Learn how the first order of business with God when he calls someone is to introduce them to the Sabbath and Holy Days. This was true from Adam through the Fathers and prophets. Since these days teach us the plan of God it is reasonable that you will find them being taught long before Mt.Sinai by God to his people. They were to teach their children but in the new covenant God ultimately does that job.
5/15/15- Carol Guinn -listened Mr. Sheppherd about the Sabbath. Enjoyed it very much as usual.
Thank you
Tiqun:Marks of a good commentary. (1) It gets to the root issue(s) of a book, unnersndtdiag the reason for the books structure and contents. It is not enough to comment on verses. It must see the big picture and be able to explain how the parts fit with the whole. (2) It investigates language, history, cultural background, theology, and literary features in producing a holistic view of the book. (3) It interacts with commentaries that have gone before. (4) I also enjoy a commentary of a different sort, one which brings out rich traditions of reading the text, such as rabbinic commentaries. Usually Christian popular level commentaries do not achieve the richness of rabbinic ones.Popular level commentaries are often so bad I wish they had not been printed. They end up being cheesy preaching points and restating the obvious without exploring the unknown. I think there are two reasons: (1) They are afraid of exploring passages which they cannot give black and white answers for and (2) They are infected by the anti-intellectualism of popular religion.Academic commentaries can sometimes so focused on details that they do not find the whole from the parts. But I almost always prefer academic commentaries, even if they are, as amiel4messiah put it, liberal.In general, the one commentary set that tends to the best is the Anchor Bible series. The problem is they are mostly out of print. You have to get them used and they are not easy to find.
Amiel4messiah:Most of the time the best commentaries are wietrtn by people you would call liberal. Over time, perhaps you will find, as I have, that conservative and liberal are less than helpful terms.There are some fine commentaries by observant Jews and evangelical Protestants (the Catholic commentators I have read tend to be less traditional, so I cannot comment on conservative Catholic commentators). I am reading Daniel Block on Ezekiel and so far I think it is going to be great. John Walton on Genesis, great. Umberto Cassuto on Genesis, amazing. Jacob Milgrom on Leviticus, the finest commentary on any book of the Bible period (but he believes in the JEDP and H theory of the Pentateuch).For people who are non-specialists, it is best to get a recommendation on commentaries. They are expensive and time-consuming. No point in wasting limited time for study on a less than helpful commentary.As for the JPS commentaries: I do not own any of them. But they bring some superstars to the table. Adele Berlin on Esther? Wow. Michael Fishbane on the Haftarot. I would love to own that. Michael Fox on Ecclesiastes. A must read. I have read some of Jacob Milgrom on Numbers. Milgrom is one of my favorite scholars, a brilliant man of immense learning. If I could afford them, I would own them all.