Biblical Hebrew Forum

[gds AT dor.kaiser.org]

Dear Bill and others:

Well, my two cents is that it does exactly what I thought it would do; be a 
very
good commentary for college level students, seminarians and pastors who are
doing 'professional' exegesis as opposed to being learned scholars, but yet,
want some of the more relevant insights from the critical tradition.  I cannot
say I have thoroughly examined it, but what I have does a credible job showing
what critical issues really need to be looked at, and does a pretty good job
looking at theological issues for our day. Quite frankly, it does that a bit
better than many to be honest.  (The treatment of Ps. 46 or 48 and the problem
of Zionism in our day comes to my mind in that volume of the NIB).  I think it
would also be a good resource for getting up to speed on the the introductory
issues of a given text.  So, I would especially recommend it for 
undergraduates
taking an intro course at some level in biblical studies, and, a fair resource
for the more advanced.  I have been given 5 volumes from friends, and they are
nice to get the 'quick and dirty' information if I am asked something about a
text that I haven't looked at in some time, or to refresh my mind.  
Personally,
I think it is a good example of the 'genre' to which it belongs - an all in 
one
commentary resource.  However, if you are wanting Hermeneia, or something like
that, you won't be impressed.  On the other hand, most pastors can't handle
Hermeneia, nor college students, so it works for its intended market, that is,
the average pastor who has some critical training.  Graphically, I have to
admit, they did a very good job with the format of the text.  At the 30%
discount on Amazon, they are worthy of the $42 it takes per volume.  You get
your money's worth if you are in the market they are targetting or just need 
an
introductory commentary resource for the 'just in case someone asks' questions
professors are always getting hit with by students.

Gary D. Salyer