Handbook on the Pentateuch: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy - Paperback

by Victor P. Hamilton (Author)

In this introduction to the first five books of the Old Testament, Victor Hamilton moves chapter by chapter through the Pentateuch, examining the content, structure, and theology. Hamilton surveys each major thematic unit of the Pentateuch and offers useful commentary on overarching themes and connections between Old Testament texts.

Back Jacket

The strengths of Hamilton's revised Handbook on the Pentateuch include its balanced attention to all five books of the Pentateuch, helpful bibliographies, fair-minded exposure to critical debates and competing viewpoints, sustained attention to theological themes and insights, and a clear and readable style. The book functions as a substantive one-volume commentary on the Pentateuch written from a moderate and informed evangelical perspective.
--Dennis Olson, Princeton Theological Seminary

"It is a pleasure to recommend this work as an excellent introduction to the first five books of the Bible. Its sensitivity to the literary structures and emphases in the texts as well as its full awareness of classic and contemporary exegetical issues and scholarship provide an essential tool for introducing students and all interested readers to the fascinating world of the Pentateuch."
--Richard S. Hess, Denver Seminary

"The second edition of Hamilton's Handbook on the Pentateuch follows in the tradition of the first. It is not simply a rehearsal of biblical content but offers concise and scholarly summaries and articulations of modern scholarship on the Pentateuch, while also offering well-crafted, traditional, evangelical positions on many difficult issues that confront readers of the Pentateuch. The bibliographies are remarkable and provide valuable guidance to college and seminary students as they begin their own research."
--Peter Enns, Eastern University

"Hamilton has produced a second edition that is even more helpful for present and future generations of Bible students than the first edition. He has succeeded by revising and expanding the first edition with insights garnered from biblical scholarship at large and from his own study as a biblical commentator and college teacher. The book is brimming with information that exhibits the proper balance of comments on ancient backgrounds, critical theories, and the biblical text."
--Kenneth A. Mathews, Beeson Divinity School

"Hamilton achieves with apparent ease what so many only attempt. He unites historical study with literary insight; he integrates diachronic critical concerns with synchronic, structurally sensitive insights; and he deftly places his own fresh reading of the texts in conversation with an astonishing range of scholarly literature that represents the full spectrum of research on the Pentateuch. All this is done within a sound theological framework that allows the text to be heard naturally as a rule of faith for the church."
--Lawson Stone, Asbury Theological Seminary

Author Biography

Victor P. Hamilton (PhD, Brandeis University), now retired, was professor of Bible and theology at Asbury University for more than thirty-five years. He is the author of major commentaries on Genesis and Exodus as well as Handbook on the Historical Books.