1 Corinthians
The best simple introductory commentary is by Leon Morris in the Tyndale series (New Edition, 1983). F.F. Bruce offers a similarly helpful introductory work, covering 1 and 2 Corinthians in the same volume (New Century Bible, 1981).
Those looking for more detailed treatment will find C.K. Barrett’s commentary in the Black Series (2nd Edition, 1971) a most stimulating and exciting work. As with other volumes in this series, there is some attention to the Greek text but the commentary is written in a way that readers without knowledge of Greek can make good use of it. In my opinion, this is still the best commentary on 1 Corinthians available.
The most recent publication is by Gordon Fee, replacing the work by F.W. Grosheide in the same series. Unfortunately, not enough technical discussion is restricted to the footnotes and considerable space is devoted to discussion of Paul’s method of argument. This means that it is sometimes hard to sort out the important from the less important in Fee’s comments.
Amongst recent specialist studies, we should especially mention Grudem’s The Gift of Prophecy in 1 Corinthians (University Press of America, 1982) and Don Carson’s Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1 Corinthians 12-14 (Anzea, 1987). The latter attempts a detailed study of three very controversial chapters, seeks to relate them to relevant passages in Acts and includes a very helpful bibliography.
Judges
The Book of Judges gives us the fullest account of Israel’s life in the land of Canaan between the conquest (the subject of the Book of Joshua) and the rise of the monarchy, which introduced so many changes to Israelite society (the main subject of the Books of Samuel.
A brief survey discussion of several matters is provided by A.D.H. Mayes, Judges, Old Testament Guides (JSOT Press, 1985). This is not a commentary, but introduces the reader to such questions as the context in which the book was written (who was it originally written for, and why), the book’s structure, the kind of society Israel must have been in the period of the judges, etc.
There are not many good commentaries on Judges. J. Alberto Soggin’s Judges, Old Testament Library (SCM, 2nd edition 1987) is no exception. It is too dominated by a particular theory about how the book was written to give adequate attention to the book as it is.
One important key to understanding a book like Judges is to see how the various episodes fit into the book as a whole, how they contribute to the unfolding story. The detailed commentary by Robert G. Boling [Anchor Bible 6A (Doubleday, 1975)], complete with illustrations and maps, is sensitive to such literary and theological issues. It is a good commentary.
In my opinion the most insightful book on Judges is Barry Webb’s The Book of Judges: an integrated reading (JSOT Press, 1987). Dr Webb does not provide some of the detail you will find in Boling’s commentary, but with great skill he shows how the stories of the book of Judges ‘work.’
