eBook Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary download

Beautiful book in and of itself. The text walks through Exodus word-by-word to give you the trees of what is happening in exodus and helps you find the nuances of the Mosaic writing. Even as it may be more of a tree instead of forest commentary, it does not forsake the forest. It walks through large swaths describing context and giving pictures of the life of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt. Quite a helpful commentary when working through suck an amazing historical account.

This commentary far exceeded my expectations; not only does Hamilton deal with the language in a way that non-Hebrew readers can appreciate, but he gives other references where the word is used. He also gives N. T. parallels. His insights are also helpful. I highly recommend this exegetical commentary.

Top of the line commentary on exodus. Something I like is that this commentary has a Hebrew grammatical analisis of the key words on each chapther.

great for study and reseach

Great

Prof Victor Hamilton's 2011 Baker Commentary on Exodus is one of the most absorbing books I have read. I feel indebted to Cecil B DeMille's 1956 dramatic and then exciting cinematic interpretation. I experience that same excitement when reading Hamilton's exposition. This review is for lay readers who want a meaningful addition to what Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner has enacted for us. Religious advisors heavily vetted "The Ten Commandments" prior to its 1956 theatrical release. Every Easter, we are treated to re-runs on TV, and the 1956 rendition has not quite been surpassed. Prof Hamilton serves up dramatic fresh insights with subtle humour, witty chiasmatic turns of phrases, unexpected counterpoints - he is a very interesting read.

Biblical scholars will hail this book as a significant academic milestone. As a lay reviewer, I am limited to what I can: critique the physical book. Share what I have learnt.

With a new cover design, Exodus looks quite large, but this is an optical illusion. The book is the same size and will stack up well against all the other Baker NT exegeticals. The cover is high-gloss crystal-coated hardboard, with a lovely cover design. Crystal coatings scuff easily: plastic wrap is preferred. There is no Dust Jacket.

The page layout is much improved and different from the BECNT series. Eminently reader friendly. Typeface has improved tremendously. Smaller, but more legible, with more spacing between lines. Paper is smooth and very, very white. Nice feel and touch. The print is properly and consistently inked.

As a generalisation, books (like Exodus) printed in the USA use paper which minimises yellow highlighting ink or roller ball gel underlining from soaking through to the reverse page. For this review, I swabbed page 259 "God...has an odd sense of humor" with a new fluorescent yellow highlighter. Only after the third or fourth swab was there a slight trace of yellow on page 260. Ink from roller ball pens does not bleed through. Outsourced book pages look great, until a highlighter or ink underlining is applied. The Chinese invented paper, but have not improved in this respect. The black brush-ink I used as a child was hand-ground dense colloid particles. Perhaps intrinsic (China) paper porosity to modern inks accounts for the print being lighter and uneven when it reaches the consumer.

The heartbreaking part of the physical book is in the binding. The pages are individually glued to the paper "crash" or "mull" backing. Pages are likely to come off one after another with use, especially if shearing force is applied during reading, shelving or storage. I saw some cracks in my copy in pages near the front hinge. The regular BECNT series has pages in folded sheaves, which looks anchored down to the binding. This production is like a glorified paperback: ground breaking scholarship let down by pitiful book binding. Hamilton's 1995 NICOT Genesis in 2 volumes is exquisitely bound. For perspective, some Exegetical Commentaries from other publishers in 2010 and 2011 are just as shabbily bound. Ominous trend.

The format is simpler than in BECNT. The biblical chapters are divided into short verse-based chapters, each with a catchy title. The three chapter parts are:

1. TRANSLATION (Hamilton's own translation of Exodus. Having proven he understands the nuances of Hebrew, he does not inflict more Hebrew on the reader than is necessary)
2. (Grammatical and) LEXICAL NOTES
3. COMMENTARY

The Lexical Notes are prefixed by the Chapter and Verse. They are elevated from footnotes to single column discussions. Each Lexical Note is a self-contained module in itself, and can be read without reference to the text or other parts of the bible.

Each Lexical Note is a nugget of information. There are absolutely no "Subtitles" or "crawlers" below any page of the book. No dreaded qv, cf, see, refer to, infra, and so on. Each Lexical Note is related to the verse, but independent. They are stand-alone mini-commentaries, in proper full sentences. Non-Exodus material is found here, rather than in the main COMMENTARY, as in illustrating 16:7, Hamilton draws attention to Lamentations 3:40,41,42 as an acrostic poem. More illuminating insights are scattered everywhere in the copious lexical notes. Lexical notes make good sporadic reading. They are not academic references to justify the expositor's viewpoint.

The COMMENTARY section is centred on Exodus. Passages from other books of the bible are kept to be minimum.

The Introduction starts with the observation that before there can be an Exodus, there must be an eisodus, what I understand to be an "In-xodus" by Jacob. Even if the Hebrews had found Egypt a paradise, the Lord would still take them out of the Egypt. Exodus was not "salvation" for the Hebrews, but to fulfil the covenant between God and Abraham et al.

Hamilton emphasizes Hebrew men and children being thrust out of Egypt, rather than just allowed to leave. Scripture arguably did not mention women leaving. The women were to be left behind, but were later allowed to leave under the "personal baggage and belongings" clause.

"The way to the promised land is through unpromising land".

In Chapter 12, Hamilton goes to town about the unleavened bread. What the big deal about unleavened bread is discussed.
Chapter 26, Hamilton states one category of people who have to work on the Sabbath..........Priests.
Scripture mandates rest on the Sabbath, not worship, which can take place on any day.
On the Golden Calf in Chapter 32, he raises the discussion that the Hebrews' sin may be polytheism rather than idolatry. The issue is not of a false god, but a "false perception of who the true one God is."

36:2-7 "The Israelites do not have any problem with building a dwelling place for Yahweh that is made of precious jewelry, yarn, linen...that has "Egypt" written all over it. It is like *** that believes there is no such thing as tainted money...regardless of the source, if the gifts help advance the cause of Christ...then beat the drum and ask God's blessing on the gift."

"Kudos to the readers of Scripture who patiently are able to plow their way through all the micrometric details of the tabernacle in chaps 25 - 31, only to have to face an encore in chaps 35-39." Hamilton makes this jibe only after bringing us through the significance of each item in the tabernacle, down to the curtains, lamp stand, table, altar, sparing no detail.

Please allow me to share two matters picked up in the Lexical notes:

The Red Sea could translate in Hebrew to the Reed Sea, a fresh water sea with reeds. Looking at a map, the Red Sea is far away and really wide. Even the Gulf of Suez is quite a distance from Rameses city, and still very wide. Ryrie has a map showing a possible crossing at the Gulf of Suez, but it looks far-fetched. But I can accept Red Sea under the Matthew 19:26/Luke 18:27 (all things are possible/nothing is impossible) proviso.

14:25 is refreshing. "encumbered" normally means "take off, remove"...the thick mud the wheels of the chariots soon "broke off" from the axle. 14:27 the Egyptians flee, presumably in the direction from which they had come, but the flood water comes down on them from that very direction.
Whoa. Wait a minute. Did not the chariots charge at full gallop from Yul Brynner's side to Charlton Heston's side? The charioteers did not so much as glance back. When they drowned, the chariot wheels were still intact in the water.

Hamilton's translation: "drove them heavily"...
So I looked up, among others,
KJV: And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily...
JERUSALEM Bible 1966: He so clogged their chariot wheels that they could scarcely make headway.
JAMIESON c.1846: the plunging of the terrified horses seems to have thrown the chariots off the axles
MATTHEW Henry 17TH century: their wheels dropped off
INTERPRETATION Series (Exodus: Terence Fretheim 1989): dry land is turned into a quagmire
COOK(1985) the rain quickly soaked the sea floor, which caused the wheels of their chariots to swerve (Ps 77).
AFRICA Bible Commentary (2006) and the New Interpreter's Commentary (1994) suggest the dry land and wet land has parallels with the Creation.

CECIL B DEMILLE(1956) freeze-frame by freeze-frame: no wet land, no wheels coming off, no chariots being dragged wheel-less by their bottoms through the mud. One chariot side-swiped a rock, but that was bad driving, or dangerous Hollywood stunt work. The waters came down in the middle. The Charlton Heston side had disarrayed Cavalry. No chariots. The Yul Brynner side had chariots racing back on dry seabed until the water got them. Charlton Heston proclaims, "Who is like unto thee, O LORD" (Exodus 15:11), "from everlasting to everlasting" which sounds good, but I still cannot find it verbatim in Exodus (15:18 reads "for ever and ever"). There is just no right or wrong interpretation.

Great commentaries illuminate Biblical books that are notoriously difficult to understand. Victor Hamilton's Exodus is a superb addition, being especially helpful in the latter "Tabernacle" chapters. 2011 Exodus brings out contemporary spiritual messages. From tithes to daily bread (give "us", not give "me"). In this detailed study in Exodus, concepts will be shaken, but faith strengthened.

This book was a gift to my step son. He enjoyed it thoroughly and was helpful for a school project

This commentary is intended more for the scholar than for the earnest, serious Bible student seeking to understand the book of Exodus. the publisher (Baker Books) would suggest the author is, broadly speaking, evangelical in orientation.

The author's knowledge of the nuances of Hebrew is obvious, but his approach to the book of Exodus is atypical for a scholarly commentary. After a brief preface, for example, his introduction is only eight pages (The book is about 800 pages long) and includes no discussion of the dating problems of the Exodus or other basic issues scholars (and serious students) might like to see addressed in an introduction. The brief outlines of Exodus (He reproduces a couple of his favorites) are obscure and unhelpful in telling us, broadly, what Exodus is about.

I wanted to like this book but was distracted by the many opinions of the author and references to people and events outside the context that were not especially helpful. He seemed to major on too many minor points while at the same time lacked meaningful insights connected to key events. Yes, you can find help here in understanding Exodus, but there are better sources available. "Moses and the Gods of Egypt" by John J. Davis has a good discussion of the dating problems, as does "Exodus" by John L. Mackay, both volumes without excessive and unnecessary technical language. Another thorough exposition of Exodus as a whole is the volume by Douglas K. Stuart in The New American Commentary series.