Introducing the "Hearing the Message of Scripture" Series

Zondervan Academic is pleased to introduce a new commentary series on the Old Testament, the Hearing the Message of Scripture series. This new series serves pastors and teachers in their study of the Old Testament by helping them better understand and convey the meaning behind each text.

In the video below Daniel Block, General Editor of the series, explains the vision and scope of this new pastoral resource. "When we were envisioning this series we were asking ourselves the question, What are the authors of Scripture actually trying to communicate? One of the distinctives is trying to wrestle with the text with the view to figure out what the author's point was, and then analyzing how they make that point."

While other commentaries focus on analyzing individual words and explicating cultural background—which HMS also includes—this series focuses more on the primary point of a biblical text, and how the author makes that point. Block believes this approach should help pastors and teachers teach more authoritatively and set aside their own interests and agendas.

Another unique benefit of the Hearing the Message of Scripture series is their approach toward bridging the Old Testament with the New and its focus on Jesus Christ. As Block explains they "assume the God who revealed Himself in the Old Testament is Jesus Christ—He is YHWH incarnate—so that when God is revealed in the Old Testament we are learning about Christ." Rather than resorting to special hermeneutics, HMS helps pastors better understand the God of the Hebrew Scriptures so they can teach how that God is incarnate in Jesus.

We are thrilled to offer such a comprehensive new series to pastors and Bible teachers that takes seriously understanding and analyzing authorial intent. Pre-order Obadiah (by Daniel Block) and Jonah (by Kevin Youngblood) today, the first in the series available later this month.

Download a PDF sample from Obadiah (Block) and Jonah (Youngblood) to preview these inaugural volumes.

(Can't see the video? Watch it here.)