Word Biblical Commentary
6 total works
Trent C. Butler's excellent commentary on Joshua is updated and revised. This new edition takes into account the most recent scholarly work on the book of Joshua. The commentary includes Butler's translation of the text, explanatory notes, and commentary to help any professor, student, or pastor with research and writing.
Features include:
-solid biblical scholarship for teachers, pastors, and students
-updated bibliography commentary for deeper study
-thorough coverage of the biblical languages
-close analysis of ancient manuscripts of Joshua
The Word Biblical Commentary series offers the best in critical scholarship firmly committed to the authority of Scripture as divine revelation. It is perfect for scholars, students of the Bible, ministers, and anyone who wants a theological understanding of Scripture.
v. 7
Reconstructing the formative years of the people of Israel is one of the most challenging tasks in Old Testament research. In this regard, the Book of Joshua has been a major focus of scholars for more than a generation.
Now Trent C. Butler has addressed the whole range of issues emerging from Joshua, from its earliest narratives, oral and written, to its textual history, both before and after its reception into the canon.
Dr. Butler combines his use of the tools of textual and literary analysis to provide a new perspective from which to appreciate the value of the Book of Joshua. From this new perspective, both the scholar and the minister receive valuable insights: The oral stages of the traditions, as Dr. Butler assesses them, "center on certain life and death questions for God's people as they seek to settle in the land and establish their grip on its territory." Then came the transformation into materials for worship, which "illustrate the mighty acts of God in continuing the work he began at the Exodus"-and which focus on priestly activity rather than on the role of the military conqueror. At the literary stage, the Compiler ties the materials together into a continuous narrative "that emphasizes the importance of a committed leader and a responsible people." In its final, canonical form, the text of Joshua "is a program for a life beyond the Jordan for a people who have lost the land and seek new hope . . . the exiles in Babylon."
The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship.
Overview of Commentary Organization
- Introduction—covers issues pertaining to the whole book, including context, date, authorship, composition, interpretive issues, purpose, and theology.
- Each section of the commentary includes:
- Pericope Bibliography—a helpful resource containing the most important works that pertain to each particular pericope.
- Translation—the author’s own translation of the biblical text, reflecting the end result of exegesis and attending to Hebrew and Greek idiomatic usage of words, phrases, and tenses, yet in reasonably good English.
- Notes—the author’s notes to the translation that address any textual variants, grammatical forms, syntactical constructions, basic meanings of words, and problems of translation.
- Form/Structure/Setting—a discussion of redaction, genre, sources, and tradition as they concern the origin of the pericope, its canonical form, and its relation to the biblical and extra-biblical contexts in order to illuminate the structure and character of the pericope. Rhetorical or compositional features important to understanding the passage are also introduced here.
- Comment—verse-by-verse interpretation of the text and dialogue with other interpreters, engaging with current opinion and scholarly research.
- Explanation—brings together all the results of the discussion in previous sections to expose the meaning and intention of the text at several levels: (1) within the context of the book itself; (2) its meaning in the OT or NT; (3) its place in the entire canon; (4) theological relevance to broader OT or NT issues.
General Bibliography—occurring at the end of each volume, this extensive bibliography contains all sources used anywhere in the commentary.
Trent C. Butler's excellent commentary on Joshua is updated and revised. This new edition takes into account the most recent scholarly work on the book of Joshua. The commentary includes Butler's translation of the text, explanatory notes, and commentary to help any professor, student, or pastor with research and writing.
Features include:
-solid biblical scholarship for teachers, pastors, and students
-updated bibliography commentary for deeper study
-thorough coverage of the biblical languages
-close analysis of ancient manuscripts of Joshua
The Word Biblical Commentary series offers the best in critical scholarship firmly committed to the authority of Scripture as divine revelation. It is perfect for scholars, students of the Bible, ministers, and anyone who wants a theological understanding of Scripture.
