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2 KingsThe power and the furyYour pastor’s Christmas present!2 KINGS Many of us have been waiting eagerly for Dr. Ralph Davis’s new commentary on 2 Kings and once again we are not disappointed. What is it about this series (Joshua, Judges. 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings and now 2 Kings — all published by Christian Focus) that makes it so appreciated and essential? In the first place, we know that we are in the hands of a master who has read all the commentaries and other relevant literature and has, therefore, done his research meticulously. It might be possible to disagree with his conclusions, but it would be totally impossible to disparage his scholarship. Secondly, Dr. Davis writes in a breath-takingly knock-about style which is extremely readable. He is almost the P.G. Wodehouse of commentators! This makes The Power and the Fury, in the words of the best-seller list, a real page-turner. The scholarship is worn lightly; his illustrations and humour abound. But at all times Dr. Davis is reverently sitting under the Word of God, though this can hardly be said of his attitude towards some of the liberal commentators whom he knocks all over the field. Thirdly, although he always has the big picture in mind — that all Scripture leads us to Christ and the gospel — yet each individual chapter and episode is allowed to tell its own story as it is wonderfully unfolded. Fourthly, this means that we are given a marvellous model as to how we should handle Old Testament narrative passages — no allegorisation, no ducking of difficult moral issues. Whereas some of the earlier stories in the book — those concerning the ‘days of Elisha’ and the reigns of Hezekiah (good-ish), Manasseh (very, very bad), Josiah (mostly good) are reasonably familiar, it will come as a revelation to many to read of ‘the woman who saved Christmas’ (Jehosheba, chapter 11), the life-restoring effect of Elisha’s bones (chapter 13), the devastation caused by the Samaritan lions (chapter 17). Fifthly, this commentary clearly comes from a pastor’s heart. Dr. Davis was formerly Old Testament professor at the Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, but has now returned to his first love and is the pastor of Woodland Presbyterian Church in Hattiesburg. No wonder that the initial stock of this volume sold out on the first day of the recent Evangelical Ministry Assembly. It’s a great book. Get it! Jonathan Fletcher,
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