Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 1: Genesis 1-15 Hardcover – October 9, 1987

This is a great commentary. It’s not for everyone because it’s exegetical in nature. It helps you get into the language and the context of scripture which many popular commentaries do not do. And often times how they look at the passage simply is Lacking any depth or insight. This commentary doesn’t give you a lot by way of application and there are other commentaries that do that. This is to help you understand the mindset of the writer considering the language and culture.

Gordon Wenham has produced a first-class exegetical commentary of Genesis. The bibliographies cover a full range of topics and authors. For each section of the biblical text, he begins with textual notes which are quite valuable to those familiar with the ancient languages. Next he addresses issues of form and structure. Finally, he provides a verse-by-verse commentary. In the process, he addresses various approaches and viewpoints in an even-handed and fair way.

This is a great commentary on Genesis. It is accurate, and can be read by everyone from beginning to Bible scholars to seasoned veterans.

Im just getting into this commentary and so far so good,excellent material, very technical and informative. I highly recommend it.

good

Gordon Wenham has written a well balanced commentary on the opening chapters of Genesis in this Word Biblical Commentary Vol. 1 Genesis 1-15. Along with his translations Wenham delivers an exceptionally intriguing view of narrative ethics which seems to underline this particular commentary. While applications are never forced the way many pastoral commentaries are, one cannot help but to gleam modern applications write out of the narrative explanations. Though his dealings with the opening creation stories do at first seem to be too heavily focused upon, Wenham does manage to bring some simplicity to this otherwise complicated work. This commentary is not just scholarly (as I find Ephraim A. Speiser's commentary to be) and not just pastoral - it is a great balance.

I cannot imagine a less user-friendly layout than the Word Biblical Commentary Series. The series is uneven, and occasionally goes overboard in literary/source criticism. But one up-to-date, critical commentary on Genesis should be on our shelves, and this is about the best.