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  • A Commentary on the Psalmsby Allen P. Ross
  • Andrew C. Witt
Allen P. Ross. A Commentary on the Psalms, volume 2 ( 42-89). Kregel Exegetical Library. Grand Rapids, mi: Kregel, 2013. Pp. 841, us$45.99. isbn9780825425639.

Ross is professor of divinity at Beeson Divinity School, with several key publications, including Introducing Biblical Hebrew(Baker, 2001), Recalling the Hope of Glory(Kregel), and expository work on Genesis and Leviticus. He has also been active in the Episcopal Church since 1979. This is Ross’s second volume within the Kregel Exegetical Library series, with a third volume on Psalms 90-150 forthcoming. From the outset of the first volume, Ross tells us that his aim is to focus on the exposition of the biblical text, “not simply commenting on lines and verses, but putting the material together in an expository format” (1:13). As such, the commentary is written expressly for the church—for pastors, teachers, and serious students of the Bible. He is aware of the recent trends of psalm scholarship in reading the Psalms as a book, and although cautious, appears to be sympathetic in using its insights.

The lengthy introduction (spanning 180 pages), found only in the first volume, covers the standard issues well but also includes a rather helpful guide for students on how to prepare an exposition of a psalm. Concerning the superscriptions, while Ross seems open to the possibility that some psalms attributed to David may not have been actually written by him (1:16), he invokes the witness of the New Testament in noting that “Davidic authorship cannot be rejected so easily” (1:45), and he is not “ready to dismiss the tradition without good reason” (1:46-47). Regardless of how one envisions authorship and its attribution in a psalm, for Ross exegesis can be done “without the need for a reference to a specific event,” and even when a historical setting can be suggested, “that would simply be illustrative of the kind of situation the psalm addresses” (1:47). Thus, for Ross the meaning of a psalm is not restricted by an original setting, but is general by its nature as poetic literature.

To give readers some idea of how Ross handles key issues in the Psalms, I will review a few of his readings of representative psalms. Generally speaking, he admits that his hermeneutical horizon is not limited to the Old Testament, but that exposition “should be connected with New Testament revelation, even when the New Testament does not cite or allude to the specific psalm” (1:17). This is readily apparent in his treatments of the royal psalms. For example, Ross reads Psalm 72 as ultimately pointing to the Messiah: “It is a legitimate prayer expressing a legitimate need, but it will only be fulfilled in the Messiah” (2:545). Yet Ross offers only preliminary reflections on how exactly the psalm relates to Jesus Christ. His comments on Psalms 45 and 69 are more robust, and he is clear that while the New Testament fulfillment of psalms is important, it does not represent the only meaning of a psalm. For example, the lack of specificity in Psalm 69 “simply underscores the continuing relevance of the message” (2:489). Concerning the imprecatory psalms, I was dumbfounded that Ross seems to pass over the language of Psalm 58 without commenting on its violence. While his explanation of the passage is familiar to other commentators, Ross does not address the pastoral difficulties with this text, in a volume devoted to exposition for pastors. [End Page 137]

Overall, while we still await the third volume, the set as a whole should be seen as a welcome addition to an ever-increasing psalm bibliography. Ross tends to conservative judgments, and his commitments are evangelical and Christian, but I was struck by how well he juggled scholarship from all over the theological spectrum. No commentary on the Psalms is definitive, and some of the shortcomings noted above are easily overcome by reference to a number of other resources. It should be noted, however, that the series is meant to be read as a set, as there are a number of references to...

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