Top Ruth Commentaries

Jenny Matheny lists and annotates her top commentaries on Nijay Gupta's blog here. It is a decent list but I would have found a place for commentaries by Block and Hubbard.

The Narrative of Ruth: Plot (Part 1)

Ruth is a brief but powerful picture of God's redemptive provision. The book can be studied in a variety of ways, one of which is from a literary perspective. And one way to do so is to try and analyze the plot structure 

As I see it, the Book of Ruth is a “problem based” plot. In this kind of plot, a problem is introduced in the beginning which will be addressed in the rest of the story. The major problem is the emptying of Naomi’s life through the death of her husband, two sons, and a daughter-in-law.

Naomi’s plight may have symbolic, theological, and canonical implications. That is, Naomi may be representative of the nation Israel as a whole, her plight and redemption highlighting the loyal love of Yahweh, and the book’s place within the so-called “Bethlehem Trilogy”involving two stories in the book of Judges involving Bethlehem.

In a forthcoming post I will lay out this plot as I see it.

New Issue of Tyndale House's Ink

The ninth issue of Tyndale House's magazine Ink is now out. You can check it out for free here.

Psalm 53 Links

I have been working on a commentary on the Psalms. I have decided to compile some helpful links that I discovered during my research. It includes a mix of exegetical and sermonic links. Here is what I have for Psalm 53 (in no particular order). Feel free to mention any that you find helpful in the comments section.

Into the Word with Paul Carter: https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/into-the-word/psalms-52-54

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps053.pdf

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_053.pdf

Psalm 53 devotional: https://www.generations.org/devotionals/66

Psalm 53 in canonical perspective: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1010-99192013000300004

Chronicles as the Last Book of the Old Testament

Claude Mariottini has a very good post here regarding the canonical placement of Chronicles in Jewish tradition.

The Latest Issue of the Review of Biblical Literature

The latest issue of Review of Biblical Literature is out. Reviews can be accessed by clicking the links below but unfortunately you must be a SBL member to read them.

Garrick V. Allen, Manuscripts of the Book of Revelation: New Philology, Paratexts, Reception
Reviewed by Alexander E. Stewart

Dominique Angers, L' « Aujourd'hui » en Luc-Actes, chez Paul et en Hébreux: Itinéraires et associations d'un motif Deutéronomique
Reviewed by Laurent Pinchard

David R. Bauer, The Gospel of the Son of God: An Introduction to Matthew
Reviewed by Charles L. Quarles

Kevin Burrell, Cushites in the Hebrew Bible: Negotiating Ethnic Identity in the Past and Present
Reviewed by Joel B. Kemp

Vasile Condrea, Syntactic Studies in Targum Aramaic: A Text-Linguistic Reading of 1 Samuel
Reviewed by Andrew Daniel

David deSilva, The Letter to the Galatians
Reviewed by Frank W. Hughes

Arthur Jan Keefer, Proverbs 1–9 as an Introduction to the Book of Proverbs
Reviewed by Alice Ogden Bellis

Edmondo F. Lupieri, ed., Mary Magdalene from the New Testament to the New Age and Beyond
Reviewed by Siobhán Jolley

Kenneth Seeskin, Thinking about the Prophets: A Philosopher Reads the Bible
Reviewed by Nathan Mastnjak

Andrew Kimseng Tan, The Rhetoric of Abraham’s Faith in Romans 4
Reviewed by Timothy J. Christian

Editing Tips

I know this a bit nerdy but I really enjoyed this post by Jacob Cerone on editing tips for biblical studies.

Free eBook: Reading Romans within Judaism

Wipf and Stock is offering a free eBook copy of Mark Nanos' Reading Romans within Judaism. The offer is only available until September 15. Here are the instructions to get your copy.

1. Click on this link
2. Click "ADD TO CART" on the eBook option
3. Use the code "NANOS21"
4. Upon checkout completion, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions of how to download your free eBook

Ruth’s Literary Low Points and High Points

A number of interpreters of the book of Ruth have rightly noted that although it is named after Ruth, Naomi is the main character. It is Naomi whose life is emptied and then filled. This can be seen in part in the following table.

Naomi Emptied and Filled: Ruth’s Literary Low Points and High Points (Modified from Boyd Luter & Barry C. Davis, God Behind the Seen, pp. 80-81)
Ruth 1:1-5	Point of Comparison	Ruth 4:13-17
Famine in Bethlehem	Initial Circumstances	Wedding in Bethlehem
Marriages and then deaths	Family Events	Back in the land: land reestablished
Blessing of children withheld	Blessing	Blessing of Children bestowed
No help in sight	Possibility of Help	Redeemers: Boaz and Obed
Widow of deceased son	Status of Ruth/Significance to Ruth	Better than seven sons
Emptiness/grief from loss of family	Naomi’s Emotions	Joy at Obed’s birth
Introductory “bookend”	Literary Function	Concluding “bookend”

Free Logos Resources for September

Logos is offering Walt Kaiser's Recovering the Unity of the Bible and Bernard of Clairvaux's Steps of Humility and Pride as their September freebies. You can also purchase other books at significant discounts and enter to win a copy of the 35-colume Zondervan Counterpoints series. These offers can be accessed here and here.

Psalm 53 Links

I have been working on a commentary on the Psalms. I have decided to compile some helpful links that I discovered during my research. It includes a mix of exegetical and sermonic links. Here is what I have for Psalm 53 (in no particular order). Feel free to mention any that you find helpful in the comments section.

Into the Word with Paul Carter: https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/into-the-word/psalms-52-54

Analysis by C. J. Labuschagne: https://www.labuschagne.nl/ps053.pdf

William Barrick’s notes: https://drbarrick.org/files/studynotes/Psalms/Ps_053.pdf

Psalm 53 devotional: https://www.generations.org/devotionals/66 

Psalm 53 in canonical perspective: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1010-99192013000300004