Publisher's Synopsis
There is no substitute for the reading of the Writing Prophets themselves even as there is no substitute for the actual reading of the NT and the whole Bible. Like one Bible teacher said many years ago, "Read your Bibles, they will throw a lot of light on the commentaries." Then again with something as difficult as the Writing Prophets, especially in order to ascertain the relevance for today, some guidance is helpful based on hours with those Writing Prophets. When Philip the evangelists' caught the Ethiopian reading from the queen of the Writing Prophets, Isaiah, Philip asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" The Ethiopian replied, "How can I except some man should guide me?" Thus each reader of the Writing Prophets or of a commentary such as this on the Writing Prophets needs to have some nudge like for the Ethiopian in the direction of Christ and other things most clearly known in the NT to help with the OT . Often you will find in the pages of this commentary the statement "What God considers most important in the OT in order to quote in the NT"; and that is the real "study guide", that and the ASI for Authorized Semi-Public Interpretation. While this is a day of "itching ears" Bible teachers with either "private" interpretations of the Bible, out of the total context of the Bible; or even more popular Bible teachers and preachers who claim for themselves extra-biblical interpretations. Yet Peter wrote in II Peter 1:20, and that Word of God still stands like a prophecy against any man or woman who would claim to have a private interpretation that glories themselves and makes a profit, "no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation". God Authorized a more public interpretation consistent with all the Apostles and Prophets; and it would be the API if it were not for the fact that academic scholarship or credentials or even popularity is not sufficient for the understanding and teaching of the Bible, hence the ASI for Authorized Semi-Public Interpretation. Perhaps the biggest mess ever made with the Bible of the OT among any society was by the religious leaders of Judaism during the life of Christ; and while we will not repeat here the labels Christ had for these scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and priests of His day, you will recall that they were blind, they could not understand, and they had come to substitute the teachings of men for the commandments of God. Well, that is happening again today as we see an unbelievable number of men and women who teach the Bible for profit; and we appreciate some of the extent today of the popular "heaping up of teachers with itching ears" of II Timothy 4:3,4, which matches if is not greater than the present intolerance among church members and denominations of sound doctrine.