Here is a great new book published by Baker Academic and written by Cedarville University professor Daniel J. Estes.

It is an introduction to the wisdom literature of the Old Testament: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs.

This is not a full verse-by-verse commentary. Instead, it covers the kind of material that is normally covered in the beginning of a full commentary. That is, Estes discusses the authorship, date, genre, structure, etc. of each book. Additionally, each section has a "History of Interpretation" for each book, which is especially helpful for Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs.

Traveling through Psalms in only 71 pages may seem to be a disservice to the text. However, the purpose is to give the "big picture" of the book in an exciting and fresh manner that invites the reader to go further in study.

In dicussion on Proverbs, Estes groups the verses under 12 themes. I took this same approach when preaching through Proverbs in the past, and definitely think this is the preferred approach for preaching through the book, at least chapters 10-31.

Regarding the Song of Songs, he rejects the allegorical interpretations in favor of: "...it extols the richness of human erotic love as a gift from God" (401)

If any of you have had the joy of sitting under the teaching of Old Testament professor Daniel Block, you know of his deep love for the Scriptures. Dr. Block gives the following recommendation for Estes' book:

"This introduction to the biblical books on godly piety and wisdom represents a model of balanced and judicious tudy. While taking advantage of the most recent scholarship on the Psalms and the wisdom writings, Estes is able to distill this information and present it in a form that is accessible to laypersons and helpful to any involved in the serious study of Scripture. He invites readers to an even greater delight in reading the Bible than they have had before."