The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah (New International Commentary on the Old Testament

The New International Commentary on the Old Testament

by Leslie C. Allen

The eloquent and uncompromising calls for social righteousness by some of the Minor Prophets are familiar to many, yet the writings themselves are probably the least studied and least known texts of the Old Testament. Those who are familiar with these books are also aware of the historical and literary problems that plague their study. Drawing on insights from various perspectives -- theological, historical, and literary -- this commentary on Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah by Leslie Allen carefully and imaginatively reconstructs the stage on which the message of these four books was conveyed to their Hebrew hearers and shows what relevance, in turn, they hold for contemporary Christians.

For each of the books there is a substantial introduction in which the full range of scholarly opinion is presented and assessed, a select bibliography, the author's own translation of the text -- a significant contribution to biblical studies in itself -- and an extensive commentary. The commentary on Micah is the basic one of these four in that it treats at greater length some of the same forms and motifs that appear in Joel, Obadiah, and Jonah. The introductory material for Joel includes discussions of canonicity and textual criticism that apply to the entire volume.

Genres: Reference, Old Testament, Theology, Christian, Nonfiction

427 pages, Hardcover

First published April 19, 1976

About the author

Leslie Allen (MA, PhD, DD) is senior professor of Old Testament, School of Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary (Pasadena, California).

Reviews

[David J. Harris]

Super helpful in history of interpretation, canonical shape and biblical theological implications. Complements Stuart's WBC volume really well.

[Pig Rieke]

I only read and can speak to the Joel portion of this commentary. Like all commentaries, what the reader is looking for often determines one’s opinion of it.

Leslie Allen was a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary starting in 1983. This commentary like the seminary reflects a precarious position, the edge of evangelicalism. At times, the commentary is helpful. At other times, the book leaves you asking more questions about what the author believes than answers.

[Matt Braymiller]

I read the comments covering Micah from this book in preparation for a recent class. As with several other commentators on Micah, Allen offers his own translation of the original text. For those who have studied Micah, it is understood how challenging this is. Allen deals with the textual difficulties, explaining as he goes. His exegesis is theological and easily understood. I found this commentary to be well balanced and very insightful. Highly recommended.

[Adam Chandler]

The strengths of the book is that there is a lot of research that went into composing it and there is a fairly unique inclusion of the meter for the poetical sections. I have not found other commentaries that describe meter for Hebrew poetry let alone use it as part the interpretation. The weakness is that Allen seems to go into his personal opinions of the text a fair amount of the time rather than look to some of the explicit meanings.

[Ian Minielly]

So far I have only read Micah, but it was everything I expected it would be. I will probably read Jonah soon. This series is one of my favorite commentary series and when I get ready to buy a new commentary, I always check this series first. They are excellent and of great use for Bible Study prep and sermon background.

[Vanjr]

Published in the mid 1970s this Christian commentary on four of the minor prophets (Book of the twelve) is in line with the general excellence of the NICOT series tradition. Leslie Allen's strength is his own translation of each book. Micah is the longest book and section.

[Josh]

Read Jonah in August 2018

[Sean McGowan]

Helpful.

[Ivan]

I read the Jonah portion. Delightful.

[C.H.E. Sadaphal]

The bottom line: An elaborate academic analysis of the minor prophets.

This commentary provides a comprehensive analysis of four Old Testament books and the reader certainly will have little room for questions or need further investigation outside of this text. The book of Micah, for example, is about ten pages in a standard Bible, and Allen’s book devotes more than 120 pages to Micah alone. For each prophet, the book provides ... http://www.chesadaphal.com/books-joel...