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John Phillips Commentary
Exploring the Minor Prophets
Books in the John Phillips Commentary Series are designed to provide pastors, Sunday school teachers, and students of the Scripture with doctrinally sound interpretation that emphasizes the practical application of Bible truth. Working from the familiar King James Version, Dr. Phillips not only provides helpful commentary on the text, but also includes detailed outlines and numerous illustrations and quotations. Anyone wanting to explore the meaning of God's Word in greater depth--for personal spiritual growth or as a resource for preaching and teaching--will welcome the guidance and insights of this respected series.
- GenresOld Testament
344 pages, Hardcover
First published May 3, 2002
3 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
John Phillips
90 books15 followersDr. John Phillips was born in Britain. He served in the British Army in Palestine where he saw many of the events which led to the birth of the State of Israel. After the War he joined the Bank of Montreal and went to Canada. In the Canadian north-west he founded and pastored a small church in a bi-vocational capacity. He served as assistant director of the Moody Bible Institute's Correspondence School and became well known as a Bible teacher in the Moody Evening School and over the Moody Radio Network. For four years he directed the Emmaus Correspondence School, one of the largest in the world at that time with courses available in over 100 languages. Returning to Moody Bible Institute he traveled widely as an itinerant Bible teacher for the Institute's Extension Ministry. He is best known for his EXPLORING and INTRODUCING books. He has written on all the New Testament books and on numerous Old Testament books including EXPLORING GENESIS, EXPLORING PSALMS (2 vols), EXPLORING PROVERBS (2 vols) and EXPLORING THE MINOR PROPHETS. Dr. Phillips' resources have been the companions of pastors, teachers and Bible students everywhere who have turned to them for instruction, illumination, and illustration.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 24, 2009
I found John Phillips’s commentary on the minor prophets to be unique, with much to be commended and also much that could be improved. Firstly, this volume lives up to its name, being an expository commentary, not a rigorous exegetical work. There is hardly any reference to the original Hebrew and when reference is made, it is done through paraphrase. Phillips also avoids mention of scholarly opinion, and if such opinion need be brought up (as in the case of disputed dates of composition) Phillips de-emphasizes it by leaving the scholars anonymous and is quick to provide the reader with his own interpretation of the facts.
I found this approach to be both disappointing and yet refreshing. It was slightly disappointing because I had no opportunity to investigate Phillips’s claims about the texts. However, while it was slightly disappointing, it was also greatly refreshing. Phillips takes spare words of the text and paints them with rich imagery and poetic language. The commentary is almost delicious to read in parts!
Part of what makes his narration so fun to read in parts is the way he integrates a straightforward reading of the text with a narrative-style description of the setting. At times he seems to go a bit too far, adding in details that aren’t in the text and aren’t known to have happened in the historical context.
Perhaps the most helpful chapter in this volume for me was the one titled “The Twelve and Their Times.” Here Phillips spends seventeen pages giving historical background on the period of the minor prophets, placing each prophet in a political and spiritual setting. In harmony with the rest of the book, he does not merely list off the facts known to be true at the time. Instead, he sketches a vivid picture of the life and times of the twelve prophets. Here, however, unlike the rest of the commentary, he seems to refrain from inserting dubious information.
The biases of the author are apparent from early on: John Phillips clearly believes in the inspiration of the Scriptures and apparently holds to a popular evangelical eschatology. He is quite fond of interpreting the texts of the prophets in terms of modern Israel, Russia, and China. Without blushing, he paints detailed political scenes of the last days and the final tribulation. With a similar boldness Phillips denounces the sins of this present age along with the transgressions during the time of the writing prophets. Those are two examples of how Phillips commentary is application-based. Thus the literary beauty noted above is balanced with a strong emphasis on modern application and Phillips maintains a careful harmony between the art of the literary form and the oftentimes stinging personal and national applications.
Yet it is here, at the level of application, that I found myself most dissatisfied with this book. While I do agree that the Bible is the product of divine inspiration, I do not share many of the author’s personal positions on eschatology. Since these are featured so regularly within this volume, I quickly tired of it.
All in all, I found Exploring the Minor Prophets to be a unique commentary, refreshing in its sweeping style. I think that it is best suited to be a companion volume to more serious exegetical works; in this way its strengths could really shine.
I found this approach to be both disappointing and yet refreshing. It was slightly disappointing because I had no opportunity to investigate Phillips’s claims about the texts. However, while it was slightly disappointing, it was also greatly refreshing. Phillips takes spare words of the text and paints them with rich imagery and poetic language. The commentary is almost delicious to read in parts!
Part of what makes his narration so fun to read in parts is the way he integrates a straightforward reading of the text with a narrative-style description of the setting. At times he seems to go a bit too far, adding in details that aren’t in the text and aren’t known to have happened in the historical context.
Perhaps the most helpful chapter in this volume for me was the one titled “The Twelve and Their Times.” Here Phillips spends seventeen pages giving historical background on the period of the minor prophets, placing each prophet in a political and spiritual setting. In harmony with the rest of the book, he does not merely list off the facts known to be true at the time. Instead, he sketches a vivid picture of the life and times of the twelve prophets. Here, however, unlike the rest of the commentary, he seems to refrain from inserting dubious information.
The biases of the author are apparent from early on: John Phillips clearly believes in the inspiration of the Scriptures and apparently holds to a popular evangelical eschatology. He is quite fond of interpreting the texts of the prophets in terms of modern Israel, Russia, and China. Without blushing, he paints detailed political scenes of the last days and the final tribulation. With a similar boldness Phillips denounces the sins of this present age along with the transgressions during the time of the writing prophets. Those are two examples of how Phillips commentary is application-based. Thus the literary beauty noted above is balanced with a strong emphasis on modern application and Phillips maintains a careful harmony between the art of the literary form and the oftentimes stinging personal and national applications.
Yet it is here, at the level of application, that I found myself most dissatisfied with this book. While I do agree that the Bible is the product of divine inspiration, I do not share many of the author’s personal positions on eschatology. Since these are featured so regularly within this volume, I quickly tired of it.
All in all, I found Exploring the Minor Prophets to be a unique commentary, refreshing in its sweeping style. I think that it is best suited to be a companion volume to more serious exegetical works; in this way its strengths could really shine.
Displaying 1 of 1 review