The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary

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I was excited to purchase this book, but after reading the first 10-15 pages, I'm pretty sure that I won't be finishing it or using it as a reference. I obviously didn't preview it well enough.

Book like new, as advertised. Delivered on time. I will buy again from that seller

I'm not reading this cover to cover but as a commentary. We're reading through the Bible as a church this year and I kept having questions in the first 5 books (in Numbers now for a few more days) and it's helped me. I'm not a theology major so I don't know if he's 'right' or not but I think what he says makes sense. My copy arrived when we were already in Numbers and the sections aren't equally divided. There's an introduction that takes up about 20% of the book- Numbers was in the last 1/4 I think. It's a thick book but still I want to go back and look up stuff from Genesis and Exodus since I think those 2 got the most attention.I don't have any other commentaries to compare this to other than study notes in various study Bibles. I've been using this as well as the commentary notes in the Nelsom Complete Study System Bible (out of print but probably the same notes are in their current study Bible) and most questions have a satisfactory answer between one or both.

Sailhammer's premise is: what if instead of five separate books, the Pentateuch (Genesis-Deuteronomy) were more along the lines of one long continuous multi-volume work? In other words, literary clues and devises that are happening in Genesis are revisited in the other books. Kind of like how Isaac and Abraham's lives have some parallels, Sailhammer sees many of these and they are interesting. Sailhammer believes his thesis answers the concerns of higher criticism and esp. the source documentary people (JEDP believers; if you are not familiar with JEDP, you may want to set this book aside until you have some background in OT issues). In other words, what higher criticism sees as multiple sources/authorship, Sailhammer sees as purposeful structuring by the final author of the Pentateuch. I've seen a very critical review of this book on someone's blog, but for my purposes I didn't come away feeling the same way. The strength of this book is the introductory section as it raises the issues I mention above. The rest of the book is like a mini-commentary on all Gen-Deut; while there is much of interest in the commentary, much of it is too short (due to the breadth of the topic)to dig very deeply. However, the commentary does make for nice springboards into exploring and pondering the issues raised.

Dr. Sailhamer's books are essential for studying the Pentateuch. It guides readers to use a different and more comprehensive perspective to read the Pentateuch as a whole, where the readers will appreciate the OT much more. May God be glorified and more people will be blessed thru his extraordinary work.

I fell in love with this book in the first few pages. I loved the connections and how deep the work went. However, I feel like after Exodus, much of the writing dropped off. I understand that there is less narrative after Exodus, but there were some important things that Sailhammer seemed to gloss over. Overall, I am so so happy I read this book. It has definitely changed the way I view OT writings.

This book is wonderful! Dr. Sailhamer really gets to the heart of what's important about the Torah - what the author is trying to tell us! His study focuses on how/why the author put the Torah (one continuous "book") together as he did and what the reader is supposed to get from it.He shows how God's addition of laws over time follows instances of disobedience (kinda like the way we add rules for our kids when they act up and remove rules as they show they can handle more responsibility). He shows how the narrative (while simultaneously about events that really happened) foreshadow the future. He explains how the poetry is divine commentary on the narratives. Etc. Dr. Sailhamer brings the Torah to life!FYI. A Messianic Jewish friend of mine moved from Israel to Raleigh, NC just so he could study under (renowned Christian Hebrew scholar) Dr. Sailhamer at Southeastern Seminary. He's been thrilled with what he's learned. Dr. Sailhamer is brilliant, but knows how to teach.

A good mostly well argued review of the whys and wherefores. Not an easy read unless you are fairly acedemically inclined. And I had never heard of his definition of the 10 commandments. Seemed very odd to me.And as a non linguist I found the use of footnotes not in English profoundly irritating and unhelpful.

A veteran of Biblical Studies brings his years of insight, study, perspective on one of the most debated sections of Scripture! Thank you for presenting an insight which pulls the whole of the text together as a unity rather than five individual books. This thesis develops a continuity and perspective which ties the authorial intent being a significant factor in the compilation. The introduction is highly valuable even though it is quite lengthy. It establishes the tone for the remainder of the thesis development. Much needed for our day when it is so easy to treat Scripture as fragmented pieces put together over time. Thank you Dr. Sailhammer!