The College Press NIV Commentary Series: Old Testament (CPNIV) (16 vols.)

The College Press NIV Commentary Series on the Old Testament is a multivolume work, providing clear exposition of each biblical book. This volume, The Old Testament Introduction, focuses on each individual book of the Old Testament and gives specifics on their authorship, date and purpose. The Old Testament Introduction provides an excellent starting point for any in-depth Bible book study or exegesis.

he first book of the Old Testament speaks of beginnings. It functions as the introduction to the Pentateuch and is foundational to the understanding of the rest of the Bible. Genesis explains how the people of Israel arose and were called to be God's people. The nation to which the Pentateuch is addressed is about to enter the promised land. There they will face the culture and religion of the inhabitants of Canaan. The polytheistic nature religion of the Canaanites is a great temptation to Israel, and the laws recorded in the Pentateuch are designed to prevent Israel from falling into the destructive patterns of life present in Canaan.

Deuteronomy has been a controversial book for at least the last 120 years. At that time what is known as the critical school developed which insisted that the book could neither have been written at the time of the exodus and wandering nor could it have been written by Moses. Hall has cogently and thoroughly defended the conservative position which holds to the traditional view which the book claims for itself. By carefully delineating the structure of the book both holistically and in many disputed passages, he demonstrates that Deuteronomy was originally a single piece of legal history, not a hodgepodge of writings from various times in Israel's history put together by a series of editors in the years after the exile.

The immediate purpose of the Book of Samuel was to narrate the circumstances surrounding the founding of the monarchy in Israel with Saul, the fascinating relationships between Saul and David, and David's rise to the throne. First Samuel narrates the expansion of the kingdom of Israel into an important power. Second Samuel deals with the covenant with David, his sin and fall from favor, and the disciplines he received for those sins.

1 & 2 Kings tell of David's death, the golden age of Solomon's reign, how the nation divided into two kingdoms, and their eventual captivity by heathen powers. Solomon, David's son, began his rule with great wealth, glory, and power, but it ended in disgrace.

The spiritual condition of Israel was of paramount importance to the writer amidst political changes. The author of Kings holds up the history of Israel and Judah before the captives to teach them that the only way to freedom is to repent of idolatry, return to God, keep the covenant, and trust in the divine promises. He seeks to awaken in them a conviction of the truth of this teaching and to strengthen them in this conviction.

John Mark Hicks has given us a clear vision of God's desire for his people through the eyes of the Chronicler. The message repeated again and again throughout Chronicles and this commentary is, “God seeks those who seek him; God forsakes those who forsake him.” Just as the Chronicler applied the meaning of God's promises to his own context, so Hicks challenges us to apply the meaning of these same promises to our context.

Ezra and Nehemiah are considered some of the “historical” books of the Bible, for in them we get a glimpse of life in Israel after the exile in Babylon. Dr. Schoville identifies these as the Ezra Memoirs and the Nehemiah Memoirs. It is his belief that the first-person material in these books was probably written around 400 B.C., while an editor compiled these memoirs with other sources around 300 B.C., after the conquest of Alexander the Great.

Through fasting, prayer, and confession both Esther and Daniel discover the tenacious resolve of faith, its uncompromising purity, and the security of its shelter. These are a man and woman of faith. They challenge us to follow their lead. Dr. Mangano examines these two wonderful books and provides evidence of how the Hebrew God cares for his people and ultimately his church.

Psalms was written in poetic form, the language of the soul. This expression of emotion ranges through all the human experience from praise and joy to lament and sorrow. By some estimations, nearly one third of the Old Testament is in some form of poetry that could be converted to song. Spanning nearly 700 years, several authors contributed to the book of Psalms, including David, Moses, Asaph and others.

Psalms is a book not only to read but to meditate upon. Taking refuge in Yahweh as the true King is the answer to the renewed hopes of the people of God. Each psalm has its own "personality." In contrast to the first volume of this series, volume two will keep the entire framework of the Psalter in mind as each psalm is studied. The Psalms should never be read simply as individual psalms, neglecting the context of the whole.

Typically known as part of the Wisdom Literature category, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes provide insight into the process of obtaining and keeping wisdom. Interestingly enough, these books point out that pursuing wisdom on one's own is useless because wisdom is a gift from God. Wisdom that is described in these two books is wisdom that is sought out, not in solitude, but in community with God and other human beings.

The reader of a book as large as Isaiah needs some sense of the structure of the whole in order to grasp the significance of the individual segments. A major issue for understanding both the structure and the unity of the book is the narrative section in chapters 36-39. These chapters connect the poetic portions in chapters 1-35 and 40-66. Chapters 1-35 relfect the backdrop of the Assyrian crisis and culminate in the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennachreib through the faith of Hezekiah (chapters 36-37). Chapters 38-39 describe God's extension of Hezekiah's life, the arrival of Babylonian envoys to congratulate him (and promote and alliance between them), and God's announcement of the future Babylonian exile. These events set the stage for chapters 40-66, which reflect the backdrop of the return from Babylonian exile. The fact that the events of chapters 38-39 predate those of chapters 36-37 indicates a deliberate arrangement which affirms the unity of Isaiah. This volume covers chapters 1-27.

The New Testament quotes Isaiah more than any Old Testament book other than Psalms, but Isaiah offers much more to the Christian. The challenges the prophet Isaiah confronted in his ministry provide the backdrop for profound theological insights. During Isaiah's lifetime the Northern Kingdom fell and the Southern Kingdom was facing the future prospect of defeat and exile as well. In his critique of the sins that would cause Judah's fall to Babylon, Isaiah provides insights into the basic qualities God looks for in a relationship with his people. This volume covers chapters 28-66.

Throughout the writings of Jeremiah—in Jeremiah and Lamentations—the predominant theme is God's sovereignty. In the book of Jeremiah, we see that God retains the ability to choose his prophet, to determine the fate of the nations, and to continue to hold out both the threat of destruction and the hope of deliverance. Lamentations examines the same themes from the viewpoint of the sufferers. Jeremiah laments the inevitable destruction of his fellow Israelites while trusting in God to set right the wrongs committed against them.

The book of Ezekiel is notoriously strange. Ezekiel's visions, actions, and words are bizarre "sometimes utterly incomprehensible" to us. He lies on his side for over a year, he eats a scroll, he is asked to cook with human waste, and he cannot cry at his wife's death. Ezekiel's message seems unavailable to many because we simply don't have "ears to hear."

Written as a type of road map for students of the Bible, Harold Shank, in his commentary on the early Minor Prophets, seeks to provide necessary information for the journey of Scripture reading. While extremely diverse in setting and literary devices, the works of the Minor Prophets can be summarized by three major themes.

Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah are all discussed in this volume.