Have you ever wondered how Proverbs might be preached?
When I work my way through a book of the Bible, I like to get a robust exegetical commentary along with a more pastoral one and work through them as I prepare to preach.
The exegetical commentary helps me with historical and background details, gives me a check on the way I’m reading the text, and alerts me to intertextual issues I may have missed. I think the best commentary on Proverbs for these purposes is Bruce Waltke’s 2 vol. NICOT set.
The pastoral one is especially useful because it affords an opportunity to see how someone has not only interpreted but illustrated and applied the text. The best commentary for these purposes has just appeared: Raymond C. Ortlund Jr.’s Proverbs, in the Preaching the Word series edited by Kent Hughes.
Ray Ortlund is gospel wise, and I’m thankful that he set his heart and mind to the book of Proverbs. May the Lord bless his word in this book!
Good to hear of a useful book on Proverbs.
Yep. Watch for a review of an even more useful one that I hope to write about soon!
Dan, have you ever considered putting something together on this? I know how much research you have done on Proverbs.
Just in case that’s not a joke 🙂 God’s Wisdom in Proverbs by Dan Phillips
James, I have so many responses to that, I can’t pick just one.
(c:
Yes…it was a joke.
Let me restate.
It was a joke in that I already knew about Dan’s book. It isn’t a joke that he could put it together. I love Dan’s stuff.