is a strong biblical-theological clue that this restoration and its temple is not the true restoration and restored temple promised in the prophets. However, I think there is much help for the pastor to be found in this commentary.
Esther
I was less enthused by Eric Ortlund’s take on Esther. His approach is generally negative towards Esther and Mordecai, and all the Jews, drawing on the silence concerning God as a conspicuous absence. He identifies their Jewishness as merely cultural, devoid of a genuine orientation towards God. Thus, God is presented by the narrator as at work, but His people are not aware of his work nor oriented towards him. This perspective leads to broadly negative evaluations of most actions taken by Esther and Mordecai. This interpretation is not novel, yet it is not easily defended. Broadly speaking, the tone struck by Ortlund in his comments suggests that he is reading from a modern perspective and not looking at the book through Old Testament eyes. His approach lacks canonical integration, namely, consideration of why the book is in the canon and how that placement shapes our interpretation of it. He repeatedly reads the actions of Xerxes from a modern perspective without clearly displaying how someone from ancient Israel or Persian influenced cultures would interpret Xerxes actions. He does not show much sympathy for the difficult situations which Esther and Mordecai repeatedly find themselves in. When it comes time for the Jews to turn the tables on their enemies, he says there is no justification for the request of Esther to lengthen the period of defence but does not discuss or defend this claim. He does not discuss how the narrative, for example, repeatedly identifies the objects of the Jews actions as “the enemies of the Jews,” lifting these events beyond the level of merely cultural disagreement to the divine metanarrative, where the seed of Satan is always trying to extinguish the seed of the woman. It is also hard to square his “secular” reading of the Jews in Persia with an ancient worldview, where religiosity was intertwined with cultural identity. Overall, his reading fails to persuade.
Job
On the other hand, Douglas Sean O’Donnell’s take on Job was quite solid. It is missing a detailed syntactical and lexical discussion, which is even more necessary when it comes to the book of Job. However, his broad interpretation of the book is quite helpful, including his take on Job 28, Elihu, and God’s response. More so than the other books—probably because of the length and poetic nature of Job—I found that O’Donnell fell into the trap of over-explanation in his comments. Given the highly poetic nature of Job, the introduction could also have used an overview of Hebrew poetry. This may have resolved some issues I encountered throughout the book. It seemed from O’Donnell’s discussion that he treated parallelism in the overly restrictive manner of the mid-twentieth century, namely, as synonymous, antithetical, or synthetic. This distinction has been rightly dismissed in recent discussion. He also seemed to restrict “parallelism” to those lines that have strict syntactical correspondence (i.e. the blue dog ran vigorously / the large retriever moved quickly), instead of identifying its as the multifaceted core of Hebrew poetry that takes many shapes, as recent discussion would seem to have it.
Summary
In sum, the commentaries on Ezra, Nehemiah and Job will aid the pastor because of their fine overviews of the books and their helpful response sections. However, I would not recommend relying on the Esther commentary.
ESV Expository Commentary
The series preface does not seek to justify the decision to publish a new commentary series, but several reasons could be drawn from the decisions made in the volume. First, it achieves the desirable goal of reducing the space and cost of having a pastor’s library, having four books covered in a single work (though 50 USD is not cheap). It is also tailored to congregations using the ESV and is sheered of much of the technical detail of the larger, single-volume editions, being oriented to the perceived needs of the pastor or the “serious students of God’s Word” (9). To highlight several of features noted in the preface, the series is grounded in a broad reformed worldview and oriented to Biblical theology and application. The format used is commendable, providing the ESV translation, a section overview, comments, and then response.
As a general comment on all four books in this volume, the response is sometimes spot-on, sketching a broad theological or biblical-theological reflection on the text, but sometimes falls into the trap of being too specific to aid the pastor in discerning the appropriate application to his congregation (which is the problem, as I perceive it, with the NIV application commentary). The comments range from quite helpful comments on the imagery, symbolic background, or meaning to generic paraphrases of what is said clearly enough in the translation. This is a general problem with commentaries that seek to avoid getting caught up in questions of syntax and word use, for if you are not resolving the difficulties leading to a specific translation nor offering a new translation, all you have left to “comment” on is a translation that should be clear enough, if it was translated well in the first place. To be sure, there are some places in the books included in this volume where a clarifying comment is necessary, but for an audience of pastors and serious students, the points explained are often quite basic. This brings us to the books in question
Ezra-Nehemiah
I was quite pleased with W. Brian Aucker’s commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah. For one, he treats them as a unified whole, which is a great start. The presentation of the narrative of these books is generally helpful. A year or so ago I preached a sermon on Nehemiah at a friend’s church; I know I would have found the narrative focus of this commentary quite helpful in my preparation.
On a more critical note, as a student of Hebrew, I am always saddened by a lack of discussion concerning the syntactical, text-critical, or lexical issues around a book. Though this is beyond the stated purpose of the series, such discussion is essential for any Evangelical interpretation of the Old Testament, yet is so rarely provided. Also, despite the series’ stated intentions, there was a surprising lack of biblical-theological integration. I was left without an answer to many key biblical-theological questions resulting from these books; what is the status of the restored community? how does this restoration relate to Deuteronomy 30 and the prophets? what is the significance of the diminished glory of the temple? It is particularly conspicuous that Aucker does not comment on the lack of fidelity among the restored community; this was to be the defining feature of God’s returned people (e.g. Deut 30:1-6). The absence of the faithful heart is a strong biblical-theological clue that this restoration and its temple is not the true restoration and restored temple promised in the prophets. However, I think there is much help for the pastor to be found in this commentary.
Esther
I was less enthused by Eric Ortlund’s take on Esther. His approach is generally negative towards Esther and Mordecai, and all the Jews, drawing on the silence concerning God as a conspicuous absence. He identifies their Jewishness as merely cultural, devoid of a genuine orientation towards God. Thus, God is presented by the narrator as at work, but His people are not aware of his work nor oriented towards him. This perspective leads to broadly negative evaluations of most actions taken by Esther and Mordecai. This interpretation is not novel, yet it is not easily defended. Broadly speaking, the tone struck by Ortlund in his comments suggests that he is reading from a modern perspective and not looking at the book through Old Testament eyes. His approach lacks canonical integration, namely, consideration of why the book is in the canon and how that placement shapes our interpretation of it. He repeatedly reads the actions of Xerxes from a modern perspective without clearly displaying how someone from ancient Israel or Persian influenced cultures would interpret Xerxes actions. He does not show much sympathy for the difficult situations which Esther and Mordecai repeatedly find themselves in. When it comes time for the Jews to turn the tables on their enemies, he says there is no justification for the request of Esther to lengthen the period of defence but does not discuss or defend this claim. He does not discuss how the narrative, for example, repeatedly identifies the objects of the Jews actions as “the enemies of the Jews,” lifting these events beyond the level of merely cultural disagreement to the divine metanarrative, where the seed of Satan is always trying to extinguish the seed of the woman. It is also hard to square his “secular” reading of the Jews in Persia with an ancient worldview, where religiosity was intertwined with cultural identity. Overall, his reading fails to persuade.
Job
On the other hand, Douglas Sean O’Donnell’s take on Job was quite solid. It is missing a detailed syntactical and lexical discussion, which is even more necessary when it comes to the book of Job. However, his broad interpretation of the book is quite helpful, including his take on Job 28, Elihu, and God’s response. More so than the other books—probably because of the length and poetic nature of Job—I found that O’Donnell fell into the trap of over-explanation in his comments. Given the highly poetic nature of Job, the introduction could also have used an overview of Hebrew poetry. This may have resolved some issues I encountered throughout the book. It seemed from O’Donnell’s discussion that he treated parallelism in the overly restrictive manner of the mid-twentieth century, namely, as synonymous, antithetical, or synthetic. This distinction has been rightly dismissed in recent discussion. He also seemed to restrict “parallelism” to those lines that have strict syntactical correspondence (i.e. the blue dog ran vigorously / the large retriever moved quickly), instead of identifying its as the multifaceted core of Hebrew poetry that takes many shapes, as recent discussion would seem to have it.
Summary
In sum, the commentaries on Ezra, Nehemiah and Job will aid the pastor because of their fine overviews of the books and their helpful response sections. However, I would not recommend relying on the Esther commentary.
March 3, 2025
This volume is the fourth OT entry in the ESV Expository Commentary series. It features an exposition of Ezra and Nehemiah by Brian Aucker, Esther by Eric Ortlund, and Job by Douglas Sean O'Donnell. These biblical books are sometimes treated primarily as historical books with a focus on historical reconstruction and comparative analysis with Ancient Near Eastern backgrounds. While each entry engages the historical context adequately, the helpful focus in these comments is on the literary shape of these books and the theological richness that these narratives display for readers.
Aucker's treatment of Ezra and Nehemiah provides an example of this interpretive dynamic. He briefly signals some of the debate about the compositional history of these books but also makes a quick case for the unity of Ezra-Nehemiah as a discrete work and also its basic reliability in terms of chronology. This allows Aucker to prioritize the flow of the narrative in his comments on the book. He also shows the literary patterns that extend from Ezra into Nehemiah. This interpretive move in particular will help orient preachers to the theological themes that undergird this account of Israel's return from exile (and hopefully mitigate a few planned sermon series on Nehemiah and "church building campaigns"!).
Ortlund's treatment of Esther likewise takes note of the historical context but also prioritizes the literary features of this unique OT narrative. Ortlund suggests that the Esther story is told in the genre of "historical novella" and "diaspora story." This characterization implies that the story told is historically accurate but also includes strategic literary elements that affect the meaning of the book's message. As Ortlund observes, "The book's humor, vivid characterizations, and abundance of coincidences and reversals all imply the author is giving us reliable history in the form of a story. Thus we will have to attend to the book as a story with characters and unfolding plot,. to learn what the narrator would teach us" (242).
What's more, these literary features complement the theological themes the author is developing. There is a tight chiastic structure that details Haman's plot to destroy the Jewish people and the striking symmetry of the exact reversal of these fortunes. There is also a careful portrayal of the setting and unfolding of scenes that remind the attentive reader of key Jewish expectations that Esther and Mordecai essentially fail to observe (e.g., prayer to God or observance of Torah!). Readers and preachers often simply "fill in" what they perceive to be missing from the story (i.e., explicit references to God and the piety of Esther & Mordecai). In doing so, however, they obscure the effect of the biblical book that actually confronts us as we read. This allows us to observe "the kindness of the Lord to a portion of Abraham's seed that seems to have forgotten about him" (241).
Worth noting, as well, is O'Donnell's thoughtful treatment of the sprawling and theological provocative book of Job. While noting the clearly artistic elements of the book (imagery, poetry, discourse shifts, etc), O'Donnell affirms the reasonableness of seeing Job as a real historical figure: "Even if poetic license is allowed, a historical narrative is implied. The use of real names and places, as well as a seemingly real-life story (a story no more dramatically unrealistic than the Evangelists' narratives of the creatures' killing their Creator), support this view . . . It makes best sense to see the book of Job as an embellished retelling of actual people and events" (293).
O'Donnell moves from this historical reasoning to a literary analysis of the lengthy speeches and the narrative effect of the book's setting in the heavenly realm. The message of the book reveals insight into the nature of human suffering and also prefigures the suffering messiah: "The book of Job prefigures the purposeful sufferings of Jesus Christ. That is, the story of God's servant Job prepares us for the story of Jesus, the suffering servant who in his passion and death exhibits how innocent suffering can show forth the justice of God" (291).
Overall, this volume maintains a pastoral tone, clear exposition, and a helpful balance between historical and theological analysis. Another worthwhile entry in this commentary series.
Aucker's treatment of Ezra and Nehemiah provides an example of this interpretive dynamic. He briefly signals some of the debate about the compositional history of these books but also makes a quick case for the unity of Ezra-Nehemiah as a discrete work and also its basic reliability in terms of chronology. This allows Aucker to prioritize the flow of the narrative in his comments on the book. He also shows the literary patterns that extend from Ezra into Nehemiah. This interpretive move in particular will help orient preachers to the theological themes that undergird this account of Israel's return from exile (and hopefully mitigate a few planned sermon series on Nehemiah and "church building campaigns"!).
Ortlund's treatment of Esther likewise takes note of the historical context but also prioritizes the literary features of this unique OT narrative. Ortlund suggests that the Esther story is told in the genre of "historical novella" and "diaspora story." This characterization implies that the story told is historically accurate but also includes strategic literary elements that affect the meaning of the book's message. As Ortlund observes, "The book's humor, vivid characterizations, and abundance of coincidences and reversals all imply the author is giving us reliable history in the form of a story. Thus we will have to attend to the book as a story with characters and unfolding plot,. to learn what the narrator would teach us" (242).
What's more, these literary features complement the theological themes the author is developing. There is a tight chiastic structure that details Haman's plot to destroy the Jewish people and the striking symmetry of the exact reversal of these fortunes. There is also a careful portrayal of the setting and unfolding of scenes that remind the attentive reader of key Jewish expectations that Esther and Mordecai essentially fail to observe (e.g., prayer to God or observance of Torah!). Readers and preachers often simply "fill in" what they perceive to be missing from the story (i.e., explicit references to God and the piety of Esther & Mordecai). In doing so, however, they obscure the effect of the biblical book that actually confronts us as we read. This allows us to observe "the kindness of the Lord to a portion of Abraham's seed that seems to have forgotten about him" (241).
Worth noting, as well, is O'Donnell's thoughtful treatment of the sprawling and theological provocative book of Job. While noting the clearly artistic elements of the book (imagery, poetry, discourse shifts, etc), O'Donnell affirms the reasonableness of seeing Job as a real historical figure: "Even if poetic license is allowed, a historical narrative is implied. The use of real names and places, as well as a seemingly real-life story (a story no more dramatically unrealistic than the Evangelists' narratives of the creatures' killing their Creator), support this view . . . It makes best sense to see the book of Job as an embellished retelling of actual people and events" (293).
O'Donnell moves from this historical reasoning to a literary analysis of the lengthy speeches and the narrative effect of the book's setting in the heavenly realm. The message of the book reveals insight into the nature of human suffering and also prefigures the suffering messiah: "The book of Job prefigures the purposeful sufferings of Jesus Christ. That is, the story of God's servant Job prepares us for the story of Jesus, the suffering servant who in his passion and death exhibits how innocent suffering can show forth the justice of God" (291).
Overall, this volume maintains a pastoral tone, clear exposition, and a helpful balance between historical and theological analysis. Another worthwhile entry in this commentary series.
September 6, 2020
Volume IV of the ESV Expository Commentary features Ezra-Nehemiah by W. Brian Aucker, Esther by Eric Ortlund, and Job by Douglas Sean O’Donnell. I was encouraged by the scholarship of this new 12-volume series from Crossway which builds on the success of the ESV Study Bible. One of the strengths is the selection of contributors who present both academic and pastoral considerations.
I reviewed the portion on Esther and found the commentary scholarly, but not too technical. The notes provided sufficient application for both counseling and preaching, but not for academic research. Each book included a general overview and a basic introduction. Each section also added an overview and outline to help orient the reader. Commentary was not verse-by-verse, but covered whole paragraphs at a time and included responsive reflections on the passage.
An extensive Scripture Index at the end of the volume showed the various cross-references as well. I recommend this commentary series as a quick-reference tool for Bible study and preaching. Each volume also comes in the classic black cover with gold lettering and is easily searchable as an electronic document.
* Crossway has provided a complimentary copy of this book through the Blog Review Program.
I reviewed the portion on Esther and found the commentary scholarly, but not too technical. The notes provided sufficient application for both counseling and preaching, but not for academic research. Each book included a general overview and a basic introduction. Each section also added an overview and outline to help orient the reader. Commentary was not verse-by-verse, but covered whole paragraphs at a time and included responsive reflections on the passage.
An extensive Scripture Index at the end of the volume showed the various cross-references as well. I recommend this commentary series as a quick-reference tool for Bible study and preaching. Each volume also comes in the classic black cover with gold lettering and is easily searchable as an electronic document.
* Crossway has provided a complimentary copy of this book through the Blog Review Program.
April 12, 2024
Doug’s commentary on Job is one of the best.
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