In their book, Women's Bible Commentary, 3rd Edition, Carol A. Newsom, Sharon H. Ringe, and Jacqueline E. Lapsley, editors, have compiled many articles about each book of the Bible including the Apocrypha/Dueterocanonical books as well as a few articles about women's roles and lifestyles in the times that the Bible was written. They used the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible and referred to renditions of "LORD" as "YHWH" or "Yahweh." They included the Catholic, Protestant, and Hebrew Bible books to be as wide reaching as possible. The authors of the articles come from a lot of different perspectives, but have one thing in common. They all read the Bible books self-consciously as women of North America well versed in ancient Greek and Aramaic.
I read the articles on Ruth and Proverbs as well as the preface and introduction. They were both very informative, opened my eyes about confusing parts of the books, and gave me insights I never had before.
One thing I had always been confused about was why did Naomi have Ruth uncover Boaz's feet. Now, I know. Ask in the comments, and I'll tell you why.
I also had been confused by bits of Proverbs speaking about Wisdom as a subcreation of God, almost, or as the feminine side of God. I couldn't quite word it the way that made sense to me. Now, that I've been through the Tolkien class on Middle Earth, I have the understanding of subcreation and that explains it better.
I give it 5/5 stars for ease of reading and insights gained from reading it.
I received my copy for free in exchange for my honest opinion in a review through the NetGalley Review Program.
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