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Joshua: No Falling WordsA book of rare qualityJOSHUA: NO FALLING WORDS It is not easy to sustain interest in the book of Joshua, since the dramatic events of the crossing of the Jordan into the promised land and the fall of Jericho soon give way to chapters of land surveys and other lists. However, this commentary by the Professor of Old Testament at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, USA, certainly holds the attention and more. Placing a basically early date on the book, he sees its purpose as having been written initially to address the wayward generation of the time of the Judges, 'when Israel had no king and everyone did as he saw fit.' That generation needed to know what the Lord had done for the nation in the past and to hear the message from Joshua of God's absolute fidelity to all his promises. It is a message that could not be more relevant to the contemporary church. The book is divided into four major sections: chapters 1-4 entering the land, chapters 5-12 taking the land, chapters 13-21 possessing the land, chapters 22-24 retaining the land. The author addresses the great ethical questions of God's command for the extermination of the Canaanite peoples with both reverence and wisdom. What makes the commentary so helpful is the author's obvious familiarity with all the technical matters of archaeology and linguistics associated with the book of Joshua, and his orthodox Reformed theology, combined with an ability to bring applications which are well-grounded in the text and up-to-date for 21st-century people. There is, too, a blessed light touch about the exposition. Whereas with some commentaries readers may feel as if they are wading through detail to little profit, here the author seems to go unerringly straight to the central matters of a passage, and feed both our minds and our hearts. It is a brief commentary of rare quality for ordinary people and pastors which I highly recommend. John Benton© Evangelicals Now - October 2001 |