An excellent commentary, who can find? She is more precious than jewels. To make this list, a commentary must do most of the following:
- observe the text carefully (and not just tell us what others have said about the text)
- take note of literary devices
- make interpretive decisions primarily from the text and not solely by scholarly consensus
- show, not merely tell, its conclusions
- spell out the biblical author’s train of thought (focusing more on logic and meaning than on words, etymology, or cross references)
- focus on the biblical author’s main points (without getting distracted by every possible debate on isolated words or phrases)
- show a conviction that the text will change our lives, both individually and corporately
I award bonus points when the gospel of Jesus Christ takes center stage.
Note: Please don’t use this list to feed a lifeless addiction. Make sure you study the text on your own before consulting any commentaries, no matter how good they may be. Your spiritual heirs will thank you for it.
General Commentaries• G.K. Beale and D.A. Carson, editors, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Great as a doorstop or paperweight, but even better in training you to think like an apostle. The unique value here is that the contributors examine every OT quote and allusion in the NT. They show that the NT authors don’t just quote verbiage; they reference (and assume the reader understands) the context of the OT verbiage. I read this every time I study a NT book.
• Gordon Wenham, Genesis 1-15 and Genesis 16-50, WBC series: Some sections can be skipped altogether. For example, on every passage: “Scholar A and Scholar B divide the text into sources J and E differently. Scholar C does it a different way. Blah blah blah. All we have, however, is the text in its final form, so we’ll analyze it accordingly.” Wenham rocks when he observes repeated words, structure, and the narrative train of thought. Extremely valuable.
• Warren Austin Gage, The Gospel of Genesis: This short examination of Genesis 1-11 and its impact on the rest of the Bible will knock your socks off.
• Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth, NAC series. Good on observation and author’s main points.
• James B. Jordan, Judges: A Practical and Theological Commentary: Jordan is a keen observer of the text. He’s also magnificent at showing how the larger structure fits together and communicates part of the author’s meaning itself. If you don’t mind sifting through occasional strange interpretations for the gems, this is worth your time.
• Davis, Dale Ralph. 2 Samuel: Out of Every Adversity. Focus on the Bible Commentary. Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 2002. I haven’t read the full commentary, but I’ve skimmed it and was amazed by Davis’s ability to communicate the chief message of the text.
• Davis, Dale Ralph. 2 Kings: The Power and the Fury. Focus on the Bible Commentary. Great Britain: Christian Focus Publications, 2005. I haven’t read the full commentary, but I’ve skimmed it and was amazed by Davis’s ability to communicate the chief message of the text.
• Peter J. Leithart, 1 & 2 Kings, Brazos series: The Introduction is pretty much worth the price of the book. The rest will stimulate your curiosity into the text.
• Michael Wilcock, The Message of Psalms, Volume 1 and Volume 2, BST series: Strong literary and historical analysis, blessedly brief, well connected to Christ.
• Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr, Proverbs: Wisdom That Works, PTW series: Fabulous exposition of Proverbs 1-9. Then covers a few topics in the rest of Proverbs. Strong on main points, train of thought, and application.
• Dan Phillips, God’s Wisdom in Proverbs: Not exactly a commentary, but I keep it on my commentary shelf. Phillips’s exposition of select texts and themes in Proverbs is meticulous and amazingly coherent. Application is decent, though I wish he had taken a more winsome and persuasive tone.
• Bruce Waltke, The Book of Proverbs, Chapters 1-15 and The Book of Proverbs, Chapters 15-31, NICOT series: The most thorough commentary I’ve seen on Proverbs, yet it rarely loses its helpfulness. Everybody and their seminary teachers recommend this one, and for good reason. Lots of Hebrew, but it’s possible to understand without knowledge of the language. Better as a reference than a read-through.
• Zack Eswine, Recovering Eden: The Gospel According to Ecclesiastes: Unfortunately, Eswine doesn’t travel section by section; he prefers to go theme by theme, but roughly in the order they appear in the book. By the end, he’s hit almost every passage. Clear understanding of the mains points. Powerful application. My go-to resource on a difficult book.
• Douglas Wilson, Joy at the End of the Tether: Short, clear, well-applied. Focused on the train of thought, and he usually gets it right.
• Tom Gledhill, The Message of the Song of Songs, BST series: Stimulating exposition of the poetry. Sometimes I wish there were more logical direction in Gledhill’s comments, but he nails the poetry’s beautiful mystique.
• Douglas Sean O’Donnell, The Song of Solomon: An Invitation to Intimacy, PTW series: A moving and poetic handling of a moving, poetic text. O’Donnell excels at interpretive questions and answers, main points, and vibrant application.
• Mitchell L. Chase’s contribution to the ESV Expository Commentary, Volume VII: Great on observation, structure, and main points.
• Michael Green, The Message of Matthew, BST series: Great on observation, structure, and application.
• John R.W. Stott, The Message of The Sermon on the Mount, BST series: Every commentary by John Stott is worth reading. I’ve read no commentator who surpasses Stott at observing, interpreting, and applying, while remaining reasonably concise and engaging. Get it. Now.
• D.A. Carson, The Gospel According to John, PNTC series: All-around good commentary. Good grasp of main themes, good exposition of passages, good observation, interpretation, and application.
• Merrill C. Tenney, John: The Gospel of Belief: After a wonderful introduction, the body of the commentary drops off a bit in usefulness. It still stimulates me quite a bit in thinking through each passage, but his analysis of John’s purpose statement is the best part.
• John R.W. Stott, The Message of Romans, BST series: Every commentary by John Stott is worth reading. I’ve read no commentator who surpasses Stott at observing, interpreting, and applying, while remaining reasonably concise and engaging. Get it. Now.
• Timothy Keller, Galatians for You. Close observation and great at tracing the author’s train of thought.
• G.K. Beale, 1-2 Thessalonians, IVPNTC series: Constantly and explicitly focused on Paul’s main points. Few commentaries say, “The main point of this section is…” Go, Dr. Beale, go! Good observation, interpretation, and application. A rare gem as far as commentaries go. My only beef is that the font and typesetting are not the easiest to read, though they may have fixed this problem in recent printings.
• Philip Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, NICNT series: If you want something more thorough and researched than Stott. You’ll get farther, faster with Stott. But if you prefer to go deeper and longer, Towner is a great choice.
• Alan M. Stibbs, The First General Epistle of Peter, TNTC series: I haven’t yet gotten hold of Wayne Grudem’s volume that replaced this one. Stibbs’s work does well with observation, themes, and main points.
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For Leviticus and Numbers I use Roy Gane in NIVAC. For Isaiah, E.J. Young, Oswalt and Motyer. For the Gospels I have found Hendricksen, NTC helpful. John I use Leon Morries and Kostenberger’s Theology of John. These have all been useful to me in the past. I like your idea of making a list so folks can get started on good stuff as they read God’s Word.
Thank you for the suggestions! Would you be willing to evaluate each commentary in light of the 7 bullet points at the top of the page (just briefly identifying which bullets each commentary is strong in)? I’d be happy to add these to the list with some testimony from you that they meet a majority of the stated criteria.
I appreciate your help!
Let me give it a try. I think I am with you on the use of commentaries as the backup for the text, not the main source of information. They are extremely useful however in understanding the culture of the Bible time and how the OT is reflected in the NT.
About a year ago (summer 2014) I spent a lot of time compiling a recommended commentary list, drawing on the advice of about a dozen varied biblical scholars and teachers. I was looking for which commentaries “made it to the top” most strongly and consistently.
I have not annotated the resulting list, and I have not read them all myself (!). But I have coded them both for difficulty level and for whether they are written from a faith perspective or a critical (“neutral,” scholarly) perspective. I have found the resulting list helpful in my own purchases and study. Perhaps some of your readers will, too.
Click through from this introduction to read more of my criteria and to find the commentary lists themselves: http://dwightgingrich.com/recommended-bible-commentaries/intro/
Blessings!
I have been studying the Pentateuch for the last 8 years and it has changed my understanding of the New Testament. The book that I have loved is Leviticus. I’ve dedicated most of my study to this book and have discovered a rich appreciation for Christ’s work on the cross.
I would recommend the following commentaries:
Sklar, J. (2013). Leviticus: An Introduction and Commentary (D. G. Firth, Ed.; Vol. 3). Inter-Varsity Press. I enjoyed the the format he used (context- comment- meaning) which helped tremendously as I went through the whole. He always drives the point to Christ’s work.
Tidball, D. (2005). The Message of Leviticus: Free to Be Holy (A. Motyer & D. Tidball, Eds.). Inter-Varsity Press. Great for a different perspective.
Morales, L. M. (2015). Who Shall Ascend the Mountain of the Lord?: A Biblical Theology of the Book of Leviticus (D. A. Carson, Ed.; Vol. 37). Apollos; InterVarsity Press. He explores the theme of dwelling with God from Genesis to our dwelling with Him in the New Jerusalem.
Milgrom, J. (2004). A Continental Commentary: Leviticus: a book of ritual and ethics. Fortress Press. This is a must. No other author has written so extensively on Leviticus as Jacob Milgrom.