THE OXFORD BIBLE COMMENTARY EDITORS John Barton, Oriel and Laing Professor of the Interpretation of Holy Scripture, University of Oxford John Muddiman, Fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford ASSOCIATE EDITORS Loveday Alexander, University Lecturer in New Testament Studies, University of Sheffield Martin Goodman, Professor of Jewish Studies and Fellow of Wolfson College, Oxford Rex Mason, Emeritus Fellow of Regent's Park College, Oxford Henry Wansbrough OSB, Master of St Benet's Hall, Oxford This page intentionally left blank THE OXFORD BIBLE COMMENTARY EDITED BY JOHN BARTON AND JOHN MUDDIMAN OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Great Clarendon Street, Oxford 0x2 6DP Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offices in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Oxford University Press 2001 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2001 First published in paperback 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Oxford Bible Commentary / edited by John Barton and John Muddiman. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and indexes. I. Bible—Commentaries. I. Barton, John, 1948- II. Muddiman, John. BS491.3 .094 2001 220.7—dc21 2001021139 ISBN 978-0-19-875500-5 (Hbk.) 978-0-19-927718-6 (Pbk.) 3579 10 8642 Printed and bound in China through Phoenix Offset Acknowledgements We gratefully and fully acknowledge the assistance we have received from our co-editors, Dr Rex Mason (for the Old Testament), Professor Martin Goodman (for the Apocrypha), Dr Loveday Alexander and Dom Henry Wansbrough, OSB (for the New Testament). Our thanks are also due to the contributors of the individual articles, and to the expert management and editing team of the Oxford University Press, in particular Hilary O'Shea, the commissioning editor, and Sylvia Jaffrey, to whom we are indebted for her expert copy-editing of such a huge work. J.B. J. M. OXFORD July 2000 This page intentionally left blank List of Contents List of Maps x List of Contributors xi Abbreviations xiii 1. General Introduction 1 2. Introduction to the Old Testament 5 3. Introduction to the Pentateuch 12 4. Genesis 38 5. Exodus 67 6. Leviticus 91 7. Numbers 110 8. Deuteronomy 135 9. Joshua 158 10. Judges 176 11. Ruth 192 12. 1 & 2 Samuel 196 13. 1 & 2 Kings 232 14. 1 & 2 Chronicles 267 15. Ezra-Nehemiah 308 16. Esther 324 17. Job 331 18. Psalms 355 19. Proverbs 405 20. Ecclesiastes 423 21. Song of Solomon 429 22. Isaiah 433 23. Jeremiah 487 24. Lamentations 528 25. Ezekiel 533 26. Daniel 563 27. Hosea 571 28. Joel 578 29. Amos 581 30. Obadiah 590 31. Jonah 593 CONTENTS Vlll 32. Micah 595 33. Nahum 599 34. Habakkuk 601 35. Zephaniah 604 36. Haggai 607 37. Zechariah 610 38. Malachi 615 39. Introduction to the Apocrypha 617 40. Tobit 626 41. Judith 632 42. Esther (Greek) 642 43. The Wisdom of Solomon 650 44. Ecclesiasticus, or The Wisdom of Jesus Son of Sirach 667 45. Baruch with the Letter of Jeremiah 699 46. Additions to Daniel: the Prayer of Azariah, the Song of the Three Jews, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon 704 47. 1 Maccabees 711 48. 2 Maccabees 734 49. 1 Esdras 751 50. Prayer of Manasseh 770 51. Psalm 151 773 52. 3 Maccabees 773 53. 2 Esdras 775 54. 4 Maccabees 790 55. Essay with Commentary on Post-Biblical Jewish Literature 792 56. Introduction to the New Testament 830 57. Matthew 844 58. Mark 886 59. Luke 922 60. John 960 61. The Four Gospels in Synopsis 1001 62. Acts 1028 63. Introduction to the Pauline Corpus 1062 64. Romans 1083 65. 1 Corinthians 1108 IX CONTENTS 66. 2 Corinthians 1134 67. Galatians 1152 68. Ephesians 1165 69. Philippians 1179 70. Colossians 1191 71. 1 Thessalonians 1199 72. 2 Thessalonians 1213 73. The Pastoral Epistles: 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus 1220 74. Philemon 1233 75. Hebrews 1236 76. James 1255 77. 1 Peter 1263 78. 2 Peter 1270 79. 1 John, 2 John, and 3 John 1274 80. Jude 1284 81. Revelation 1287 82. Extra-canonical early Christian literature 1306 83. Bibliographical Guide to Biblical Studies 1331 Index 1347