Book Review

A Commentary on the Psalms, Vol. 2 (Psalm 42-89)
Allen P. Ross
If you’re looking for a doctrinally sound and thorough commentary on the Psalms, then Ross’ commentary is for you. When searching for commentaries for sermon preparation, I like to have two types: technical and pastoral. The more technical commentaries to deal with an in depth study the nuances of language and culture as well as various scholarly viewpoints on the text at hand. Commentaries that are more pastoral in nature, while still explaining the meaning of the text, emphasize application and are often peppered with illustrations.
Commentaries on the Psalms that are pastoral in nature abound, but I have found very few that delve into the Hebrew and the background of the passages like Ross does. But he does so in a way that a (very) amateur Hebrew student can understand. Even though he deals with passages in depth, he doesn’t get bogged down in superfluous details.
The textual data for each Psalm is footnoted and very helpful. And the “Message and Application” section at the end of each Psalm helps to translate the meaning in to real life.
A commentary’s layout is also very important to me and book is laid out very well. I have not looked at other commentaries in this series, but his outline of each chapter, the room in the margin for notes, and the use of footnotes (as opposed to endnotes) are small considerations that are important to me as I read along
Ross’ commentary on the Psalms is probably the most helpful I’ve found and will be my first stop when preaching a passage from the Psalms.
I received the book for free from Kregel in exchange for an unbiased review.