Interpreting the Prophetic Books: An Exegetical Handbook (Handbooks for Old Testament Exegesis)

Excellent

Smith, Gary V. Interpreting the Prophetic Books: An Exegetical Handbook. Handbooks for Old Testament Exegesis. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2014.Gary V. Smith provides an introductory handbook on how he believes people should interpret the prophetic books. He has a variety of teaching experience at significant seminaries and at Union University, and currently teaches part-time at Bethel Seminary. Including this book, he has published at least twelve journal articles and five books, mostly related to prophetic literature. He has taught related courses on this subject matter since 1983.As with other handbooks in Kregel’s Handbooks for Old Testament Exegesis series (HOTE), Smith sets out to explain the basics of prophetic literature well enough so that his readers, people who plan to exegete these texts, can know how to do just that. As such, he covers the nature of the prophetic literature, major themes, interpretation, proclamation, and how to move from the text to application.This book provides much to commend and critique; I will limit myself to one comment for both. The first thing that comes to mind is that Smith covers so many topics within prophetic literature concisely—only 192 pp. Given the breadth of topics, that is quite the accomplishment. This work, then, is certainly the culmination of much reflection, teaching, and writing on these topics. The reason why I picked to review this book for this blog is because as I preach through Jonah, I found it helpful to reflect on how I plan to interpret this book and, thus, have as a conversation partner someone who has studied, published, and taught in these areas for some time. Smith covers Jonah directly, too.As far as a critical comment is concerned, the concise nature of this handbook handicaps the usefulness of this book. To be fair, a handbook should be concise and, thus, serve as an introduction to the topics covered. Yet, I found myself repeatedly wanting more in terms of depth, scholarship, practical application, and critical appraisal of the issues he covers. He would have done well to add even only five pages per chapter to make his discussions useful. As it stands, though, many of discussions do not serve well as introductions to those topics because of his dated explanations. For example, he covers the genre of the prophetic books, but this discussion is divorced entirely from any literary theory of genre; this move is problematic because the concern for understanding genre is, after all, a literary issue. Furthermore, his discussion on “Difficulties between a Prophecy and Its New Testament Fulfillment” is seriously lacking because he does not survey each of these models all that well, especially with more recent scholarship, and he fails to explain which model he believes his reader should take. Discussions of how to understand typology have come some way from the “introduction” provided in this handbook.As posted on: http://www.cgctorenglish.chinesegospelchurch.ca/rwt-blog-52308

When I finish our current series on the Gospel of Mark, I’ll be looking for the next book to walk through. I doubt the first thing that comes to my mind will be one of the prophets. Though I’ve preached an overview of the Minor Prophets, I’ve never actually preached through one of the major prophets. They are tough to read and that much more difficult to actually preach.Gary Smith has written Interpreting the Prophetic Books in the hopes that seminary students and pastors (like myself) will quit being chickens and get equipped to preach through one of the prophets. The book belongs to a series of other handbooks for doing Old Testament exegesis. These are written for pastors and seminary students to learn how to do exegetical work. As such they feel a bit like a text book for an introductory class.I appreciate much of Smith’s work in this handbook. It will serve as a helpful introduction to many students. Having a brief section at the beginning of each chapter which outlines the chapter, and providing a helpful glossary in the back, makes this book a great tool for weary pastors or bogged down seminary students. Providing a chapter on themes and summaries for each prophet will also be helpful for the pastor who wants to begin tackling one of these prophetic books. He also provides a handy list of helpful commentaries for each of the prophets. Little jewels like this will make this a valuable resource for a pastor to consult before diving into his new sermon series.Smith’s fourth chapter on interpretive issues is also a helpful addition to the book. Here he asks some key questions about how we ought to read the prophets. Knowing when something is literal or metaphorical, conditional or unconditional, near or far future, is critical in properly interpreting and preaching a prophetic passage. Smith gives a solid outline for answering these questions. He also introduces the reader to a few options in thinking about a passages New Testament fulfillment.In the area of New Testament fulfillment, though, is where I believe this book is lacking. I appreciate much of Smith’s work in chapters 5 and 6 in helping preachers put together the text in a way that is manageable. This will help the preacher to preach clearly. But, I don’t know that it will help the preacher to do so Christo-centrically. If the student wants a few helpful pointer for how to build a bridge between the prophetic text and the Cross he will be found wanting.For those of us who believe OT preaching ought to be Christ-centered, this is a glaring omission. If one is in the school of thought of someone like Walt Kaiser, who doesn’t care much for the way we do Christ-centered preaching, then I think you’ll find a faithful friend in this little handbook. But for one, like myself, who believes in OT Christ-centered preaching you’ll want to supplement this book with another resource.This is a great resource for understanding the prophets in their original context. It is even a good resource for preparing the preacher to preach from the OT prophets. But it falls short in equipping pastors to preach Christ from the prophets. It’s a good resource but, in my opinion, it is incomplete. It really would be an asset to the preachers library

Very happy with purchase and delivery.

An excellent book for studying prophetic books