2019 Spring Gift Giveaway - The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament

Do you have someone you love who is graduating from high school and heading to Bible college this Fall? If so, I have a wonderful idea for a gift - The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament. Do you know someone who loves to study the Bible and you have a gift-giving opportunity for them?  If so, I have a wonderful idea for a gift - The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament. Do you study your Bible and share it with your children/grandchildren? If so, I have a wonderful idea for a tool which will help you better understand it - The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament.

InterVarsity Press sent me one The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament for review and giveaway and today I'm happy to let you know about this wonderful book.

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
Authors - John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas
Publisher - InterVarsity Press

Favorite Features -

• Information on how to use the commentary
• Commentary focuses on both the culture and language for full understanding
• Each book of the Old Testament has information in the introduction on the Author, date it was written, where it was written, the setting/purpose, genre/sources and the message of the book.
• Glossary, maps, charts and index in the back.

IVP says; "How are we able to account for the 'Book of the Law' suddenly being discovered during Josiah's renovation of the temple (2 Chron 34:14)? We know from Egypt and Mesopotamia it was common to seal important documents--including theological documents--in the masonry or foundations of a palace or temple in order to inform a future king who might undertake restoration of the building.

What might the psalmist have had in mind when praising God for removing our transgressions, 'as far as the east is from the west' (Ps 103:12)? In an Egyptian hymn to Amun-Re, the deity is praised for his judgment of the guilty. As a result of the god's discernment the guilty are assigned to the east and the righteous to the west.

What is meant by God, 'weighing the heart' (Prov 21:2)? In Egyptian religious tradition we find the notion of the dead being judged before the gods. As the soul is examined, the dead person's heart is weighed in a scale against a feather symbolizing Truth. If the answers are correct and the heart does not outweigh the feather, the soul may enter the realm of everlasting life.                            The narratives, genealogies, laws, poetry, proverbs and prophecies of the Old Testament are deeply rooted in history. Archaeologists, historians and social scientists have greatly advanced our knowledge of the ancient world of the Bible. When we illuminate the accounts of Abraham or David, the imagery of the Psalms or Proverbs, or the prophecies of Isaiah or Jeremiah with this backlight of culture and history, these texts spring to new life. This unique commentary joins The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament in providing historical, social and cultural background for each passage of the Old Testament. From Genesis through Malachi, this single volume gathers and condenses an abundance of specialized knowledge--making it available and accessible to ordinary readers of the Old Testament. Expert scholars John Walton, Victor Matthews and Mark Chavalas have included along with the fruits of their research and collaboration

• a glossary of historical terms, ancient peoples, texts and inscriptions
• maps and charts of important historical resources
• expanded explanations of significant background issues
• introductory essays on each book of the Old Testament

The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament will enrich your experience of the Old Testament in a way no other commentary will do."

Sometimes when we talk with our older grandchildren about reading the Bible, they say they do not read it, because they are not able to understand what it says. This is where a resource like The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament becomes such a valuable resource - for you and for them. If we are serious about wanting to fight miss-interpretation of the Bible and encourage reading and understanding the Bible, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament is a tool which will prove its value over and over again, both for you as you read the Bible and for your grandchildren as well. This is a book you will use again and again - and by doing so you will model to your grandchildren to be people who read God's Word with a focus upon understanding what it is saying. Get a The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament for you and one for each of your older grandchildren as well.

I'm very happy to say, not only did IVP send one The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament for review, but they are making another available for me to give away (USA only). If you are over the age of 18 and would like to enter this drawing for one The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, which will be on May 27, 2019, please comment below to share who you might give it to if you win it.

In addition if you have followed on Google Friend Connect, followed by liking on facebook with the tab in the "Find us on Facebook" box ON THE BLOG or at this link (not just liking the post) and/or have followed grandma's cookie jar by email you will receive one entry for each of these which you have done. Plus, if you "share" this post, you'll receive another entry (please let me know if you share). This will help me be able to draw names from among people who would like to win one The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament and it gives you several ways to enter the give-away! Thank you for reading grandma's cookie jar and for sharing it with the people you know!