This commentary begins with an Introduction, which gives an overview of the issues of date, authorship, sources and so on, but which also outlines more fully than usual the theology of 1 & 2 Samuel, and provides pointers toward its interpretation and contemporary application.

Synopsis: In recent decades, biblical scholars have often drawn from the wells of literary theory when seeking to better understand the art of biblical narrative. This innovative work adds to these insights by applying film theory to the analysis of story in the Hebrew Bible. Kent argues that film theory helps us to attain much greater clarity in our appreciation of the functions of narrative repetition. This book offers a synchronic exegesis of Saul's night visit to the witch of En-Dor (1 Sam 28:3-25), focussing on the web of repetitions of visual elements, of symbols, of sounds, of entire...

Synopsis:

This book explores the little-regarded phenomenon of the tricolon in biblical Hebrew poetry, that is, those poetic lines that appear to have a tripartite form rather than the more common bipartite form.

Taking the Psalms of Ascents as a sample corpus of poetic texts, it identifies tricola on an explicit and consistent basis. It draws on the rhythmical-accentual approach of Eduard Sievers, and in so doing highlights an important but neglected aspect of his method. The concept of a "para-tricolon" is developed, designating a line that is tripartite, yet rhythmically equivalent to a...

In popular perception, Wisdom literature is a "self-help" or "philosophy" section of the Old Testament library--the odd and interesting bits of canonical mortar between History and Prophets. Themes that are prominent elsewhere in the Old Testament receive only scant attention in the wisdom books. Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes focus on everyday life rather than on God's special dealings with the nation of Israel. But Old Testament scholarship has come to see the wisdom of the wise as reflecting an aspect of the Israelite worldview, not something totally foreign. The covenant beliefs are...

The brokenness of this world inevitably invades our lives. But how do you maintain faith when overwhelmed by grief? When prayer goes unanswered? When all you have are questions, not answers? What do you say to God when you know he is in control but the suffering continues unabated? Is there any alternative to remaining speechless in the midst of pain and heartbreak?

This book is about finding words to use when life is hard. These words are not new. They are modes of expression that the church has drawn on in times of grief throughout most of its history. Yet, the church in the West has...