This collection of papers on the Family in ancient Israel covers the various periods of Israelite history. From pre-monarchy to second temple Judaism the chapters discuss many aspects of the family. The various authors discuss the members of the family, divorce, inheritance, and other issues that families of old as well as modern families experience. The ancient Israelite family was similar to those in the ancient Near East in their work ethic, structure, and culture.

This book helps the American family redefine their concept of family, extended family, and household as a source of strength for their cultural development.

This is the book for anyone who has ever wondered about the political homage paid to the "biblical family" in recent years. Profiting from recent breakthroughs in the study of Hebrew scriptures, this book, one of a series produced by the Religion, Culture, and Family Project of the University of Chicago Divinity School, argues that the family in ancient Israel should be understood as a complicated, multi-generational "household" system organized around a core "covenant" between father and mother, parents and children, households and land, and families and God. The ancient Hebrew family was hardly the "nuclear family" of today. Codes of hospitality insured that even outsiders and marginal members of the community were included when necessary. Indeed, the ancient Hebrew family resembled more the "village" concept, not only for raising children, but for building up community. Religious ideas in ancient Israel gave order and significance to the practical realities of family life, and were closely connected to the realities of household labor, land, wealth, procreation, inheritance, economic profit and loss, sickness, and dependency. This book is the only recent comprehensive review in the English language of the family in ancient Israel. It is well worth reading for anyone who wants to understand the biblical families of the Old Testament.

This book by Blenkinsopp is an excellent resource for the study of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible, also called the Torah or the Books of Moses). Though I do not recommend it for beginners who are just initiating their study of the Pentateuch, it will prove of great value for those who may be in the intermediate stage of study (and beyond) who wish to explore a healthy critique of the four-source hypothesis which has come to dominate this field of study.

Chapter One is especially valuable as Blenkinsopp provides an historical overview of Pentateuchal scholarship to date. This chapter brings the reader up to par and offers the author a starting point for his readable critique. In short, Blenkinsopp suggests that the hard lines of Pentateuchal source theory should be softened so that a multitude of influences can be discovered and appreciated. Perhaps the greatest insight of this author is the realization that no critical theory is perfect and that the insights of numerous theories can often prove useful.

Measured by his own narrow objectives and admitted limitations the book of the author is a success. The entire time span of prophecy is covered in one book and he develops convincing arguments for a tradition of prophecy in Israel.
Blenkinsopp does not let us know who the intended audience of his book is. He could not have in mind the time -pressured human of today's high tech world. One cannot find a single chart or graphical overview in his book, maybe a modern scholar of his educational level considers charts and graphical overviews as unworthy of a scholar.
The main method Blenkinsopp uses is the analysis of literary development, or source criticism (=historical). In many aspects Blenkinsopp is influenced by the theology of Bernhard Duhm. Considering that Duhm was a personal friend of Wellhausen and a fellow professor in Goettingen it should not come to the reader as a surprise that source criticism is overemphasized at the cost of a more thematic approach. Like Gerhard von Rad in his preface to Genesis said, "source analysis is not the final conclusion of wisdom" the reader sometimes feels that he could draw the same conclusions as Blankinsopp, but without all the detailed speculative source analysis.
For the conservative Christian who believes in the inspiration, inerrancy or infallibility of scripture Blenkinsopp offers some unacceptable pills to swallow when he states that: biblical sources are confused and self-contradictory (p.199), this narrative appears to be a free composition (1 Kings 13:1-32; p.158), ideological reasons drove the composition of texts (p.151), Chronicles is not the most reliable of sources (p.119), failures of the biblical historian (p.117), and hyperbolic fantasies of Nahum (p.112) etc. However one wonders if the author leaves room for partial inspiration of texts when he talks about Isaiah 53 (p.192&193) In general though supernatural prediction are excluded as a possibility, so that a prediction about the fate of Bethel in Amos automatically leads to the assumption that this section has been added later in the light of Josiah's reform (p.164).
The conservative Christian might ask himself what the critical view of the prophetic scriptures offers over a traditional or non-critical. It does not need a critical view of prophecy to identify one's social responsibility. But maybe the book offers solutions of dealing intellectually with prophetic phenomena in the Pentecostal or charismatic movement.

There are very many commentaries on Isaiah, ranging from the useless to the excellent. This commentary is probably above average. It has the advantage of being bang up to date, but nothing much else to distinguish it from the pack. It treats the first 39 chapters (the so-called First Isaiah) as a reasonably united work, not trying to tear it into pieces and assign it to several different authors as some commentators have done, but not ruling out subsequent revisions and editorial adjustment.