Ruth: A Discourse Analysis of the Hebrew Bible (8) (Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament)

This was such a helpful commentary. When I was teaching Ruth, I purchased eight commentaries, but by the end of the series this was my go-to "academic" commentary. Block deals with the Hebrew text intimately, and though I think you can benefit from this commentary without knowledge of Hebrew, it will certainly be frustrating as the Hebrew shows up frequently throughout the text. Just flipping through it, I don't see a page that doesn't include Hebrew, and it is almost never transliterated.Block interacts thoroughly with the text, digging through its many related texts, and particularly those in the Pentateuch. One observation that I found incredibly helpful was that most commentaries assume that redeemer (go'el) in chapters 2, 3, 4 is referring to levirate marriage from Deut 25, but Block notes that the language of go'el is not included there. Block interacts with this idea at some length.Following the excellent format of this series, each chapter has several deeper explorations of theological points that are expanded or assumed by each chapter. I found these to be outstanding also and a great help in teaching the book when you are looking to show how Ruth interacts with the grand narrative of scripture. I found Block to be a helpful and trustworthy guide throughout. For example, in looking at Ruth 3, Block offers discussions on "The Nature of Divine Providence" and how Ruth 3 has contributed to that topic (which has been significant throughout) and "The Nature of Covenant Righteousness" and how Boaz responds faithfully even to something which his not directly demanded of him by the law because he is faithful.This is a long, thorough commentary ... more than 300 pages for the little book of Ruth. I had this and Hubbard as my "technical" commentaries and by the end of the series I was not looking at Hubbard much. Block had won my trust and with Currid and Ferguson included from a more expositional angle, I had the core of commentaries that I found most helpful in my preparation.

a serious commentary on the Hebrew text of the Bible.

Extremely helpful in my preparation to teach the Book of Ruth. Detailed but accessible. Academic and devotional.

Excellent scholarly resource.

Looking forward to reading this

Great

This is the best technical commentary on the book of Ruth I would recommend. If you read the book of Ruth in the Bible it is only four chapters and yet this commentary is 271 pages long (308 pages if you go by what the publishers say), filled with insights properly extrapolated from God’s Word that is exegetical in nature; that is, it is filled with grammatical and syntactical observation from the Hebrew text along with word study and exploration of a passage’s intertextuality. An aspect of this commentary that makes it unique is the author’s use of discourse analysis. There are many things readers will learn from God’s Word here and I was blown away with what I discover in this book that led me to worship God and Christ more! While I have in the past enjoyed other titles in the Zondervan Old Testament Exegetical Commentary Series this one would be one that I would highly recommend.The book begins with a very good introduction to the book of Ruth. I enjoyed the author’s discussion of the book’s literary style, canonical position of the book and the theological significance of the book of Ruth. The author believes that Ruth was written in the late seventh century and for me this is rather late. As a result of that position he also believes the author of Ruth is familiar with the prophecy in Micah 5:2-5 concerning the Messiah and is thus excited with the implication of what that means looking back at the story of Ruth and how Elimelech is from Bethlehem. Even if you don’t agree with the author’s view Daniel Block still should be read for his scholarly insight from the book of Ruth.The commentary does a good job in examining individual text units in the book of Ruth in an organized and helpful manner. Each periscope begins with a summary of the main idea of the passage that states this in a one or two sentence summary. This is followed by a discussion of the literary context in terms of how the passage relates to the whole. Then there’s a translation and exegetical outline followed by structure and literary form survey and then a verse by verse explanation of the text. Finally there’s a discussion about the canonical and practical significance of the section.One thing that I love about this work is the intertextuality that the author points out between the book of Ruth and other passages in Scripture. For instance both Ruth 3:11 and Proverbs 31:10 uses a Hebrew word for nobility that only appear twice in the canon and thus there is a suggestion that Ruth is the supreme example of nobility described in Proverbs 31.I am so glad I used this commentary when I taught through the book of Ruth for my church on Sundays. What this book taught me went beyond some of the observations found in other commentaries. I would rank this as my favorite commentary on the book of Ruth. Its my opinion every bible expositor preaching and teaching through the book of Ruth should have this as a resource.NOTE: This book was provided to me free by Zondervan Academic and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.