Recommendations on Background Commentaries

[lesterchua]

Hi,

 

I'm wondering if there are any good background commentary that can form the goto resource for biblical backgrounds, especially concerning the OT. NT would also be welcome but I think most commentaries have that covered well.

[Tony Lawrence]

There are several that may fit your needs

 

Dictionary of New Testament Background

IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament

IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (2nd Edition)

Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Old Testament

Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: New Testament (26 Books)

 

For me personally I like the IVP series for content but the Zondervan series has better graphics. 

[Tim Hall]

Hello and welcome to the forums!

 

I have two background commentaries that I use all the time–Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary OT & NT (https://www.accordancebible.com/store/details/?pid=ZIBBC-OT-NT-26) and IVP OT & NT Background Commentary (https://www.accordancebible.com/store/details/?pid=IVP-OT%20Commentary & https://www.accordancebible.com/store/details/?pid=IVP-NT%20Commentary%202)

 

The reason I like the ZIBBCOT/NT is because of the amazing amount  and quality of illustrations. The benefit of the IVP volumes are the price. As for content, I find both of them highly useful (there tends to be some overlap, which I take as a good sign) I used the IVP volumes exclusively for a couple years until the ZIBBCOT/NT went on a fantastic sale that was too good to pass up.

 

To help you understand where I am coming from, I pastor a small rural church and have recently started on my D.Min. Both of the commentaries are valuable for my preaching, but I have yet to make use of them for my current degree, but as I just started I am not too surprised.

 

I have not regretted either purchase.

Edited June 22, 2018 by Timothy Hall

[ukfraser]

It so depends on what you want it for and your budget. For something totally different to the excellent resources suggested above, you may want to consider sacred bridge or one of the other Carta publications. (Also great when on offer.)

 

https://www.accordancebible.com/search/search.php/#{"terms":"carta","page":1,"limit":20,"tab":"prod"}

 

For example, for me, sacred bridge is a pain to find stuff in because of the way it’s organised by time rather than biblical book, but once you do find what you are after, it’s a gold mine! I’m currently looking at Jeremiah and in sacred bridge there are not only the links to kings and chronicles and Jeremiah but to other writings (eg chronicle) to give you a good oversight of the geo-political issues at the time Jeremiah was prophesying, so I would strongly recommend it as well. Or consider the Carta bible atlas or new centenary handbook.

Edited June 22, 2018 by ukfraser

[R. Mansfield]

I would agree with Tim about the ZIBBCOT/NT. The OT volumes are better-written in my opinion, probably because they came afterwards and the writers/editors learned from the NT volumes about what made these really good resources. 

 

When teaching with slides, these commentaries are a must for great images (along with the Accordance PhotoGuides and PhotoMuseum, of course!). 

 

And I’ve found a lot of the “meat” of the ZIBBCOT/NT is found in the footnotes where primary sources are cited. 

[lesterchua]

Thank you all so much for the suggested titles. I'll take a look. 

 

I already have Sacred Bridge and is using it more as an Atlas. And I agree, it's kind of hard to get the information from it due to the way it's organised, and if I do not know the appropriate keywords to find, it's often hit and miss.

 

I'll take a look at the IVP and Zondervan titles suggested. Thanks! 

Edited June 22, 2018 by lesterchua