In his latest addition to the esteemed Anchor Bible Commentaries, scholar Gary Knoppers examines one of the most neglected books of the Old Testament and established its importance as a key to understanding the nation of Israel.

Who were the Israelites? Was Israel's first king, Saul, a hero or a disaster? Was David a gifted and accomplished leader or a murderer and a cheat? Did Solomon preside over the most glorious epoch in Israelite history or did he lead the nation into a fateful decline?

In I Chronicles, the distinguished scholar Gary Knoppers addresses these questions through a thoughtful and exacting reading of one of the last books of the Hebrew Bible. He shows that Chronicles, which contains a variety of viewpoints on the major events and people, provides a distinct perspective on much of Israel's past, especially the monarchy. He discusses how the chronicler's introduction to the people of Israel redefines Israel itself; explains and defends the transition from Saul to David; and shows how the Davidic-Solomonic monarchy was not only a time of incomparable achievement and glory, but also the period during which the nations most important public institutions -the Davidic dynasty, the Jerusalem Temple, the priests, and the Levites--took formative shape.

I Chronicles, part of a two-volume set, is the first to employ systematically the Dead Sea Scrolls to reconstruct the biblical author's text. Knoppers reveals how Chronicles is related to and creatively drawn from many earlier biblical books, and presents a fascinating look at its connections, in both compositional style and approach, to the historical writings of ancient Mesopotamia and classical Greece. Featuring a new translation and an extensive introduction that incorporates up-to-date research, this volume replaces the Anchor Bible I Chronicles commentary written by Jacob Myers in 1965.

First Kings is not so much a book of history as a book of religion, says Dr. Simon J. DeVries. Through the historic events it relates, the religion of the Hebrew people was being shaped.

Dr. DeVries s thorough overview of the world of 1 Kings its geography, its culture, its politics, and the religious situation brings the biblical record alive in its time and place. Upon this foundation is superimposed a comprehensive, lucid discussion of sacred history as theological testimony, and responsible consideration of 1 Kings as literary composition.

In this commentary, Dr. DeVries provides keen insight into the intricacies of both the events and the textual difficulties of 1 Kings: The throne succession from David to Solomon Solomon s reign his influence and his failings The building of the Jerusalem temple and its significance The division of the United Kingdom The puzzling chronology of the Hebrew kings The problem of heathen shrines and cult objects The role of the prophets in Elijah s time.

For this second edition, he has updated and expanded the bibliography.

Prophecy, a burgeoning new religious impulse of the period of 1 Kings, receives special emphasis as a particularly rich source of profound theological truth communicated in the effective linguistic forms of prophet-narratives.

Whether appearing as historiography or as pious story, the contents of 1 Kings offer themselves as testimonies to the ways of God with men, Dr. DeVries notes. The scene is history; the players are kings and prophets; behind the curtain is the Lord of history, challenging his players to make history the scene of salvific revelation. "

The book of 2 Kings reads like tragic drama, telling the story of the closing decades of the divided monarchy in Israel and Judah-its failure, the Exile, the destruction of Jerusalem. If these are indeed God's chosen people, why has he allowed them to be so devastated?

In this insightful commentary, Dr. T. R. Hobbs focuses on 2 Kings as the purposeful attempt of its author to interpret the tragedy for those people-to give them new understanding of their past and renew their hope for the future.

Dr. Hobbs provides guidance in exploring several important themes emphasized by the author, among them: the prophet's role in the history of Israel and Judah, and the power of the divine word, particularly as transmitted by the prophet Elisha God's relentless insistence on faithfulness to the law of Moses (largely ignored by the people) as a condition for continuation of the Davidic covenant the dire effects of idol worship as practiced by the Canaanites and foolishly emulated by Israel and Judah inevitable doom as the fruit of disobedience, despite the occasional reforms instituted by some of the kings.

Dr. Hobbs's careful research has supplied sound reasons for acknowledging 2 Kings to be the creation of a single author, a master of literary expression whose skillfully crafted work fulfills its purpose. Particularly intriguing is the discussion on the deliberate imbalance in the author's selectivity of source materials and role models, both positive and negative; the perceptive analysis of literary techniques such as threefold repetition, word plays, and formulaic progressions; and the brief but penetrating overview of the nature of history and its relation to literary artistry.

The commentary includes a welcome commonsense examination of2 Kings' complicated problems of chronology, and there is ongoing dialogue with scholars who hold to a view of double or even multiple redaction of the book. Throughout, Dr. Hobbs demonstrates the author of 2 Kings to be "faithful to the facts, to his readers, to future Israel, and to God, whose word he delivers."

The Book of2 Samuel, which tells the story of David, Israel's greatest king, declares A. A. Anderson, is a central book in Scripture. It has served as a direct source for or influence on the books of Kings and Chronicles, the Prophets, and the Psalms, as well as the New Testament, and references to David can even be found in Gen. 49:10 and Num. 24:17, as Anderson has documented.

Although 2 Samuel begins with the death of his predecessor, Saul, and follows through to David's old age, the so-called Succession Narrative comprises most of the story in the book, telling how David built his kingdom and survived all threats to its continuity. It culminates in the final act of placing Solomon on the throne, which spills over into 1 Kings 1-2.

Anderson considers the Succession Narrative to be an apology-an official interpretation of significant events, not a eulogy written to the greater glory of either David or Solomon. Rather, it was intended to show that David, in spite of a series of near disasters, was not under a curse; and it maintains that Solomon was the rightful heir to David's throne, even though popular expectations as well as Solomon's youth and parentage apparently led many contemporaries to question that judgment.

The issue was not "Who of David's sons will be king?" the author points out, but more likely " Is there any of David's sons fit to sit on the throne of David?"

The commentary offers a full general bibliography with additional specialized listings of up-to-date bibliographies at the beginning of each chapter and of each section of the Introduction. The Introduction discusses:

The volume provides a fresh translation with detailed explanatory notes concerning original word choices. Carefully evaluating textual evidence from the Masoretic Text, the Septuagint, Qumran texts, the Targums, and Latin texts, Anderson holds that no one of these has a monopoly as "the best witness" to the original text. Each variation is thus evaluated for the contribution it can make.