Practical Commentary on Scripture (moved from OBOB)

[Unix]

There's an interesting new contribution by hedrick, I'll quote it:

The use of ad hominem is one of the classic failures in argumentation. It suggests someone whose handling of evidence is sufficiently biased that their judgments aren't credible. Somewhat surprisingly, even Tektonics thinks it wasn't written by Paul himself. (Authorship of Ephesians) I trust you would consider them Christian. (While they believe it was made under Paul's authority, they agree with many of the assessments of theological differences from genuine Pauline letters, suggesting that it was written by Timothy, and that he was influenced by Johannine theology in addition to Paul.)

Are you aware of anyone before Tertullian who attributes Ephesians to Paul? Occurrence of phrases from Ephesians doesn't count. First, there's no guarantee that they actually came from the the source you think they do. They could have been in common use among Christians. Second, many people think the pseudonymity was an accepted custom, so one could quote Ephesians even while knowing that it wasn't written by Paul. Third, use of someone else's expression doesn't necessarily mean that you accept them as a Biblical author.

There are competent critical scholars on both sides. However if I had to guess I'd guess against its authenticity.

I have qualms personally about whether writing in someone else's name discredits the author. But 1st Cent custom isn't the same as modern custom. There seems to be evidence that it was sometimes accepted, but also evidence that some people considered it misleading. If the most common critical view of Ephesians is right, it would have been produced after Paul's death. It's certainly possible that the circumstances of its distribution would have made it clear to the recipients that Paul himself didn't write it. That would relieve my concerns about the ethics of the author.

With respect to the OP, I don't think any of the letters attributed to Paul (or any other book in the NT) is Gnostic as that term is normally used. There are things in at least Paul and the Johannine letters that might have been directed against views that are similar to later Gnosticism, as noted in some of the postings above.

:

In fact meta-studies have shown that the scholarly consensus was never as assured about Colossians and Ephesians being non-Pauline as was often stated. For Ephesians (which as the weaker claim to be Pauline of the two) the peak was around the early '80s when about 60% of scholars regarded it as non-Pauline. Since them the move has been towards accepting these books are actually Pauline, as the reasons for rejecting that have been more critically examined. It's fair to say that now the majority is slightly in favour of Pauline authorship rather than against.

It's interesting that one of the reasons scholars (especially Protestant ones) have had problems win Colossians and Ephesians is because they have built a Pauline theology on Romans and Galatians and then have trouble fitting Colossians and Ephesians into that. The implication being, then, that the latter are not Pauline. But if one starts with Colossians and Ephesians and builds a Pauline theology from there one finds Romans and Galatians fit in just fine.

See also this earlier, current, post in this thread: Just found another Mt... I recommend that Mt -volume. It's still on a sale for another 2 or 3 days.

 

[Unix]

Regarding the New Testament, better look at this while it is on a sale: Baker’s Hendriksen-Kistemaker NT Commentary (12 volumes), sale price $74.90:

This beats Study-Bibles and is better for the entire Old Testament including Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) and 1-2 Mc: Pre-ordering Introduction to the Hebrew Bible £38.41 by John J. Collins, June 2014:

This is the book i have for my classes.

Catholic Study Bible 2nd edition, Donald Senior (9780195282788) - Textbooks.com

Mine was $20 - found this for less.

The Old Testament is intriguing. It helped a lot. I keep it when needed.

The previous post in this thread Practical Commentary...: There's an interesting new....

 

[Unix]

Eph Col volume in action! See: https://community.logos.com/forums/t/87879.aspx ... the commentary I'm referring to is Ephesians Colossians in the Paideia -series by Charles H. Talbert. I bought that volume in Logos on March 26. 2014. (OliveTree also carries it but is a little more expensive.) You can also sometimes find worn paperback copies for a fair price considering it's not older than from 2007.

Other Ephesians commentaries I've written about previously in this thread:
Eph by Pheme Perkins presents....
A competing Colossians commentary (just that book of the Bible), see this volume that I discussed during the Spring: A commentary on 1 Jn!! As an...:

In fact meta-studies have shown that the scholarly consensus was never as assured about Colossians and Ephesians being non-Pauline as was often stated.

 

[Unix]

Thanks again, StThomasMore for the mission You gave me.

I'll get to that in this post, but first I'll mention: if You haven't have a look at the recent preceding post in this thread about a different sub-thread: Eph Col volume in action!....

StThomasMore, this one is a bit verbose and has varied content, but is good on an important belief: https://www.logos.com/product/4746/resurrection ... by Porter, Michael A. Hayes and Tombs. Porter has written other books as well which are as well known. I didn't mention this book previously because at first it cost $75, then there was a one-day sale 50% off on Apr. 2. 2013, then the regular price went down to $62.50. Then it went on a sale - I think it was the March Madness 2014 sale but I don't remember what the exact price was (I could calculate that from the archived site), and now the regular price finally went down to $39.95. I've had the book since Apr. 2. 2013 and have read through it. If You have the money and time .... If You buy other things at the same time as well or upgrade, please PM me or leave me a visitor message and we'll see if You can get a discount, perhaps 25%:

Thanks, StThomasMore, I'll be looking for desirable books of the kind You search:

The Navarre bible is another wonderful series, but I find the commentary too centered on Escriva's writings

Many modern commentaries today are way too drenched in the historical-critical method like the Catholic Study Bible.
[...]
I'm not trying to bash today's more modern works in anyway. I think there are a ton of great books written in the 20th century. Are they informative and well written? Yes. Do they touch and move my faith the way St. Augustine's City of God or his Confessions did? No. You will find priests and theologians today that are too timid to say what an early church father would probably say in one quote, today's theology tends to get very watered down. I think this watered down style is in a lot of modern commentaries and because of that our learning of theology becomes stunted. Granted we live in a society in the west were many religious teachers are more afraid to offend than to teach correctly, which is why probably the style of the saints and the fathers are nearly non-existent in books today. It seems that type of writing ended with G.K. Chesterton and Lewis.

By all means though, if you can find me a modern Chesterton or Augustine I would be very thankful!!
[...]
But it seems more books are written on how to debate atheists and apologetics rather than Christianity and morality

 

[Galilee63]

I gave up books as a sacrifice to Jesus/God, The Holy Spirit and our Blessed Virgin Mary for the conversion of sinners, for the Holy Souls in Purgatory and for people dying to be taken in to Jesus' Divine Mercy; I do miss reading books both Christian and other varieties yet no complaints, I love sacrificing things for Jesus Christ our Saviour and for others around the world - ditto newspapers, magazines, movies, television, writing, all the Glory is Yours Dear God our Heavenly Father,

Love and kindest wishes my Brothers and Sisters in Jesus Christ our Saviour

 

[Unix]

You are referring to the cost and time it takes to read. Well regarding the cost, there are so few English speakers in the world who research seriously, that most resources, for example commentaries, are not printed or sold in Bible Study softwares in any great numbers. So the comparison of these books to cheap books is like apples and oranges.
Regarding the time, I rather read quality books when I read both because I value my time and because religion is an area where most books just spread junk theories and junk opinions.
Also, regarding the time it takes I want to say: I'm not highly educated yet (although I have taken one hermeneutics class at a high level during the Spring 2014). I think it's the best thing to do to study now:

I gave up books as a sacrifice to Jesus/God, The Holy Spirit and our Blessed Virgin Mary for the conversion of sinners, for the Holy Souls in Purgatory and for people dying to be taken in to Jesus' Divine Mercy;

My previous post in this thread: Thanks again, StThomasMore... from Aug. 18.

 

[Unix]

EDIT4: See also this previous post by Galilee63: I gave up books as a....

Markus Barth has authored a two-volume commentary on Ephesians in the Anchor Yale Bible series. I like that author. I've had a commentary by him from another series and buying more from that series (Eerdmans Critical Commentary, on Philemon), I have to now add him on my CF profile in authors I like. The Philemon volume in the Anchor series is sufficient for me for the time being.
Anchor Yale Bible series is currently on a sale!: Sale Products. The sale ends on midnight Sept 22. 2014, the time difference is Greenwich Main Time minus 5 hours. The prices are the lowest ever: NT set $399, OT set and Apocrypha $669. Full set $999. But they have temporarely removed the Mt-volume. I have the NT set since early this year when it came out in Accordance, and it includes the Mt-volume. Logos sells individual volumes.

Back to Eph: I wrote a list of recommendations early this year: Anchor Yale Bible is Broken Up!! I would add Eph to that list.
Here is another good thread about Anchor Yale Bible Commentary: What do You think of NT commentary compromises such as Anchor?

Just like all major sets except New Interpreter's Bible (which came out during a short period of time), some of the AYBC series volumes are dated (don't look strictly at how old the volumes are, some volumes that You may think are new enough should be replaced with something else, and a couple of old volumes are still great!), but other than that it's great for introductions and historical-critical commentary. From the Old Testament and Apocrypha I've bought Proverbs 1-9 in Logos, and Isaiah 56-66, Job and 1-2 Esdras as printed matter - the latter two are old but good, especially Job. If I would be researching that book at this point, the two Exodus volumes would be a great addition! EDIT2: these would be even for those who don't know any Hebrew, as it's transliterated - meaning it's written with the normal alpabeth, so You can still follow the discussion somewhat.

Most of the volumes also have enough discussion so that these commentaries can be used for several purposes.

Perhaps relevant, I've recently complemented my Hermeneia OT set with the volume on Ps 101-150 (by buying the OT (incl. Deuterocanonicals) set in Accordance - I can sell the 63 vol. Hermeneia and Continental Commentaries set in Logos cheap to someone who will be my friend - preferably who I can meet and/or speak to on the desk phone).

EDIT: I was gonna add that there's a previous post in this thread about the Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries New Testament set: I'm thinking of buying Anchor... - there You can find for example links to reviews of some of the volumes, and calculations of the cost per volume:

Eph Col volume in action! See: https://community.logos.com/forums/t/87879.aspx ... the commentary I'm referring to is Ephesians Colossians in the Paideia -series by Charles H. Talbert. I bought that volume in Logos on March 26. 2014. (OliveTree also carries it but is a little more expensive.) You can also sometimes find worn paperback copies for a fair price considering it's not older than from 2007.

Other Ephesians commentaries I've written about previously in this thread.

Eph by Pheme Perkins presents....
A competing Colossians commentary (just that book of the Bible), see this volume that I discussed during the Spring: A commentary on 1 Jn!! As an...:

In fact meta-studies have shown that the scholarly consensus was never as assured about Colossians and Ephesians being non-Pauline as was often stated.

Previously edited by Unix; 19th September 2014 at 9:30 AM local time. Reason: additions
Previously edited by Unix; 19th September 2014 at 4:37 PM local time. Reason: one addition clarifying Hebrew
Previously edited by Unix; 20th September 2014 at 3:56 PM local time. Reason: one clarification
Previously edited by Unix; 20th September 2014 at 6:26 PM local time. Reason: another clarification - this time about the Hermeneia OT, and link to an earlier post by Galilee63

 

[Unix]

The previous post in this thread is: Markus Barth has authored a... ... which is mostly about the Anchor Yale Bible Commentary sale which ends on Sept. 22.

Nowadays I have some commentary sets in Accordance so I will be using Accordance often.

I still hold to almost all the recommendations I've made in this thread.

I'm posting because there's a volume from the UBS Translator's Handbook Old Testament series on a sale right now, 50% off: A Handbook on the Book of Psalms ... coupon-code: 8870 ... Sale price: $7.47.
I'm buying that Ps volume now. For the time being it's rare that I make any Logos purchases. At the same time I'm adding this book that is free this month: Living the Dream: Joseph for Today:

UBS Translator's Handbook Old Testament set, including the English Bible versions RSV and GNT is on the March 2014 sale, 45% off. See: UBS Translator's Handbooks OT (29 vols.) March sale - Logos Bible Software Forums.

The largest part of the commentaries I have are in Logos.



Someone has offered me a "used" copy of UBS Translators Handbook New Testament in Accordance, I'm thinking of bidding $85. And I want to have Sirach in Logos or Accordance - whichever releases it.

 

[Unix]

[offer expired]

With electronic resources weight is not an issue.


I tend to like the text in-line.

A preceding, recent post linking to updated posts: EDIT4: See also this previous..., mostly about Anchor.

 

[Unix]

Paideia NT $174.95 today!
These are excellent and now cheap: $174.95
http://click.logosmail.com/t/4779133/12530973/72230/12/?e5e2987d=NDc3OTEzMw==&x=abd6357a
Eph Col volume in action!...
1 Clem, Ignatius, Papias, Ro
An example from 8:1-39. It's...
1 Cor, by Pheme Perkins...
More about some of the volumes in "my" Practical Commentary thread where new contributions are welcome!

EDIT: new review of the set added: http://community.logos.com/forums/p/91401/635313.aspx#635313 :

April 22. 2012: I'm really not gonna rush into buying this commentary because I have no money whatsoever left right now and because I'm focusing less on Paul (and 1 Pt) now, but I think it's good. EDIT Sept. 12. 2013: now I focus on Paul + I actually got the set on Aug. 10. 2013 for the pre-pub price: Amazon.com: First Corinthians (Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament) (9780801033902): Pheme Perkins: Books. EDIT Dec. 6. 2012: It's now available in Logos: Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament Upgrade Collection (4 vols.) (Sept. 11. 2014 this url is now edited to bring it up from archive) ... the pre-pub price is lower than the final price and is offered for a limited time only until the books come out in Logos. EDIT Sept. 11. 2014: Having six Logos Edition volumes of Paideia (did get the pre-pub 4 vols. while that price lasted) has proved to be the right decision. They are great and more academic and exegetical than they seemed at first, which I base both on my personal opinion and having read several scholars list them among such commentaries on Pauline Epistles such as on Ro and 1 Cor. It's important not to buy every commentary there is:

 

[Unix]

This is a recent commentary on Mt: Fire of Mercy, Heart of the Word (3 vols.), pre-pub price $64.95 - scheduled to ship on Thursday Oct. 16. 2014, week 42, and then the price will go up to the reg. price. If my recommendation alone doesn't convince You, go and read the reviews on amazon.co.uk (from where You can access the amazon.com reviews on the same page). Since amazon is competing with everyone I don't want to link there with an active link - they have a far too great market share without me contributing to it with links and several other companies selling Christian books have minimal margins. If Accordance would sell this Mt commentary I would link there as well.
Mt may not be the most important Gospel in general, but hard enough to comment on that it deserves an in-depth commentary of some length. If You look at the number of pages this commentary is somewhat inexpensive at pre-pub price, and if You look up the passages You need to research it will function conveniently and You will have time to read the necessary pages. An idea is to use it together with the New Jerusalem Bible in the Logos or Verbum software. When You scroll from one verse in Mt in the Bible to the next, or jump to another verse in Mt, the commentary automatically scrolls to the automatic section. You are also able to do a search for occurrences of a specific verse: do that by putting the three commentary volumes in a so called Collection in the software, then You'll be able to search within the Collection. You may include other commentaries or monographs on Mt in the Collection if You have and wish to do so.
Input on this three-volume Mt commentary is welcome, or if You have some other suggestion! Feel free also to contribute about Practical Commentaries or terrific monographs on any other book in the 38-book Old Testament canon (excluding Esther), the Catholic Deuterocanon, 4 Ezra, Jubilees, the New Testament, or the Apostolic Fathers! I know it's remarkably hard to find commentaries on some books such as Sirach (Ecclesiasticus). (If Your post adds something to the discussion I'll remember to give You blessings and/or reps!) General principles are also welcome, just like Galilee63, ebia and Johnnz have posted. I'm also grateful for good questions and viewpoints provided by StThomasMore!
(The Catholic products homepage is: http://verbum.com If You change www.logos.com in the url to verbum.com You find it there as well and it's the same system so same rules apply - the pre-pub price goes up when it ships. I'm content with my Verbum base-package but the Early Church Fathers translation in it is a bit dated and there are more recent and scholarly although somewhat expensive translations out - which will hopefully be split up in individual volumes some day. There are base-package sales, but 15-20% off shouldn't make You buy a base-package if You weren't interested and didn't have reasons to buy before a sale begins.):

Just found another Mt commentary and ordered it the other day: https://www.logos.com/product/30833/brazos-theological-commentary-on-the-bible-matthew It's on the July 2014 Logos sale 33% off. The sale price is $19.95. The software is freeware. Check it out! There are some more reviews at: Matthew (SCM Theological Commentary on the Bible): Amazon.co.uk: Stanley Hauerwas, R.R. Reno, Robert W. Jensen, Robert L. Wilken: Books It's not that old, it's from 2006, so considering the reviews I definitely recommend it - and this is regardless of the low price, I didn't even call to get a further discount but placed the order online. In some countries, with some banks, If You don't have Store Credit You will have to call Logos Sales have them place the order and divert You to Accounting so You can give the CVV2 -code from the back of Your card. It complements Hermeneia:

... I've just ordered, after having scrolled through all the commentaries there is
Mt 8-20: Matthew 8 20 Hermeneia Series (Hermeneia: A Critical & Historical Commentary on the Bible): Ulrich Luz: 9780800660345: Amazon.com: Books
... goes through every verse a few verses at a time, explaining among other things the development of interpretation and doctrine. Here's an excerpt from it: Questions about Matthew 10.37 - page 2:

I added 3 more Hermeneia-volumes, look in:
http://www.christianforums.com/t7644634-post60159103/#poststop
... and click the link Hermeneia Upgrade (3 vols.)
Thanks cybrwurm for the opinion!:

It's nice to read a commentary that doesn't have too much historical critical in it like a lot of more modern commentaries do. The Collegeville and New Jerome I have heard has become very modernized. The Navarre and Haydock are really good though. Do any of you have any favorite commentaries?

 

[FreeinChrist]

MOD HAT

This thread has been moved from One Bread, One Body - the Catholic forum to Bibliology and Hermeneutics, and reopened.

 

[Unix]

Thanks for Your contribution Noxot and I agree with You, the The Word is great as a cheap sollution. I don't have it but would like to install it on some computer if I can decide on which one of my computers and if there's something good on a sale, which reminds me I'll have to check more often what they have on sale and their new resources:

the word is the best free software for studying of the bible that I have found so far. you might have to browse their forums to find some things you can add to it, you can add all kinds of books to it. it is not perfect but it is really good.

Another really great low-budget Bible Study software, is Logos 3/Libronix, right now it's possible to install it with a little help from customer service (need the license file), but You can't update it often. It runs on XP, Vista and 7, but the Internet Explorer version has to be 8, it's not compatible with other versions. It's supposed to be compatible with Internet Explorer 9 with a patch from Logos's site (You can find it on the forum) - but once when I tried it didn't work. However, small updates namely typo-corrections are still possible into the future. See this thread for installation instructions and proceed to the Libronix/Logos 3 forum to find the rest of the instructions:
NA28 Nestle-Aland Critical Apparatus - Logos Bible Software Forums



Nag Hammadi Texts and the Bible: A Synopsis and Index is on a sale right now throughout October 2014. Sale price: $87.95 ... that is 12% off. Even at the regular price this resource was worthwhile for me to get (especially as the currency exchange rate was better when I bought it and I have it installed on my fastest computers - I bought those two computers so they would last long). It's a unique up-to-date resource about "Gnosticism". It will allow You to do imporant work with all the primary texts of Christianity (well perhaps excluding 4 Ezra - I haven't checked but I guess so). The scholar Craig A. Evans is well known and pretty respected despite the slightly controversial areas in which he has researched and authored. NH is not controversial at all me, it's a very important witness - without which we would understand Christianity and the Bible so much less. I would even dare to say some of us, including me, wouldn't be Christians without NH (and no I'm not referring to reasons for being a Christian, neither am I referring to opposing most of the NH corpus). See also the relevant quotes below:

EDIT Oct. 19. 2014: see this newly updated discussion - there's for example the Philippians volume - a bit of extra value for me as I'm thinking of choosing the Col/Philippians for class and Master's thesis: Any better NT commentary than AYB w/ "Gnosticism" ref.?. There's also a bit more discussion, such as about the NIB, see also the below quote from this thread from Sept. 2014:

Just like all major sets except New Interpreter's Bible (which came out during a short period of time), some of the AYBC series volumes are dated (don't look strictly at how old the volumes are, some volumes that You may think are new enough should be replaced with something else, and a couple of old volumes are still great!), but other than that it's great for introductions and historical-critical commentary. From the Old Testament and Apocrypha I've bought Proverbs 1-9 in Logos, and Isaiah 56-66, Job and 1-2 Esdras as printed matter - the latter two are old but good, especially Job. If I would be researching that book at this point, the two Exodus volumes would be a great addition!

I don't think any of the letters attributed to Paul (or any other book in the NT) is Gnostic as that term is normally used. There are things in at least Paul and the Johannine letters that might have been directed against views that are similar to later Gnosticism, as noted in some of the postings above.

 

[Unix]

Please quickly have a look at the thread: https://community.logos.com/forums/p/94366/655513.aspx#655513 ... there are volumes on for example Sirach and 1 Mc. Another prof, not the one I'm talking about there, said it's better to go with monographs for Sirach. The price for the pretty large collection is $349.95 right now, that's 50% off. It's an early-bird price so You need to hurry to ensure You get that price. They money won't be withdrawn until it has first gathered interested and then been fully digitized and tagged in Verbum/Logos format so You'll have plenty of time to save up money for paying it. There are no equal resources on Sirach Scriptures - the collection is worth it for covering that book alone:

I know it's remarkably hard to find commentaries on some books such as Sirach (Ecclesiasticus). (If Your post adds something to the discussion I'll remember to give You blessings and/or reps!)

Logos is releasing Sirach, it's on pre-pub (that means it's a sale-price) together with some other new volumes from UBS Translator's Handbook for $119.95: UBS Handbook Series Upgrade (6 vols.):

but it's anyhow difficult to find commentaries on Sirach).

 

[Biblicist]

Older books are good because they're the ones that were good enough to stick around. Stick around for another 200 years to find out what the good ones from this century were.

Even though I am going back to a very old post, I would suggest that we try and keep to commentaries that were published from the mid 80's and onwards; though they do cost a couple of cents more (more like dozens of dollars) but they tend to address questions that people of our day are asking.

When it comes to the Book of Acts, Craig S. Keener has recently released a four volume set which goes for about 4000 pages, the introduction takes up 600 pages. We tend to pay a bit more for books here in Australia and having just purchased his first two books at $100 his second two volumes will take a couple of months before I can fit them into my budget - that should read as force fit!

If we were to have a discussion on Acts where we decided to always quote from specific commentary on Acts, this would definitely give me a huge advantage over those who are relying on commentaries that are maybe decades or even several hundred years old as the older commentaries fail to address issues that are being discussed today.

Then there's the commentaries on 1st Corinthians, by scholars such as Fee, Thiselton, Winter and a host of others along with scholarly books that address specific issues that are found within Acts and Corinthians and all based on the latest peer reviewed scholarship.

But...there is always the incredible cost factor and when it comes to my fourteen books on First Corinthians, these books, which all except for one were printed since 1987 total well over 500 hundred dollars.

 

[Unix]

Last chance to get good monographs on Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) and 1 Mc: Please quickly have a look at....



Yeah, I very rarely go with old commentaries. When it comes to the Gospel of John though, I want to have a good selection of both new and old. The way I finance these is not to cover every book of the Bible (at least not twice):

Even though I am going back to a very old post, I would suggest that we try and keep to commentaries that were published from the mid 80's and onwards; though they do cost a couple of cents more (more like dozens of dollars) but they tend to address questions that people of our day are asking.

 

[PrincetonGuy]

Even though I am going back to a very old post, I would suggest that we try and keep to commentaries that were published from the mid 80's and onwards; though they do cost a couple of cents more (more like dozens of dollars) but they tend to address questions that people of our day are asking.

Anther major advantage to very recent academic commentaries on the individual books of the Bible is that they include nearly up-to-date bibliographies on each periscope.

 

[WoundedDeep]

Thank you Unix for letting me know about this thread. I have nothing much to say except in regards to this quote:

"Detest and fear sin, especially sins of impurity. Set hell before your eyes, think of the horrible torments, carefully avoid all temptations to such sins. Say thus" "What will the whole world profit me, if I follow my own inclinations, and suffer eternity in hell!"

The author is right in saying we are to detest and avoid sin, but I cannot agree with the motivation he mentions for detesting and avoiding sin. There are two biblical reason why:

1) Jesus came to free us from the bondage/power of sin, and we are free indeed.
2) Perfect love of God drives out fear.

The real motivation for a believer to hate and avoid sin is the love for God, not fear of torment. We are to rely on God and seek first His Kingdom, and in so doing, we will resist temptations coming our way. That is my understanding.

 

[Unix]

Resurrection is on a sale right now, 25% off!: https://www.logos.com/product/4746/resurrection sale price $29.95 Boxing Week sale:

StThomasMore, this one is a bit verbose and has varied content, but is good on an important belief: https://www.logos.com/product/4746/resurrection ... by Porter, Michael A. Hayes and Tombs.

The same sale also has Old Testament Library (7 vols.). I would use these volumes:
Judges by Niditch
I & II Samuel by A. Graeme Auld
I & II Kings by Sweeney (this volume seems to have new research and to be renewing preceding Academic commentary in other series)
Song of Songs by Exum
Micah by Mays
The sale price for the set is $179.95. The volumes can't be purchased individually.

EDIT: I ordered OTL (7 vols.), and added Anchor Yale Bible Commentary: Zephaniah by Adele Berlin from 1994 at the same time - it looks very promising (last week I compared all the commentaries that sell well or are most wished or most given away as gifts on Amazon.co.uk, with this one), I got the price of the latter down to $37.46 by calling my Sales Representative.

 

[Unix]

Until today 11:59 PM Pasific Standard Time You can get the Encyclopedia of Ancient Christianity in a software (to not to brake a rule (about advertising) I won't mention which one nor give a link, but it's not the biggest software) - and it looks up the "definitions" so to speak for the English words while You read an English Bible - without having to click, as You scroll. EDIT: the sale is still on and now I also posted in Christian History: http://www.christianforums.com/t7870352-post67200001/#post67200001:

By all means though, if you can find me a modern Chesterton or Augustine I would be very thankful!!

I've been very pleased with OTL (Old Testament Library). I was reading the books of Samuel recently from the New American Bible Revised Edition and find these stories very exiting:

Old Testament Library (7 vols.). I would use these volumes:
Judges by Niditch
I & II Samuel by A. Graeme Auld
I & II Kings by Sweeney (this volume seems to have new research and to be renewing preceding Academic commentary in other series)
Song of Songs by Exum
Micah by Mays

Another thing that has caught my interest Wednesday evening last week, was a poem. I'll shift some of my interest to poems. This particular poem was modeled as Hebrew poetry.
Additionally, I'm taking Hebrew (for the first time) in the Autumn semester 2015 and Spring semester 2016.