Judges and Ruth

JUDGES AND RUTH
By Stephen Dray
Christian Focus Publications. 160 pages
ISBN 185792323 5

To be brutally honest, I began by expecting the worst. An evangelical commentary on Judges and Ruth, I thought, at a popular level? That will mean a lot of 'instructive' parallels between the people of God then and now - and not a lot else.

Most people will recognise this approach, if not from books, then from sermons and talks. You ask questions like these: where did the people of God go wrong? What were their strengths and can we imitate them? What general spiritual laws do we see? And so on. I expected this approach but, again and again, this book took me by surprise. The treatment of Samson, going back to the promise of Genesis 3 to restore paradise through a deliverer, and then forward through Samson and the Kings to Christ, is thrilling. Dray similarly takes the hint of the 'kinsman-redeemer' in Ruth 3 to show us Christ the redeemer. I longed for more.

Were there other pleasant surprises? Yes, many. Such as the list of possible dates for the judges, the challenging questions at the end of each section, and the concluding summary of spiritual lessons. Overall, I felt, a book that fulfils its aims well: orthodox, yet warm; brief, without being shallow; contemporary in application, yet throughout attentive to the biblical text. Buy it? Yes, I would. But read it - and more importantly, read Judges and Ruth - asking God to show you Jesus.

Tom Forryan,
Derby Road Baptist Church, Watford

© Evangelicals Now - March 1998
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• Judges and Ruth