Birth pangs and Blessings A Commentary on the Book of Genesis Clare Amos (Sacristy Press, January 2022) 368pp, paperback, RRP £19.99
This is a scholarly but mostly accessible book. It is not a quick reference commentary; it needs to be read in chapters to gain the full sense of the arguments presented, but it is helpfully divided into titled sections, and then chapter and verse of Genesis are given so that one can quickly find what one is looking for.
Amos is an Old Testament scholar; her perceptive comments on plays on words within Genesis, and their added significance, made me wish I had studied Hebrew myself. She also links various stories together in a fascinating way, and considers the use of sources in shaping Genesis. Her knowledge of the Middle East and its history provides context and structure to her arguments. This commentary will offend biblical inerrantists or creationists, but I would recommend them to read its intelligent reasoning, nevertheless.
It took me a while to get into this book, and my first thought was that it was for academics only. Once I had mastered Amos’ approach, though, it was almost as readable as a novel. Of course, one gains the most from the commentary by reading it with Bible in hand, so that the prolific Bible references can be examined and appreciated.
My attention was repeatedly drawn to details that had been hiding in plain sight. Genesis is a book of narratives, and I found Amos’s unpacking of them to be absorbing and informative.
A most useful feature of the commentary is the detailed ‘Theological Reflections’ that follow each section. They are not summaries so much as useful drawings-together of the features of the section with additional insights. These reflections help to present the material of Genesis in a way that reveals its continuing relevance to the over-arching story of the Bible. This is not a book for preachers to open for easy explanations of tricky verses or events, but rather for personal enrichment, and it is one I shall return to again and again.
