Old Testament Survey: The Message, Form, and Background of the Old Testament

Rating:
Summary: Very informative book, but the authors ride the fence
Review: I thought that this was a really interesting textbook. The authors reveal the message of each Old Testament book, while discussing some of the scholarly issues surrounding each part of the Old Testament (such as the JEDP theory). Unfortunately William Lasor passed away in 1991, so Hubbard (who is dead now too) and Bush recruited six other OT scholars to complete the revision. This may be one of the reasons why the authors ride the fence on issues such as whether or not we can take the numbers in Numbers literally, the number of Isaiah's, the historical worthiness of Joshua and Jonah, and the happenings surrounding the Exodus from Egypt. The authors also seem to lean toward the book of Jonah being a parable rather than actual history, although they don't take a really strong stand on that, either.

The reviewer who wrote that this book supports the JEDP theory was mistaken: In fact, the authors predict that this theory will eventually be out of vogue with scholarship. What the authors do affirm is that Moses was originally responsible for the Pentateuch and that through the centuries, the community revised and updated it.

And contrary to an earlier reviewer, I didn't find the book tedious at all: It was very well written and very interesting throughout. I especially appreciated the articles at the end about the Authority of the Old Testament for Christians, Messianic prophecy, and the chronological puzzle.

In short, I recommend this book, only wishing that the authors would take a stand on some of the issues discussed above.

Rating:
Summary: If you enjoy Old Testament commentary read new Proverbs book
Review: Old Testament Survey quotes the New Revised Standard Version in order to take advantage of the most recent biblical scholarship. While previously scholars thought there was a first, second and third Isaiah OTS makes a stong case for the unity of Isaiah (chapter 22). OTS follows the general modern consensus that Ecclesiastes was written 700 years after King Solomon died and thus was not written by Solomon. The comments are interesting and accompanied by photos and maps. If you enjoy this book you may also like THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE BOOK OF PROVERBS by Cody Jones. Many of the mysteries and riddles of Proverbs are explored with some surprising new answers. Among them is the identity of King Solomon's ghostwriter who was one of the "officials of Hezekiah" mentioned in Proverbs 25.1. Six translations of Proverbs in parallel aid understanding and numerous drawings and photos give you a sense of the culture of the time.

Rating:
Summary: Tedious for most readers
Review: This is a wonderful text for the student of the Old Testament. The authors are very detailed in their descriptions of each Old Testament book. Not only do they provide a fairly lengthy section in each chapter about the historical setting of the book, but they also provide a review of the message, certain criticisms, theology, date and composition, and certain scholarly events surrounding the text (i.e. hypothesis, theories about the text, etc.). Moreover, the book is filled with photographs, maps, charts, and many other visual aids. The authors have also provided the reader with geographical aids via descriptions, maps, etc. Another important element about this book is the authors' handling of Hebrew poetry. The authors give a description of what Hebrew poetry is, how it works, how to read it, and what its purpose was in context. So as you can see this is a very detailed book. If you are wanting a text that focuses solely on the Old Testament, is detailed and very descriptive, then I don't believe you will find a better text than this one.

Rating:
Summary: Detailed, Readable, and Evangelical.
Review: This is a wonderful text for the student of the Old Testament. The authors are very detailed in their descriptions of each Old Testament book. Not only do they provide a fairly lengthy section in each chapter about the historical setting of the book, but they also provide a review of the message, certain criticisms, theology, date and composition, and certain scholarly events surrounding the text (i.e. hypothesis, theories about the text, etc.). Moreover, the book is filled with photographs, maps, charts, and many other visual aids. The authors have also provided the reader with geographical aids via descriptions, maps, etc. Another important element about this book is the authors' handling of Hebrew poetry. The authors give a description of what Hebrew poetry is, how it works, how to read it, and what its purpose was in context. So as you can see this is a very detailed book. If you are wanting a text that focuses solely on the Old Testament, is detailed and very descriptive, then I don't believe you will find a better text than this one.

Rating:
Summary: Tedious for most readers
Review: This text is used as a college textbook in my Bible and Theology Batchelor of Science program. As such, I expect a college level text to be challenging reading. However, even for the best reader this book is tedious, unless reserved strictly for use as a resource. Unfortunately to use it as a resource, a good index is necessary. This book has only an index of names and an index of authors available, making the indices hardly worthwhile.

It does have some great charts as sidebar content but without an index to them they may be missed. Illustrations are in black and white or blue and white. Color photos are reserved for the book jacket only.

The book, while maintaining a fairly conservative theological approach holds rather closely to a JEDP theory regarding the formulation of the Old Testament. This may be confusing to some who were taught to believe that Moses wrote the books of the law. No alternative theory is given that I could find.

If you are purchasing this book for a resource, there may be one which is better indexed and more visually appealing. If for casual reading or basic instruction in Old Testament history or literature, please choose something written for this purpose. You will not be satisfied by this book. My readability score for this book is zero!