What do you think?
Rate this book
Judges: A Discourse Analysis of the Hebrew Bible (7)
How a biblical author says something is just as important as what they say. Designed for the pastor and Bible teacher, the series carefully analyzes the discourse of each Old Testament book and shows how the main thrust of each passage contributes to the development of the whole composition in the original Hebrew. For each passage, the ZECOT While primarily designed for those with a basic knowledge of biblical Hebrew, Hebrew words are always explained so that anyone who desires to understand the Old Testament and communicate its message will benefit from the depth and accessibility these volumes offer.
944 pages, Hardcover
Published December 6, 2022
11 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 26, 2023
The ZECOT has certainly found its own niche with its discourse analysis orientation and in the process has become a commentary series you simply must not miss. Here the wooly Book of Judges gets its turn and it seems to me the discourse analysis approach especially gives a rich payload in this book that many don’t know what to make of. Boda, whose commentary on Zechariah impressed me a few years back, and Conway have done good work here. The two are colleagues at McMaster Divinity College and proved to be seamless collaborators as well.
After a bibliography and translation, there’s a successful 50 page introduction that slows down where it should while zipping along where it should as well. When discussing Judges and its historical context, the authors see a dichotomy between the history itself and that of the original readers as they see Judges being written later on. Obviously, much of that is speculative. The intent of the writer taken from clues from the text is the rose among the thorns of this section. That next section leads them to an in-depth look at clause function as originated by Roy Heller. The detail is complex, but the conclusions are easy to follow and quite interesting.
My favorite section of the Introduction, entitled Judges and its literary shape, is eye opening. The earlier detailed work is marshaled into an outstanding explanation of the structure. That means, of course, the unique goal of this series is fully realized here. You’ll understand Judges fair better because of it too.
The theology section was a little brief but perhaps some would blame Judges for that.
The commentary proper with the good foundation laid in the Introduction is ideal. One of the strengths of the ZECOT is its layout and its advantages are evident here. People love Daniel Block’s work on Judges and rightly so, but you’d do yourself a favor to get this one too.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
After a bibliography and translation, there’s a successful 50 page introduction that slows down where it should while zipping along where it should as well. When discussing Judges and its historical context, the authors see a dichotomy between the history itself and that of the original readers as they see Judges being written later on. Obviously, much of that is speculative. The intent of the writer taken from clues from the text is the rose among the thorns of this section. That next section leads them to an in-depth look at clause function as originated by Roy Heller. The detail is complex, but the conclusions are easy to follow and quite interesting.
My favorite section of the Introduction, entitled Judges and its literary shape, is eye opening. The earlier detailed work is marshaled into an outstanding explanation of the structure. That means, of course, the unique goal of this series is fully realized here. You’ll understand Judges fair better because of it too.
The theology section was a little brief but perhaps some would blame Judges for that.
The commentary proper with the good foundation laid in the Introduction is ideal. One of the strengths of the ZECOT is its layout and its advantages are evident here. People love Daniel Block’s work on Judges and rightly so, but you’d do yourself a favor to get this one too.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
July 30, 2024
3.5 but not 3 - this is a mixed bag. The innovative approach and format makes it worth using, but it is quite jumbly as a book, with what I felt were a ludicrous level of pericope decisions, leading to almost 120 ‘chapters’ in the volume.
The ZECOT discourse analysis is helpful for approaching Judges (I’d imagine it would be good for Chronicles too) but the layout sometimes gets in the way (text panels at 90 degrees, digital-esque scrolling style lists) and is annoying.
That said the actual discourse analysis is superb, and will be helpful to those wanting to dig deep. It is more technical than a ZECNT in that sense. I appreciated the canonical-theological sections, when they appeared, though they left me wanting more.
I’m glad to have worked through it but it felt like a slog. I plan to write a more extensive review on my blog.
Edit - I did: https://www.thomascreedy.co.uk/book-r...
The ZECOT discourse analysis is helpful for approaching Judges (I’d imagine it would be good for Chronicles too) but the layout sometimes gets in the way (text panels at 90 degrees, digital-esque scrolling style lists) and is annoying.
That said the actual discourse analysis is superb, and will be helpful to those wanting to dig deep. It is more technical than a ZECNT in that sense. I appreciated the canonical-theological sections, when they appeared, though they left me wanting more.
I’m glad to have worked through it but it felt like a slog. I plan to write a more extensive review on my blog.
Edit - I did: https://www.thomascreedy.co.uk/book-r...
September 5, 2024
Useful in parsing through the structure of the book as a whole. At times a little tedious (he breaks things down a lot!), but a helpful conversation partner in understanding the unity and elaborate literary construction of Judges.
Used in preparing to preach Judges in 2024
Used in preparing to preach Judges in 2024
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews