Handbook on the Wisdom Books and Psalms

by Daniel J. Estes

In this work, Daniel Estes introduces students to the Old Testament poetical books--Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. Each chapter explores one of the five poetical books. Estes first summarizes some of the book's key issues. He then devotes the main portion of the chapter to an exposition of the book, interacting with major commentaries and recent studies. Each chapter concludes with an extensive bibliography, allowing for further exploration. Following in the tradition of Handbook on the Pentateuch (over sixty thousand copies sold), this valuable resource will help pastors, students, Sunday school teachers, and Bible study leaders better understand the overall flow of each poetical book.

Genres: Biblical Studies, Christianity, Christian, Old Testament, Spirituality, Theology, Religion

448 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

About the author

Daniel J. Estes (Ph.D., University of Cambridge) is professor of Bible and dean of the school of biblical and theological studies at Cedarville University in Ohio. His books include Hear, My Son and Handbook on the Wisdom Books and Psalms.

Reviews

[Zack · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very fine overview of the Old Testament “Wisdom Books” in Christian canonical divisions. As a textbook, it is intentionally heavy on literature review, but Estes does not avoid getting into the proverbial weeds of each biblical book. The literature review may be a bit out of date, especially with the rise in interest among Evangelical scholars in intertextuality and the wisdom books (and Will Kynes’ complementary critique of the modern concept of a “Wisdom” genre).

Treatment is even across Job, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs as Estes works through each book in section-by-section fashion. He interacts with the Psalms and Proverbs differently (by topic or genre), which leads to some unevenness in the book as a whole. This is not a terrible deficiency, and I’m sure that any other method would have made the book either too long or too superficial.

I have one major pet peeve or annoyance stemming from the writing. Estes - as most academic writers are wont to do - refers to people (either generically or corporately) as “humans.” This made for some uncomfortable semantic constructions throughout the book. He (or the publisher) would have done well to follow many of his sources (biblical and secondary) in adopting “man” or “mankind” or even “humanity” instead of the clinical (if not extraterrestrial) “humans.”

[BJ Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a required read for my Old Testament class I need in pursuing my MDiv in Global Studies. As far as handbooks go, it is decent. I think I do like it slightly better than I did the first two I've read (Handbook on the Torah and the Handbook on the Historical books). I like that for Psalms and Proverbs he switched from a chapter by chapter breakdown to a topical one.

[Emma Hayes]

For a textbook for a class, it was surprisingly a beautiful reflection of Christ’s promise and fulfillment of wisdom.

[Laza · Rating 5 out of 5]

By far one of the best textbooks I've been assigned in my degree. Estes writes with astute detail, but no sentence is wasted. I nearly highlighted every line! Thoroughly researched and full of wisdom. I wish I could get my own copy!

[Seth Mcdevitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Incredibly useful resource. Scholarly, but accessible.

[Jeff Koch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview, very readable and incredibly insightful into the psalms and wisdom books.

[Talia Katz · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to read this for school. I like how some of the others in the series were organized better. May have preferred this if I had more than 3 weeks to read the whole book!

[Sarah Hubbard · Rating 4 out of 5]

I refer back to this book all the time in my study of the wisdom books. Very comprehensive and helpful in my expository studies.

[Joseph Mundo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one helped me frame the wisdom books in a way that stays faithful to their purpose — worship, suffering, justice, and fear of the Lord. I like that it avoids soft devotionals and sticks to what the text actually says. It sharpens how I read poetry in Scripture, giving me theological footing instead of emotional commentary.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

I used this book as preparation for teaching on the Wisdom literature in the Bible. It is extremely helpful and I would recommend it for teachers and preachers. The author does a good job bringing forth major exegetical issues and engaging with a wide range of scholarship. The chapters on Job, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs each take you through those books one section at a time. These were my favorite chapters. The chapter on Psalms spends times on each type of Psalm (Lament, descriptive praise, etc.) and ends each chapter with a study of one specific Psalm in that genre. Proverbs of course is examined topically, with verses from throughout the book gathered together under each heading.

Very helpful, and cheaper than buying 5 commentaries. Though he does have a long bibliography at the end of each chapter for further study.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Estes' book is an excellent place to start for the would-be student of the Old Testament wisdom and poetic books. He treats some books exegetically, going chapter-by-chapter through the text (e.g., Ecclesiastes), and covers other books more loosely, addressing Proverbs topically and describing some of the different categories of Psalms in the Psalter. I found his approach to Song of Solomon particularly helpful, explaining it as a narrative in three parts climaxing "off-screen" between chapters 4 and 5.

As noted though, this is a place to start and not much more. Those with little experience dealing with these books will be pleased and exposed to new ideas. Those who have experience studying these texts or those doing more intense exegetical research on them, however, will want to search for higher-level, book-specific commentaries.

[William Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only read Estes' section on the book of Job. While not as good as Sumpter's Job Through New Eyes: A Son For Glory, it is a good treatment on the book of Job. It is quite helpful.

[Greg Reimer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Handbook was not as good as this series' counterpart book on the Historical Books (by Hamilton), but it still had many moments of incite and serves as a great walk-thru/overview of all five books. I wish that Estes was able to dig deeper into the Psalms and Proverbs, but I understand why he found it necessary to examine them thematically rather than taking a verse-by-verse approach.

[Zacarias Rivera, Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly informative book on the Wisdom books. The author refers to many commentators to give the reader the most useful exegesis of each of the Wisdom books. He addresses the issues and conflicting views on the meaning of many texts.