Product Highlights

• One-of-a-kind commentary on the cultural background of the Pentateuch
• Includes a glossary of historical terms, ancient people, texts and inscriptions
• Expanded explanations of background issues

“The Old Testament was not written in a vacuum. It did not fall out of the sky. God used the genres, images and institutional structures of the broader Near East to communicate his revelation to his people. He also used the mythological language of the surrounding nations to subvert the idolatry which proved so tempting to God's people through the ages. Distanced from this time period by the millennia, Christians often miss the allusions that were obvious to the original audience. Matthews and Walton combine their considerable talents to give us an invaluable resource for our understanding of the background of the Torah.”

—Tremper Longman III, Ph.D., Yale University, Professor of Biblical Studies at Westmont College

“This commentary fills a very important niche between scholarly tomes and surveys of the Pentateuch. This volume brings the reader face to face with the many facets of the biblical text, while opening up a lucid path through the issues raised by modern scholarship. The authors have produced a useful work that avoids rabbit trails and technical jargon. Highly recommended.”

—Willem A. VanGemeren, Ph.D., director of the Doctor of Philosophy in Theological Studies program and professor of Old Testament and Semitic languages at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

• Why is the serpent singled out as craftier than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made?
• Why was pork considered unclean and forbidden?
• What is the cultural significance of the golden calf?

These and many more questions arise as we read the first five books of the Old Testament. But the answers won't be found merely by searching the text more carefully. They call for knowledge apart from the text of Scripture. They summon us to investigate the world of the Bible that lies outside the Bible. It is a world that the original readers of Genesis, Exodus and the other books would have been very familiar with, a world that would have required little extra explanation for them. But few of us, now centuries removed from the time of the books' first writing, are equipped for such understanding.

Fortunately in recent decades much has been learned of that distant and ancient Near Eastern world. But much of that knowledge is still "locked up" in archaeological studies and academic texts to which scholars alone hold the keys.

In The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Genesis—Deuteronomy, John Walton and Victor Matthews make accessible to us the results of extensive historical and cultural investigation and then apply it toward our understanding of each passage of the Pentateuch. Like its predecessor, the best-selling IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, this work is a "must have" for every student of the Bible. Pastors, teachers, Sunday-school teachers, college and seminary students, and everyday readers of the Bible will find it a priceless and constant companion to their study and reading of these five foundational books of the Old Testament.

This clearly written, one-of-a-kind commentary offers an understanding of the cultural backgrounds essential for understanding the Bible's message then and now.

About the Authors:

John H. Walton earned his Ph.D. in 1981 in Hebrew and Cognate Studies, at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, in Cincinnati, Ohio. For twenty-five years he was active at South Park Church in Park Ridge, Illinois teaching at every level from adults through pre-school. He came to Wheaton College after twenty years of teaching at Moody Bible Institute. He is currently the professor of Old Testament and has been on the faculty since 2001.

Victor H. Matthews received his Ph.D. from the Department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University in 1977. He taught at Clemson University (1978-80) and Anderson College (1980-84) in South Carolina, before joining the Department of Religious Studies at Missouri State University in 1984 as Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. His field of research is ancient Near Eastern history and the social world of ancient Israel. He is now serving as the Dean of the College of Humanities and Public Affairs, but will continue to teach courses in Religious Studies.

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