Judges and Ruth: An Introduction and Commentary

The book of Judges presents Israel’s frailty, the nation’s need for deliverance, and God’s use of flawed leaders to guide his chosen people through a dark period of their history. The book of Ruth tells a smaller story within this narrative, showing God quietly at work in the lives of a few individuals. Mary Evans’s replacement Tyndale commentary places each book in its historical and canonical context, examines key theological themes, and addresses issues facing twenty-first-century readers.The Tyndale Commentaries are designed to help the reader of the Bible understand what the text says and what it means. The Introduction to each book gives a concise but thorough treatment of its authorship, date, original setting, and purpose. Following a structural Analysis, the Commentary takes the book section by section, drawing out its main themes, and also comments on individual verses and problems of interpretation. Additional Notes provide fuller discussion of particular difficulties. In the new Old Testament volumes, the commentary on each section of the text is structured under three headings: Context, Comment, and Meaning. The goal is to explain the true meaning of the Bible and make its message plain.

Mary J. Evans is a visiting lecturer in Old Testament and former academic dean at the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology, Addis Ababa, and a former lecturer at the London School of Theology. She is the author of the Tyndale Old Testament Commentary Judges and Ruth is a coeditor of The IVP Women's Bible Commentary.