Walter C. Kaiser

A History of Israel refutes many of today's common misconceptions about Israel and sets down an accurate account of its history, from the Patriarchal Age to the birth of Christ, based on Holy Scriptures. With his customary thoroughness and attention to detail, Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., has carefully research his subject, assembled the facts, and conveyed his findings in a convincing narrative style. Kaiser not only uses the Bible as a resource, but also supports the Scriptures' historical show more claims with ancient Eastern documents and compelling archaeological evidence.

The complete chronological history of Israel presents and explains:

* Current approaches to the study of the history of Israel
* Common fallacies found in modern secular historical study
* The most convincing proofs for the historical authenticity of the Bible show less

Clearly designed to be a useful resource in the topic, Kaiser's bibliography is lengthy, divided by book of the Bible as well as a general section. He also includes a subject, author, and Scripture index. I love Kaiser's approach to the topic and find his book a logical and well organized survey of how the New Testament uses the Old Testament.

It is rare for me to rate a book as 5 stars even when it was written as recently as 20 years ago; it is even rarer for me to rate a non-fiction book so. For me, five stars means a book is not only good now, but it will be good for fifty or a hundred years. Yet Walter Kaiser's book 'The Messiah in the Old Testament' will be regarded as a standard apologetic work on Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament at least 50 years from now.

Dr. Kaiser begins by examining different methods of show more prophetic interpretation and settles on: '1) the meaning of the OT references to the Messiah must reflect the author's own times and historical circumstances, and 2) the meaning must be a meaning that is reflected in the grammar and syntax of the OT text'. Using these criteria he filters out many OT messianic references.

Dr. Kaiser then goes through the Messianic scriptures in chronological order, from Genesis 3:15 to Malachi 4:2. His second criterion necessarily requires him to delve extensively into Hebrew grammar. This is where his writing may become difficult for the lay reader of the Bible.

Persistence through these grammatical sections will lead the reader to a deeper understanding of the progressive revelation of the Messianic theme through the OT and how it unites the OT and NT. Detail upon detail concerning the coming Messiah will be revealed until the conclusion is inescapable: Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. show less

An excellent edition of the NIV text. The interests and notes provide great cultural and historical context that greatly helped me understand the text and message of the Bible