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Exegetical Gems from Biblical Greek and Hebrew (2 vols.)

Publisher:
, 2019
(1)

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Overview

This collection is an ideal supplemental text for a variety of Greek and Hebrew courses. It is perfect for students looking to apply the original languages they have worked so hard to learn as well as for past students who wish to review their Greek and Hebrew. It also includes examples and illustrations to help professors strengthen their lectures.

Resource Experts
  • Engages the abstract concepts of grammar with concrete examples
  • Guides the reader through key interpretive questions in specific passages to arrive at exegetically informed answers
  • Provides a tool to help students of New Testament Greek prosper and ultimately succeed in using Greek
  • Title: Exegetical Gems from Biblical Greek and Hebrew (2 vols.)
  • Publisher: Baker
  • Publication Date: 2019
  • Volumes: 2
  • Pages: 416
  • Resource Type: Grammar
  • Topic: Languages

Exegetical Gems from Biblical Greek: A Refreshing Guide to Grammar and Interpretation

  • Author: Benjamin L. Merkle
  • Publisher: Baker
  • Publication Date: 2019
  • Pages: 192

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

Learning Greek is a difficult task, and the payoff may not be readily apparent. To demonstrate the insight that knowing Greek grammar can bring, Benjamin Merkle, a recognized expert in Greek, summarizes thirty-five key Greek grammatical issues and their significance for interpreting the New Testament. As Merkle presents exegetical insights from the Greek New Testament, he offers a strategic and refreshing way to review the essentials of Greek grammar.

This book is an ideal supplemental text for a variety of Greek courses. It is perfect for students looking to apply the Greek they have worked so hard to learn as well as for past students who wish to review their Greek. It also includes examples and illustrations to help professors strengthen their lectures.

The book is aptly titled: readers are indeed treated to exegetical gems from the Greek text. Merkle also provides a concise review of Greek grammar as he discusses particular biblical texts. This is a most helpful way to keep up or review one's Greek and to learn more about the biblical text at the same time.

—Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation and associate dean, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Benjamin L. Merkle (PhD, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is professor of New Testament and Greek at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He is the coauthor of Greek for Life: Strategies for Learning, Retaining, and Reviving New Testament Greek and Going Deeper with New Testament Greek: An Intermediate Study of the Grammar and Syntax of the New Testament.

Exegetical Gems from Biblical Hebrew: A Refreshing Guide to Grammar and Interpretation

  • Author: H. H. Hardy II
  • Publisher: Baker
  • Publication Date: 2019
  • Pages: 224

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

After spending countless hours studying Hebrew vocabulary, paradigms, and grammar, students may wonder how they can begin to reap the rewards of their hard work. H. H. Hardy II presents thirty grammatical concepts and their exegetical payoff to demonstrate the importance of learning Hebrew for interpreting the Old Testament. In the process, students will realize the practical value of what they have learned.

This book is an ideal supplemental text for a variety of Hebrew courses. It is perfect for students looking to apply their Hebrew and for past students who wish to review the essentials of Hebrew grammar. It also includes examples and illustrations to help professors strengthen their lectures.

This handy volume polishes and exposes the brilliance of the nuggets to be mined in the soil of Biblical Hebrew morphology and grammar. With thirty selected topics and carefully chosen examples, Hardy demonstrates the value of paying close attention to the details of language to discover the precious truths of Scripture. The collection itself is a major gemstone. I regret that I did not possess this treasure five decades ago, when I was learning Hebrew, and that it was not previously available to all my Hebrew students.

—Daniel I. Block, Gunther H. Knoedler Professor Emeritus of Old Testament, Wheaton College

H. H. Hardy II (PhD, University of Chicago) is associate professor of Old Testament and Semitic languages at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He is the author of two language resources and numerous articles.

Reviews

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  1. Kelly Mann

    Kelly Mann

    10/4/2019

    While I have both books, this is only a review of Merkle’s as I have not started the Hebrew one. The Good: 35 concise chapters with Scriptural examples to illustrate the point under discussion. I like that he draws on Runge/Levinshohn not just in the chapter on discourse but in at least one other chapter too. Also, many recent studies are referenced in the footnotes indicating he is keeping up with the latest scholarship on the subjects. In addition, he does not repeat the same error that Metzger did in using Colwell as proof to how John 1.1 should be rendered. He correctly notes in chapter 10 that, “the context must determine whether the predicate nominative is definite.” The Bad- well the questionable: At times, no doubt due to the concise manner in which the book is written, it comes across as dogmatic. For example, Merkle writes that “there are three main families of manuscripts.”- (chapter 2) It would have been better if he used scare quotes or had a footnote or something to alert the reader to the controversy that exists in dividing MSS into specific families with specific boundaries. In discussing the genitive case he says that in most instances it is easy to figure out a genitive. - (chapter 5) Such a comment gives the impression that ambiguous exceptions are few and far between which is not true at all. The genitive often allows for a great variety even if only a “few” examples are highlighted over and over again as being ambiguous. (righteousness of God; love of God). What does the revelation of Jesus mean as stated at Rev 1.1? From Jesus? Or about Jesus? Opinions vary, but these examples can be stated over and over again. The fact is, context often allows for different understandings and one can easily get lost in the different terms used in describing the types of genitives. Also, to add to the complexity is the fact that often these relationships involve abstract nouns or figure of speeches. In a very recent review published in “The Expository Times” 131(2) the reviewer highlights the weakness he found in chapter 23 on participles. Chapter 23 is entitled “Periphrastic Participles” and Merkle uses Mathew 18.18 as his example. The reviewer noted that the author did not engage “in a close study of similar periphrastic construction in wider koine Greek” thus not examining all the evidence but only a narrow sample and then picking a conclusion that was based on his own theological beliefs not on sound linguistical principles. The ugly: Chapter 3 has many errors that should not go without comment. Merkle clearly realizes that syntax/context is a key to John 1.1c. He states, "only the context determines whether the noun should be considered indefinite" but then he goes on to accuse another translation of "demonstrating its inconsistency" when they do the exact same thing (use context to come up with their rendering) but arrive at a very different theological conclusion. Most ironically, he does not allow the New World Translation (NWT) to use syntax even though they have publicly stated over and over this is why they have translated it differently than most. With little effort, this information could have been readily found online. Instead, Merkle relies on a faulty study in which Robert Countess makes up a rule that the NWT must not consider context/syntax but always translate nouns (theos) that are not articulate in the same way. This is pure non-sense! (Dan Wallace also makes this same grave error because of relying on the faulty “study” of Countess) The point that syntax matters in translating John 1.1 has been clearly made for decades within the NWT and online for some time. https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1001060096 While the NWT can certainly be criticized, to make a straw man argument is not scholarly to say the least. His conclusion is that, "the Greek use of the predicate nominative is qualitative." This is the exact same conclusion that Jehovah's Witnesses make in regards to John 1.1! If this is correct, then adding "a" or "an" is the general way you would show that a noun is "qualitative." (eg. “she is an angel.” The exceptions that I can think of, would be when it is clear you are talking about a quality) To translate this clause as "God" can easily cause one to jump into the pan of Sabellianism, hiding the very distinction that the Greek makes and that is lacking in the traditional English rendering. 99.9% of the readers of John do think "God" is a noun of identity (as opposed to a qualitative noun) and do indeed equate Logos with God. Thus, if John 1.1 is "qualitative" then you would expect something similar or the same, as the NWT and not what the NIV, NASB, KJV, etc. has that reads as if this were a definite noun. Therefore, if this is a qualitative noun then why not show this in translation? In conclusion, context is king for all translations, even for the ones whose theology we might not agree with. So, while the scholarly world no longer uses Colwell for proof on John 1.1c, it appears that, sad to say, there are other errors that will continue for some time based on faulty chapters like this one.
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$31.99

Collection value: $39.98
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