Genesis: A Commentary

I was so surprised to see so many negative reviews of this commentary which I have fallen in love with, that I decided to write a review myself. First of all, Waltke's command of Hebrew and the decision to bring out certain aspects of the Hebrew text is selective, not exhaustive. For example, he does not cover every nuance of the Hebrew text in a verse, but does cover significant issues especially with an eye towards exegetical work (so it's a great tool for pastors-cutting through the chaff and getting to the kernel of the issue). Let me illustrate by looking at Waltke's coverage of 'Book 1 of 10 in Genesis'. In Genesis 2:4a (pg 83) he says : "This the account" [toledot] (sorry I cannot make the Hebrew transliteration look like his typesetting). This word is the signal marker for the beginning of each of the ten books of Genesis. Toledot, from the root yld, meaning "to bear children" here signifies "what is produced or brought into being by someone." It is the nominal form of the root, meaning "descendants." The account pertains to what the cosmos has generated, not the generation of the cosmos. If you desire more on this, you will have to read someone like Victor Hamilton's NICOT or any number of fuller technical works on Genesis. But for the pastor preparing a sermon, he boils it down to the essentials without TMI (too much information). For each book in Genesis (he sees 10) Waltke follows a pattern that I find refreshing to read in comparison to fuller commentaries. He starts out with a section called "Theme of Book 1" or 2 and so on. It is a short summary in normal language of that part of Genesis. Then he gives an outline of the book. He breaks it down into Acts, Scenes and Epilogues. This is very logical and consistent and brings out the literary structure of Genesis in a way that really connects well with everyone I've been teaching so far. That's very helpful from a pastors point of view. Then he does a broad segment called 'Literary Analysis of Book 1'. He covers a bit on Genre, structure and plot, escalation, characters, conflict, irony and innertextuality. After all of this he gives a segment called 'Exegetical Notes to Book 1' In this he gives cogent comments for each part of each verse, sometimes focusing on significant words, such as 'Adam' in Genesis 2:7 with quick overview of the play on words in the Hebrew text and some well polished phrases to sum it up in English (a lot of his stuff is ready made for preaching). The format is pleasant to read for any regular person, not packed with lots of parenthetical phrases or Hebrew, Greek, Latin fonts. Everything is transliterated and smoothly presented. He has everything organized by Book, Act, Scene. If that is confusing, matching scripture references are retained next to those, and there is a contents table at the front of the book for anyone who is a bit confused by that arrangement. I found it very helpful to use. Anyhow, after his section on Exegetical Not

Bruce Waltke's commentary was useful as a resource for the recent Adult Sunday School class I taught on Genesis 11-50. It doesn't go into as much technical detail as Gordon Wehnam's (Word biblical commentary section), which makes it suited for use by interested laymen who aren't doing advanced study. Waltke makes good use of David Dorsey's structural outlines (usually chiastic) (from The literary structure of the Old Testament, which are helpful in pointing the reader to compare and contrast one section of the text with another, possibly non-obvious section of text. For each portion of Genesis Waltke covers includes literary analysis, exegetical details, and theological reflections, which are generally Reformed in tenor. I liked how Waltke referenced God changing his mind about humanity in the flood: "The unchanging God is always pained by sin. Moreover, because he is immutable, he will always change his plans to do good if people persist in their sin: "If it [a nation] does evil in my sight, and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good that I had intended to do for it" (Jer 18:10, ...) God's change of mind about the human race at the time of the flood, is entirely consistent with his unchanging character. God is not fickle, he does not change his mind, including his mind to reconsider. People can count on God always to reconsider his original intention to do good or evil according to the human response." Waltke follows the usual "majority report" on the impropriety of deception in Genesis, seeing Abraham and Jacob as solely negative examples. Interestingly, and in a very well-argued section, he shows how Tamar is a model of gentile faithfulness in her actions to gain her rightful offspring from fallen Judah. Waltke's commentary doesn't deal in any great detail with archaeological or scientific difficulties that Genesis presents, though he has reflections (tending to support historical validity) for some of them, such as the alleged anachronism of camels, or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire. A unique contribution is his highlighting of areas of the narrative that contain "blanks" or "gaps". For Waltke, "blanks" are inconsequential omissions from what we might think we would like to know for a full account of a story, and "gaps" are intentional omissions that have narrative weight. Waltke frequently draws attention to these aspects of the text. Waltke cites the lack of a "these are the generations of Isaac" sectional head as another aspect of the narratives criticism of the character of Isaac. Waltke's commentary is a fine addition or even starting point for anyone dealing with a detailed or literary study of Genesis, and will find good theological insight as well. As a final note, I can see the point of one of the 2 star reviewers, that the book reads like class notes, which is what they developed from. I didn't find that as offputting, but I can see it as a flaw in some respects. I'm also not as perturbed by the ki

I ordered this book when I was taking an Old Testament Course at Seminary. But it was only after I had completed another class on Hermeneutics that I really started to appreciate this book. I am supplementing my beginning of the year read through the Bible with this book and finding it amazing. Understanding God's purposes and plan for mankind really comes alive when you read the Genesis narrative with someone who has a good grasp of exegesis and how God uses narratives to lead us to Christ. I am still a new learner in this area, but the great thing is that I am discovering totally new applications of the Scriptures after many years of reading it. This isn't dry reading. It makes the Bible come to life and intersects with my everyday living. What an encouragement!

Waltke (former Westminster prof) is a real master of the OT. This commentary is generally solid, but uneven. It has the feel of cleaned up lecture notes. In some places it is extremely rich and insightful, in others surprisingly thin and obvious. Anyone teaching or preaching through Genesis will want this, but will also want to read a few others. Allen Ross is probably the most detailed and helpful. Victor Hamilton in the NICOT series is helpful, but I found theologically problematic at places. Boice is homiletical, careful, Reformed, bt tends to be more moralistic than Christ-centered. Indispensible are the two Iain Duguid volumes on select parts of Genesis. Kidner in TOT series is good.

Dr. Waltke has presented us with the best commentary on Genesis that I have read in a long time. As a Bible study leader this book is indispensable. He exegetes each section which he has divided up into Acts & Scenes - don't let this confuse you, it his own way of "separating" the contents. He not only give us exegetical notes but includes a theological review of each "Act". I have never read a book so designed to correctly use the Word of God. It not only is a delight to read but is a most helpful book for preparing a Bible study. His insights and high view of God are inspiring.