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Tyndale Old Testament Commentary - IsaiahThis book is by Alec Motyer and is the last of the series. The first Tyndale Old Testament Commentary (TOTC) was Kidner on Proverbs. In that volume, Donald Wiseman's first general preface said the aim was for 'students and serious readers'. In the TOTC Psalms, the aim was a bit more specific, 'to provide the student of the Bible who has no specialised training in biblical theology or history of languages with a handy up-to-date commentary on each book'. In this final TOTC, we are back to the serious Bible reader. So I am the person who is meant to read it. But am I allowed to review it? After a little wrestling with my conscience, I have thought it right to proceed. If we are to wait for a full review by a Hebrew scholar, it will be the next millennium before it appears. But can we wait? The reduced offer for UCCF friends is open for a short period. People want to know if they should buy it. Should you buy it? Yes certainly, but you will want to know what you are getting. My method has been to study all the very helpful introductory sections very carefully. Then, with regard to detail, I have taken three representative passages: chapters 24-26; then chapter 35; and then chapters 56-59; and compared and contrasted them with the material in the 21st century one volume commentary by Kidner, the BST by Webb and the major Motyer work The Prophecy of Isaiah. The only real problems I found is that some of the Capitals ABCCBA letters that denote the balance of the poetic passages seem to have crept in from the larger Motyer work without the necessary explanation of why they are there. This might be confusing to the reader who does not realise what is going on and has looked up a single passage for elucidation. In one or two places, it seems condensation causes slight confusion. On page 24 of the TOTC, four passages are mentioned and then 12 references are given. You need to realise they are in three groups of four. As for size, chapter 35 has three and a half pages allotted in both the bigger and the smaller Motyer, but those in the TOTC are of course smaller pages. Although it fits in the pocket, this is still a book for reading in a low gear at a desk with the Bible open. It still demands work. But it is worth it. No gain without pain. No easy sermon cribs. Some old sermons get destroyed along the way. Motyer insists that chapter 64.1 has to be a past tense, so we can no longer link it with 63.15. So that you can no longer link as commands: 'Look down and then come down.' Pity about that. At the beginning of the book, Motyer gives his own survey of further reading. His evaluation of the other three commentaries considered there is, in my opinion, exactly right, but I would not have been able to say that unless I had gone to all this trouble to check. His own description of the TOTC is that it is a reader's commentary, a companion to daily Bible reading. I would agree, provided you include the phrase 'serious' Bible student. How many of them are there in these days? What a debt we owe to Kidner, Motyer and those who are able to read Hebrew almost as their mother tongue! We need to pray that there is a generation following who will continue to help and encourage those of us who have learnt to love the Old Testament but have failed abysmally to cope with the Hebrew. NotesBooks discussed above with the comments by Motyer in his further reading guide: The Prophecy of Isaiah (Alec Motyer) (now in paperback at £14.99) ISBN 0 85111652 3. 'A more demanding read than the TOTC. Delves into literary and poetic structure as a tool for displaying meaning and message. Take it slowly!' The Message of Isaiah (Barry Webb) BST series. ISBN 0 85111 167 X. 'Full of insight and application, excellent for personal study.' Isaiah in the New Bible Commentary 21st edition (Derek Kidner). 'Brilliant for a first run-through of Isaiah. Full of perceptiveness.' John Marsh© Evangelicals Now - October 1999 |