ESV Expository Commentary, Volume 2: Deuteronomy–Ruth, edited by Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar. Wheaton: Crossway, 2021. 743 pp. $60.00.
The ESV Expository Commentary set is Crossway’s attempt to improve upon Zondervan’s The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, with the former coming in at twelve volumes and the latter at thirteen. The greatest benefit of these volumes has always been easy access to an abbreviated commentary on every book of the Bible in one set, perfect for Bible-college students and lay church leaders who are looking for more insights than can be found in their favorite study Bible but less helpful for scholarly work. But for the pastor, laboring to preach expositionally, would this new set prove helpful, or too abbreviated to be of much good? Or possibly, might it be tone-deaf to the pastor’s constant need to not just explain the text but help his congregation learn why the living Word should affect how they think and act today? With so many good commentaries available, the real question for most pastors is straightforward: can a multi-book, multi-author commentary set be valuable in weekly expositions?
For its part, in the ESV Expository Commentary preface expressly states that the commentary aims to be “pastorally useful” and “application-minded,” yet “exegetically sound” and “doctrinally conversant… drawing appropriate brief connections to matters of historical or current theological importance.” It is difficult to marry brevity and usefulness, and yet, the ESV Expository Commentary, Volume 2, rises to the occasion. As I used the commentary when preaching through portions of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, the commentary quickly became a must read each week, not because it chased every exegetical rabbit trail or explained Hebrew grammar exhaustively—but because it didn’t. Particularly when preaching the Old Testament, the expositor generally covers large swaths of text and so the need is greater for summary information, while keying in on theologically and exegetically significant sections and providing plenty of pointed application. Again, this is where the ESV Expository Commentary shines.
Each author is given flexibility to break up their assigned books into pericopes of various lengths and each section has the same basic outline: the text of the esv, “Section Overview” (generally two to four paragraphs), “Section Outline” (exegetical, not expositional), Comment (specific comments on two to six verses, mostly lining up with the exegetical outline), and “Response” (generally four to five paragraphs). If I was short on time, I found it most helpful to mine the applicational gold in the “Response” section. In addition to the commentary on the text, an introduction is also provided for each book. Due to both the size of the volumes (7 in x 10 in) and number of pages, even the introductions are thorough enough to rival many traditional, single book, commentaries. There were certainly times when the comments proved to be superficial and unhelpful, but by-and-large each author succinctly tackled textual and theological problems in a helpful way for both the pastor and the layman. One possible improvement would be to provide a couple of expositional outlines for each pericope immediately following the “Response” section.
As with any multi-author work, the quality between chapters or in this case, commentaries, can vary widely. Surprisingly, in the ESV Expository Commentary, Volume 2, this was not the case. Although each commentary has a unique style, each of the four books in this volume are strong. August H. Konkel (Professor of OT, McMaster Divinity College) wrote the Deuteronomy commentary, and he intentionally notes how Deuteronomy is applied later by the Israelite kings and prophets. Frequent are his cross-references to other parts of the Old Testament. His weakest contributions are the “Response” sections which tend to meander and are much looser in their application of the text. Sometimes they were quite interesting and, at others, befuddling. Konkel, more than the other authors in this volume, includes pertinent Hebrew word discussions and yet does it without getting bogged down in unnecessary technical details.
David Reimer (Academic Dean, Faith Mission Bible College) wrote the Joshua commentary. Of all the authors in this volume, he delves deepest into textual issues, chronological discrepancies, and historical interpretations. Most of this information is found in his “Section Overview,” and thus can be easily skipped if desired. Similar to Konkel, Reimer’s weakest section is his “Response,” but for the opposite reason, as he simply provided a short summary of his exegetical notes with little in the way of application.
Miles V. Van Pelt (Professor of OT, Reformed Theological Seminary) wrote the Judges commentary. Although his writing style was a little drier than the other authors, he often provided some of the most insightful comments of all the commentaries I read in his “Comment” section. Further, Van Pelt, was particularly helpful in writing his commentary for the good of the church, not just because of percipient applications but because he carefully connected theological themes on the nature of God in Judges to statements in the New Testament.
Perhaps the strongest of all the contributions was the Ruth commentary, by Mary Willson Hannah (Director of Women in Ministry, Second Presbyterian Church, Memphis). Her source material is one of the most compelling short stories ever penned, and Hannah was able to make the text come alive even more with pertinent historical details, timely theological applications, and careful exegetical notes. Of all the authors in this volume, I found her to be the most quotable.
One weakness, that I am sure I would find in all volumes in this series, is the propensity to insert a rogue reference to Jesus where he simply is not exegetically found. Given that the editors are all giants of covenantal reformed theology (Iain M. Duguid [Westminster Theological Seminary], James M. Hamilton Jr. [Southern Baptist Theological Seminary], and Jay Sklar [Covenant Theological Seminary]), one cannot expect a reformed dispensational hermeneutic. Just know before picking up the ESV Expository Commentary, Volume 2, and others in this series, that there is a stated goal to provide a “Christ-centered explanation of the biblical text, ‘because’ all Scripture speaks of Christ (Luke 24:27).” Most of the authors in this volume are particularly careful in this endeavor, but a few times I was left unsure how their dots connected. These books are beautifully crafted and look to wear well for years to come of heavy use and note taking.
