A Book Review from Books At a Glance
by Matthew B. Tabke
A common saying in our society is that “the only given in life is taxes and death.” This comment springs forth in Western society as a truism to which we laugh at taxes and ignore death. It is not true, however, that these are the only two universals in human experience. Along the way to death, every person experiences suffering. It could be slight inconveniences at times, like a stub of the toe or a prick of the finger. But it could be a much graver form of suffering such as permanent crippling from a car accident or years of pain from a brutal disease. Christians are promised such suffering in life if they follow Christ, often by way of persecution, which remains quite mild in the West. Still, the experience of suffering never escapes us, and while there are many verses in the Biblical corpus that aid in our ability to endure such suffering, the book of Job is not necessarily a comfort to the Christian in agony.
What then is the purpose of the book of Job? Duane Garrett seeks to answer that question in his new commentary, which is part of the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary series. Garrett is the chair of the department of Old Testament at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. He has been a professor of Old Testament Interpretation since 2004 and has served on the faculty of Gordon-Conwell, Bethel, Canadian Southern Baptist, Mid-America Baptist, and Korea Baptist Seminaries. He is the general editor of The Archaeology Study Bible and a faithful member at Westport Road Baptist Church. He completed a bachelor’s degree at Rice University, a Master of Divinity at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and a Ph.D. at Baylor University. Garrett has published numerous works, such as Angels and the New Spirituality, A Modern Grammar for Classical Hebrew and its accompanying workbook, and several commentaries on the books of Exodus, Hosea, Joel, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Jeremiah, and Lamentations.
I previously reviewed a commentary from the Evangelical Exegetical Commentary series on Galatians by Michael H. Bruer. There, I mentioned that the series is defined by its name. “Evangelical” means that the authors selected for the series are unified in their conviction that Scripture is authoritative and a guide for faithful living in the Christian life. “Exegetical” means the original languages are prioritized along with the intent the human authors had while penning or reading their works to the initial hearers. Job, however, is a bit of an anomaly in the Canon given the extreme difficulty of the Hebrew, the themes present therein, and the frustrations one might encounter when trying to decipher when and to whom the book was written. Garrett attempts to answer some difficult questions that the book of Job poses before following with the commentary proper, which contains five parts: a translation, textual notes, a commentary, Biblical Theology comments, and application and devotional comments.
The author introduces us to the book of Job with the first 54 pages of the volume. As mentioned above, Garrett spends significant time trying to decipher the audience, author, and date, as well as the meaning of the book based on some of these aspects. He begins with a concise summary statement saying that Job “tells how a righteous man suffered severe afflictions and how he and his companions sought to make sense of it all” (1). Garrett argues for a chiastic structure of the book of Job with the “wisdom poem” (chapter 28) appearing at its center. From here, the author moves through a plethora of introductory material and neatly summarizes scholarly research in an accessible way.
There are many aspects of this introduction that prove quite helpful. For instance, the “intertextuality” section sets parallel passages of Job alongside others from the Psalms, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, showing similarities and that “one of these authors was acquainted with the other’s work” (11). In a short section labeled “Understanding Job,” Garrett suggests that we misunderstand Job if we don’t grasp that “the debate itself constitutes the message of the book” (33, emphasis author’s). This couples with other sections to show that the question the book of Job is trying to answer is “whether God is just in his governance of the world” (40). All this introductory material taken together forms a compelling and helpful introduction to the book. The author writes in a clear, concise way that does not drown the reader with overwhelming background information or scholarly rhetoric. The bibliography at the end of the introduction does contain some technical monographs and articles that are less accessible to pastors, but the author has condensed the material from scholarly sources in a way that makes the book useful to both pastors, scholars, and even laymen hoping for a deeper study of Job.
As mentioned above, Garrett suggests the structure of Job is chiastic and lays out the commentary accordingly by his structural outline on pages 48-51. Most passages covered in the commentary contain the five major parts mentioned above. First, the translation appears to follow a somewhat rigid formal equivalence philosophy. This is typical for academic commentaries, with the author’s reasoning for his decisions contained in the footnotes. Second, the textual notes sections are primarily for showing deviations and agreement with other ancient versions of the text of Job, such as the Targums or the Septuagint. While the whole commentary is technical, it is written in very accessible language. These sections with textual notes are likely the most difficult to utilize for those who are not engaged in the academic study of Job. They serve the purpose of indicating to other scholars or students in advanced programs the differences and similarities between the various texts. A pastor will likely not find these sections very useful, but they will be incredibly helpful for students and scholars writing on Job.
Next, the commentary sections are clear in exposition and offer easy to follow explanations of the text. Unlike the Galatians volume from the same series, the insights from other scholars are integrated into the text of the commentary rather than set aside in their own sections, making the commentary just slightly more difficult to use than Bruer’s. One should not be deterred by this fact, however, because if Garrett mentions another scholar, it is usually an Evangelical one, and the scholar is only mentioned to show how Garrett’s interpretation differs. This means that he has foregone the cumbersome exegesis of liberal scholarship and chosen to comment specifically in response to those who are Christians, which pastors will find tremendously helpful, given that they may be using a few different Evangelical commentaries as they preach through Job. Finally, one may notice that Garrett’s comments are fairly short at times. This again is no reason for stumbling, given the clarity of the author’s writing. Garrett is a masterful and concise writer regarding his exposition.
The last two sections included in the commentary are the Biblical theology comments and the application and devotional comments, the latter of which only appear at the end of subsections. I string these two sections together because it was at times difficult to understand the variations between the two. It is not clear that these two sections offer something entirely different from each other, unlike Bruer’s volume, where every section has a unique flavor to it. Still, these sections are helpful for bringing timeless moral truths from Job to the Christian life and make the text accessible for those seeking application to their present-day faith.
I highly recommend this commentary for the pastor preaching through Job as well as the student or scholar studying the book. The introduction is incredibly helpful for informing readers of the background of Job. The commentary is generally helpful and provides a thorough yet concise explanation of the text. Job is not necessarily the easiest book to chew through, and Garrett is excellent at bringing the meaning and application of Job forward to the present day. His writing is concise and clear, and many will find his work helpful for their study of this difficult book.
Matthew Tabke
Buy the books
JOB (EVANGELICAL EXEGETICAL COMMENTARY), by Duane A. Garrett