Many interpreters read John 6 as a contrast between Jesus and Judaism: Jesus repudiates Moses and manna and offers himself as an alternative. In contrast, this monograph argues that John 6 places elements of the Exodus story in a positive and constructive relationship to Jesus. This reading leads to an understanding of John as an interpreter of Exodus who, like other contemporary Jewish interpreters, sees current experiences in light of the Exodus story. This approach to John offers new possibilities for assessing the gospela (TM)s relationship to Jewish scripture, its dualism, and its metaphorical language.

Galatians 3:28, in particular the phrase, "There is ...no longer male and female; for you all are one in Christ Jesus," would seem to point towards an ethos of gender equality among Christians. Acting on this assumption, a number of scholars have considered the phrase significant in reconstructing attitudes towards women in early Christianity. Until now, however, a study of the history of interpretation of Gal 3:28 has been lacking. The exploration of the post-New Testament career of the verse is therefore the focus of this book. The approach is historical-critical, discussing the exegesis of Gal 3:28 in the context of attitudes about the roles of women in the first four centuries CE.

This study reveals that early Christians did not always approach this verse with the same concerns as modern readers. Ancient commentators brought several different questions to their discussion of Gal 3:28, and it is impossible to discover the trajectory in exegesis of this verse that might have been expected. It becomes apparent that during the first four centuries of Christianity most writers treated Gal 3:28 as a statement about the identification of Christians with Christ and therefore an indication that in the resolution of various differences into unity, they could achieve an ideal state. While some writers applied this concept to status differences between men and women, others used it to discuss the qualities of the ideal disciple, the character of the first created human beings, the state of the believer in heaven, and even the nature of God.

The Message of Isaiah 40-55 traces the argument of Isaiah 40-55 to show how the chapters bring a message of encouragement and challenge about God's intention to restore the Judean community, some of whose members are in exile in Babylon, others living in the city of Jerusalem that has lain devastated since it fell to the Babylonians in 587. The chapters hold before this community's eyes a vision of the nature of its God as the powerful creator and the loving restorer. In the course of following the argument, the reader becomes aware that the chapters have to deal with their audience's mysterious resistance to their message. It cannot give God the kind of response the message needs and deserves, nor can it fulfil the role as God's servant that is designed for it. God nevertheless remains committed to it. The prophet eventually becomes aware of a distinctive personal calling to embody that response, until the people are ready to do so. It is the prophet's willingness to do this (notwithstanding the suffering it brings) that embodies the kind of ministry that needs to be exercised to them so that they may be brought back to God and find a restoration of spirit, as well as a physical restoration.

The destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC, which led to the exile of the people of Israel, drastically changed the community's life. In the midst of this darkness, the five poems collected to form the biblical Book of Lamentations emerged as a life-embracing work. This commentary aims to make the message of Lamentations come alive to Christians today. The distinctiveness of the Palestinian voice found in these poems is maintained as they bear witness to the horror of pain and human suffering. Yet, beneath the words, a determined will to live emerges to confront human suffering, probe God's actions and anticipate a new kind of human community.

The keenly awaited second volume completing this major commentary on 2 Corinthians. Volume II covers chapters 8-13. Dr Thrall provides an exegetical verse-by-verse exposition and addresses all historical, linguistic and theological issues. This volume also contains two concluding essays, on the nature of the opposition Paul faced in the Corinthian church, and on Paul's understanding of apostleship, as well as excursuses on particular topics such as the question of Paul's Roman citizenship. The two volumes of this commentary now form the most comprehensive and up-to-date work available on 2 Corinthians.

In this important addition to the Old Testament Library, now available in a new casebound edition, renowned scholar Brevard Childs writes on the Old Testament's most important theological book. He furnishes a fresh translation from the Hebrew and discusses questions of text, philology, historical background, and literary architecture, and then proceeds with a critically informed, theological interpretation of the text. The Old Testament Library provides fresh and authoritative treatments of important aspects of Old Testament study through commentaries and general surveys. The contributors are scholars of international standing.

Using both ancient and modern rhetoric, linguistics, and argumentation theory, this study offers a fresh approach to 1 Peter and New Testament ethics. It is often claimed that the growing interest in paraenesis, or ethical teaching, among early Christians indicates how Jesus' revolutionary teaching and the Pauline notion of justification by faith were gradually replaced by an emphasis on good works and ethics borrowed from the surrounding Hellenistic and Jewish culture. The Motivation of the Paraenesis challenges this traditional view of ethics in early Christianity, arguing that paraenesis was an original, essential part of early Christian doctrine and life. The book also provides a new, well-balanced picture of 1 Peter and its message, giving a natural interpretation to many puzzling sections and clarifying the internal logic of the text and the theology behind it.>

The series Beihefte zur Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft (BZAW) covers all areas of research into the Old Testament, focusing on the Hebrew Bible, its early and later forms in Ancient Judaism, as well as its branching into many neighboring cultures of the Ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman world.

Here Andrew Macintosh provides a major introduction, followed by translation and verse-by-verse commentary to Hosea. Incorporating up-to-date evidence from archaeology and the Dead Sea Scrolls, as well as the insights of more recent major commentaries, he places particular emphasis on the work of the Rabbinic authorities and especially that of Ibn Janah. He reveals important new evidence concerning the meaning of Hosea's dialectical language to provide an indispensable reference for scholars, students and clergy.

This comprehensive bibliography to scholarly works on the biblical book of Esther contains over 1500 references. It includes titles of books, collected works, Festschriften, theses, journal articles, essays in collections, encyclopedia and dictionary articles, and online material. It is a classified bibliography, arranged in three categories -- commentaries, biblical chapters and verses, and subject headings in alphabetical order. The scope of the bibliography is international, and its focus is on research from the last hundred years. Scholars, students, clergy, and librarians -- among them literary scholars, sociologists, historians, linguists, art historians, feminists, and Christian and Jewish scholars -- will find this unique volume an indispensable resource and stimulus to further research.

Now available in English for the first time, Augustine's Commentary on Galatians is his only complete, formal commentary on any book of the Bible and offers unique insights into his understanding of Paul and of his own task as a biblical interpreter. In addition to an English translation with facing Latin text, Eric Plumer provides a comprehensive introduction and copious notes.

Paul's first letter to the Corinthians was addressed originally to a fledgling mission church in Corinth. Paul's absence from the church had allowed serious problems to arise within the Corinthian community, but the problems that he addresses in this letter do not always seem based on explicitly theological ideas. The brilliance of Paul, though, is that he frames the issues in theological terms and reflects on them in the light of the gospel.

"Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching" is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

The narratives of Solomon and Jeroboam, of Elijah and Ahab, have fascinated readers for millennia. They are the principal foundation of our knowledge of the history of Israel during the early years of the divided monarchy, and their reliability and verifiability as historical sources have long been the subject of intense scholarly analysis and debate. But even apart from questions of historical authenticity, they are gripping stories of richly drawn characters caught up in the complex tale of Yahweh's dealings with Israel: Solomon the wise is the builder of Yahweh's Temple, yet he becomes an idolater; Jeroboam is chosen by Yahweh as king, yet he worships the golden calves; Elijah is a prophet second only to Moses, yet he tries to renounce his calling; and Ahab is the worst of Israel's kings, yet shows traces of greatness. This study explores the narrative world created by the ancient Israelite author - the people who inhabit it, the lives they live and the deeds they do, and the face of God who is revealed in their stories.

This careful and thoughtful book unlocks the door to the theological and ethical treasures contained in the Epistles of John. It is an invitation to a journey of discovery, from the well-known and familiar to the less familiar but rewarding.

"Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching" is a distinctive resource for those who interpret the Bible in the church. Planned and written specifically for teaching and preaching needs, this critically acclaimed biblical commentary is a major contribution to scholarship and ministry.

This study is on the figure and , also commonly called the 'Strange Woman' in Proverbs 1-9. It is an attempt to understand the meaning which defines her, and the origin and development of her motif. The first part argues against defining her as a sexual predator, but as an ethnic foreigner according to the lexical studies of and . It traces her origin within the Hebrew scripture, the legal documents and especially to the DtrH's portrayal of foreign women/wives. Hence, it distinguishes the two motifs: the motif of the adulteress and the motif of the foreign woman; the latter, which symbolizes the temptation to apostasy. The study will then go on to explain how the writer of Proverbs 1-9 employs this motif of the foreign woman in his poetic composition. The second part tracks the development of this motif through the subsequent Jewish Wisdom literature and observes how it changes and loses the 'foreignness' of her original motif in Eccl. 7:26; 4Q184; LXX Proverbs; Hebrew Ben Sira; Greek Ben Sira; and finally disappears in Wisdom of Solomon. It proffers to understand this gradual transformation against a background of social and religious change.