‘Welcome to a commentary on three books of the Bible that include everything: love and violence, faith and greediness, respect and harassment, sex and war v’ (xv). The NIBC series has already established a good reputation for accessible comment and interpretation, and is certainly one which I would readily consult for Bible study and preaching. This composite volume largely lives up to the reputation.

For theological and historical reasons, Joshua and Judges are among the most difficult books to make accessible, but Gordon Harris (strangely ‘J. Harris’ on the cover) and Cheryl Brown commendably rise to the occasion. Their commentaries are well-written, thought-provoking (was it wrong to send spies?), constantly alive to literary features (irony, wordplay, etc.), and sensitively applied. The more technical material is largely relegated to additional notes, which commendably often refer to accessible sources such as other commentaries and ABD. Ruth is a more amenable text, and is given disproportionate space (81 pages for 85 verses). But Michael Moore amply repays this generosity with a sparkling introduction and commentary. He constantly draws parallels and contrasts with Judges 17–21 at literary and theological levels, often with pithy and memorable phrases. Aesthetically his writing mirrors the book of Ruth itself.

A few aspects of the volume are less good. The introductions to Joshua and Judges focus initially on traditional scholarly concerns (history and composition, surveyed briefly), with theology as the final element. At this level, the order should surely have been reversed, and more prominence given to theology. Better editing could have given a single, fuller introduction to conquest/settlement theories (if deemed necessary), rather two different and slightly dated versions. The numerous excursuses are generally disappointing, caught somewhere between explanation (better in introduction or notes) and application (better in text), and the one on ‘Holy War’ disavows the term yet still refers to ‘sacred battles’! Repeated cross-reference to the Moody Bible Atlas for land division in Joshua will be less helpful to readers outside North America. The transliteration is inconsistent, occasionally distinguishing between the different h, s and t letters, but usually not. Some Hebrew terms will stretch readers, e.g. sedaqa in Judges (fleetingly explained in a quotation on p. 126), as will some English terms, e.g. macrodiachronic and microsynchronic in Ruth (297–98). And the occasional note is incomplete, e.g. pages 15, 30 (BAR volume nos), page 299 n. 20 (English edition).

But on the whole these are minor points. For most users, this volume will open up these biblical books to greater understanding and sensitive appropriation.

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