The hodder bible commentarye pdf

How can we live well in a world that can feel meaningless Ecclesiastes invites us to face the hard truth that our lives are very brief and mostly out of our control But that doesn t mean God leaves us to despair In this searching and uplifting commentary Eric Ortlund helps us see that our earthly lives are gifts from God This life may be brief and frustrating but it is good and deeply worth treasuring About the Hodder Bible Commentary The Hodder Bible Commentary is a comprehensive 50 volume Bible commentary series Doctrinally sensitive and globally aware its goal is to encourage a deepened knowledge and understanding of Scripture Accessible and insightful expository commentary explores the timeless message of the Bible and applies it to the challenges of today s world Written by a range of authors and supported by consultant editors from around the world it represents a diversity of church and cultural contexts With the full text of the NIV Bible interspersed with the commentary for easy reference this series is ideal for preaching teaching and personal study The Hodder Bible Commentary EcclesiastesI can honestly credit this commentary with turning my attitude toward Ecclesiastes around I ve always thought of it as one of the Bible s most depressing books but this commentary digs deep enough to reveal the sense of hope that imbues it I thought the breakdown of what is actually meant by the word often translated as meaningless was especially enlightening This commentary is clearly well researched and it s full of footnotes It s very apparent that it was crafted on a base of rigorous scholarship but it was written in enough of a straightforward manner that it was very understandable to me as a layman I would absolutely recommend this to pastors preparing sermons and also to those Christians who like me use commentaries as a basis for individual Bible study English in this commentary Ortlund does a very good job of helping any Christian reader understand Ecclesiastes and read the text in a way that is true to the original language and in context to a lot of references throughout the book from other parts of scripture The strength of this commentary really lies in the voice of the Teacher in the book and how Ortlund remains consistent to look at a holistic view to explain complex parts This is not an approachable part of scripture and can be misrepresented very easily and I found a lot of value in the approach of how this author lays it out At times I wished he had gone into depth in areas especially what he even considered some of the most challenging passages It would have been helpful to hear some variations of interpretation without as much dismissal without much background on why the interpretation may be incomplete Most of the other views he offers are in contrast vs support of what he was saying and that detracted a bit from a complete understanding on why this commentary should be fully valuable to the reader Overall highly recommend English A clear explanation of an unclear biblical bookEcclesiastes Qoheleth is a notoriously difficult biblical book On the surface its message seems to be one of doom and gloom so that people should just eat drink and be merry as there is nothing else for them This means that the book can seem irreligious and even impious Over the centuries its presence in the bible has puzzled some people and troubled others. The hodder bible commentarylism Making sense of the text and understanding it in a way that shows its coherence with the wider bible is the fundamental task of a good commentary on Ecclesiastes This book achieves both those goals The explanation of the text is clear linguistically and spiritually The author shows that there is indeed a bigger picture which the negativity in the text is pointing to and that that bigger picture is a surprisingly positive one which resonates with the wider message of the bible. The hodder bible commentaryjackson Drawing on an expert knowledge of Hebrew and the wider biblical texts the author is able to provide a thoughtful analysis of the text as well as reflection points which ask the reader to ponder the implications of the book for themselves and their lives One of the particularly commendable aspects of the book is that it is pitched to both the reader approaching the text out of personal interest as well as the preacher who needs to think about how to structure a set of sermons on the text. The hodder bible commentaryl pdf Throughout the text the author addresses Christian readers That is understandable for a bible commentary But Old Testament books are also part of the patrimony of Judaism It would have been interesting to hear about how Jewish scholars read the text and whether their readings differ from Christian readings. The hodder bible commentaryjourney One feature of the book which I didn t enjoy was the occasional personalised criticism of other scholars Thus we hear about named individuals who are accused of mishandling texts or mistranslating 10% However elsewhere in the book the author offers a commendably depersonalised critique of other views noting the existence of alternative readings and simply giving a reason for his own preferred approach I would have preferred if that style had been pursued across the whole book. Book the hodder bible commentary pdf Overall this is a helpful introduction to a complicated biblical book and it is presented skillfully so that it does not presuppose any previous knowledge or studies These are honest comments on an ARC Advanced Review Copy of the text which was read digitally in Feb 2024 English Not sure why the hardcover edition isn t on Goodreads Eric continuing his role in my library as best Ortlund A beautifully written commentary with lots to chew on Some niggles with format and a possible over reliance on a couple of folk make it not quite 5 But highly recommended 4 5 review to come English