Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary

Saw this commentary series referenced on another thread and didn’t want to hijack someone else’s thread.

I see this commentary in various software and/or PDF sites. I have always assumed they’re probably just commentary, like, say, Matthew Henry (which, personally, I’m not interested in). However, in the other thread I saw reference to Greek words used—which always grabs my attention.

I am curious about them, but was really wanting to ask if they’re exegetical in genre—or are they mostly one’s commentary?

Thank you in advance.

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Paul Caneparo

Saw this commentary series referenced on another thread and didn’t want to hijack someone else’s thread.

I see this commentary in various software and/or PDF sites. I have always assumed they’re probably just commentary, like, say, Matthew Henry (which, personally, I’m not interested in). However, in the other thread I saw reference to Greek words used—which always grabs my attention.

I am curious about them, but was really wanting to ask if they’re exegetical in genre—or are they mostly one’s commentary?

Thank you in advance.

I don't own any as they've always struck me as expensive, but this may help:

https://www.bestbiblecommentaries.com/smyth-helwys-commentary-series/

Puddin’

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1090823#Comment_1090823

Saw this commentary series referenced on another thread and didn’t want to hijack someone else’s thread.

I see this commentary in various software and/or PDF sites. I have always assumed they’re probably just commentary, like, say, Matthew Henry (which, personally, I’m not interested in). However, in the other thread I saw reference to Greek words used—which always grabs my attention.

I am curious about them, but was really wanting to ask if they’re exegetical in genre—or are they mostly one’s commentary?

Thank you in advance.

I don't own any as they've always struck me as expensive, but this may help:

https://www.bestbiblecommentaries.com/smyth-helwys-commentary-series/

Yes—very informative. I actually acquired some of these volumes after posting and have been perusing them for a couple of hours. I really like what I see so far.

Though a bit minor in grammar & exegesis—the series seems to major in archaeological evidences relevant to the time under consideration for the time period of any given work. This they accomplish by way of photos of ancient statues, hieroglyphs, etc.

Any extra input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks much Paul.

mab

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1090824#Comment_1090824

As a set, it's worth considering in a package. The set is otherwise way too pricey.

Puddin’

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1090904#Comment_1090904

As a set, it's worth considering in a package. The set is otherwise way too pricey.

Completely agree. I was stunned when I looked at the pricing.

Dan Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1090929#Comment_1090929

I got it in a base package and am so glad i did. I have found it in general a wonderful series that I have returned to again and again. I am not sure I would have bought it had it not been in a package but it is worth considering.

-dan

Mattillo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1091211#Comment_1091211

To resurrect this thread... whoever has this set are there a lot of images and maps included?

The product page for the set states: "Please note: due to digital rights restrictions, this product will include only a portion of the images found in the print edition."

This is worrisome to me... I don't give complete trust to Best Bible Commentaries but it doesn't have a lot of ratings. I remember seeing a discussion about the job volume but I couldn't find it. Just trying to decide if it is worth it for the upgrade price and if an evangelical might find it useful.

https://www.logos.com/product/138250/smyth-and-helwys-bible-commentary-collection

https://www.logos.com/product/177559/logos-8-messianic-jewish-platinum

HJ. van der Wal

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1097854#Comment_1097854

I have not had time yet to use the Smyth & Helwys Commentary. I can tell you that even though many images are not available due to lack of digital rights the SHBC includes a lot more images than other commentary series:

John Fidel

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1097864#Comment_1097864

I purchased the volume on 1 Thes. since it was on sale. I am impressed with the commentary and will evaluate purchasing it with a base package in the future.

Beloved Amodeo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1097854#Comment_1097854

To resurrect this thread... whoever has this set are there a lot of images and maps included?

The product page for the set states: "Please note: due to digital rights restrictions, this product will include only a portion of the images found in the print edition."

This is worrisome to me... I don't give complete trust to Best Bible Commentaries but it doesn't have a lot of ratings. I remember seeing a discussion about the job volume but I couldn't find it. Just trying to decide if it is worth it for the upgrade price and if an evangelical might find it useful.

https://www.logos.com/product/138250/smyth-and-helwys-bible-commentary-collection

https://www.logos.com/product/177559/logos-8-messianic-jewish-platinum

Hey, Matillo

I picked up this set when I recently upgraded to Portfolio in a sweet deal. This set looks interesting. I haven't used it yet, but like I said it looks useful. You mentioned Job so I've selected a taste in the form of a Clippings for your review.

https://fl.vu/f74wz9

If that doesn't work I copied the text below. I'm trying something new to see if it works. Forgive me.

Move Beyond Blessing and Cursing, Job 29:1–31:40

PAST BLESSINGS

Job 29:1–25

In chapter 27, Job began a “discourse” (māšāl) that explored the options before him. Should he agree with the friends’ doctrine of retribution, affirm God’s moral governance of the world, repent of his sin, and bless the One who has consigned him to the ash heap “for no reason?” Perhaps, as Eliphaz insists, Job should be happy that God has afflicted him so severely, for this may be confirmation that God loves him enough to discipline him (5:17). [“The Wounds of Possibility”] If so, then his one and only option is to “Agree with God and be at peace” (22:21). Job knows the lines of the praise he has been urged to offer, and he is tempted to speak them (9:5–10; 12:13–25; 26:5–14), even if they sound discordant in his ears. Or should he curse God, as the conventional reading of his wife’s demand suggests (2:9)? Job has also dared to explore this possibility (3:3–10), even though he has good reason to suspect that defiance before the Creator of the world is like spitting into the wind. [Standing Before a “Strange God”] It may be bold and courageous to do so, but as far as Job can see, it is ultimately futile and changes nothing. He may curse the day of his birth and wish to die (3:11), but he cannot unbirth himself. He is sentenced to live, which means he has been “born to trouble” (5:7), and the misery that evokes his death wish remains the same, his curses notwithstanding (10:18). Job is certain of but one thing, and on this he takes his stand, for good or for ill. He has sworn on the life of God that whatever course he chooses, he will not betray himself or God by compromising his integrity (27:2–6).

“The Wounds of Possibility”

Eliphaz and his friends commend suffering to Job with words that echo Kierkegaard’s memorable phrase, “the wounds of possibility.” H. G. Wells’s Joban fiction, The Undying Fire, makes a similar point with the question, “Without pain what would life become?” The idea that pain and suffering are not only unavoidable but also necessary, perhaps even part of God’s providential “tough love” plan for life, is a common way to explain why bad things happen to good people. Proverbial sayings from both the ancient Near East and the Bible sustain the supposition, for example, Prov 3:11–12: “My child, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves the one he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights” (cf. Prov 13:24; 17:10; 19:18; 29:15, 17; Sir 30:1–2, 11–12). As the Letter to the Hebrews puts it, “Discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (12:11).

Thornton Wilder draws upon Eliphaz’s counsel to Job in a scene from the end of his novel The Eighth Day. After tracking the misfortunes of the Ashley and Lansing families, Wilder concludes the story with an explanation offered by “the Deacon” of the Covenant Church in Kerkommer’s Knob. The Deacon points to a homemade woven rug. On one side there is a beautiful but complex design in brown and black. On the reverse side, the rug is “a mass of knots and of frayed and dangling threads” (390). Such is the way of life, the Deacon concludes. God has a pattern for the world that includes the threads of each person’s life. The pattern may require that some lives be knotted and frayed in ways that “to our eyes are often cruel and laughable” (392), but from God’s perspective the finished product is a beautiful work of art.

Joseph Heller also draws upon Eliphaz’s counsel in his novel Catch-22, not to commend it, but to mock it. The following conversation between Yossarian and Lieutenant Scheisskopf’s wife covers some of the same ground, albeit more irreverently, as the dialogues between Job and his friends.

“Don’t tell me God works in mysterious ways,” Yossarian continued … “There’s nothing so mysterious about it. He’s not working at all. He’s playing. Or else He’s forgotten all about us. That’s the kind of God you people talk about—a country bumpkin, a clumsy, bungling, brainless, conceited, uncouth hayseed. Good God, how much reverence can you have for a Supreme Being who finds it necessary to include such phenomena as phlegm and tooth decay in His divine system of creation? What in the world was running through that warped, evil, scatological mind of His when He robbed old people of the power to control their bowel movements? Why in the world did He ever create pain?”

“Pain?” Lieutenant Scheisskopf’s wife pounced upon the word victoriously. “Pain is a useful symptom. Pain is a warning to us of bodily dangers.”

“And who created the dangers?” Yossarian demanded. He laughed caustically. “Oh, He was really being charitable to us when He gave us pain! Why couldn’t He have used a doorbell instead to notify us, or one of His celestial choirs? Or a system of blue-and-red neon tubes in the middle of each person’s forehead. Any jukebox manufacturer worth his salt could have done that. Why couldn’t He?”

“People would certainly look silly walking around with red neon tubes in the middle of their foreheads.”

“They certainly look beautiful now writhing in agony or stupefied with morphine, don’t they? What a colossal, immortal blunderer! When you consider the opportunity and power He had to really do a job, and then look at the stupid, ugly mess He made of it instead, His sheer incompetence is almost staggering. It’s obvious He never met a payroll. Why, no self-respecting businessman would hire a bungler like Him as even a shipping clerk!”

… “You’d better not talk that way about Him, honey,” she warned him reprovingly in a low and hostile voice. “He might punish you.” (178)

H. G. Wells, The Undying Fire (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1919), 208.

T. Wilder, The Eighth Day (New York: Penguin Books, 1967).

J. Heller, Catch-22: A Critical Edition, ed. R. M. Scotto (New York: Delta Publishing Company, 1973).

Balentine, S. E. (2006). Job. (K. Gammons & S. E. Balentine, Eds.) (pp. 437–438). Macon, GA: Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Incorporated.

DAL

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1097873#Comment_1097873

I purchased the volume on 1 Thes. since it was on sale. I am impressed with the commentary and will evaluate purchasing it with a base package in the future.

Don’t wait for too long, as it might get removed from base packages when L9 comes out.

DAL

Roy

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1097854#Comment_1097854

To resurrect this thread... whoever has this set are there a lot of images and maps included?

T

Hi Mattillo,

I took a quick look at the Volume for the book of Acts.

There is an entry in the Table of Contents called "Index of Sidebars and Illustrations".

I counted some 57 entries for just this one volume. (See below).

Illustrations

Agora of Athens, The, 306

Agora of Philippi, The, 287

Antioch on the Orontes, 175

Apostles Peter and Paul (El Greco), 22

Ascension (Perugino), 36

Baptism of the legionnaire Cornelius by Saint Peter (sarcophagus detail), 175

Beautiful Gate Detail, 67

Bema at Corinth, 330

Caesarea Theater, 166

City of Caesarea, 160

City of Rome, The, 519

“Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis”, 271

Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis Excerpt from Luke, 7

Conversion of Saint Paul, The (Michelangelo), 148

Corinth, 324

Crucifixion of Christ, The (relief), 40

Ephesian Theater, 352

Fortress Antonia, 392

Inner Courts, 67

Inscription referring to Gallio, 329

Jerusalem in the First Century, 56

Jerusalem Temple, The, 390

Location of Paul’s Imprisonment at Herod’s Palace, Caesarea Maritima, 433

Map of Jerusalem, 66

Map of Palestine in New Testament Times, 131

Map of Paul’s First Missionary Journey, 209

Map of Paul’s Second Missionary Journey, 279

Map of Paul’s Third Missionary Journey, 334

Martyrdom of Stephen, The (Rubens), 114

Miletus (Agora and Bathhouse), 368

Mount of Olives, 35

Mountains of Crete, 497

Nero, 465

Paul’s Voyage to Rome, 494

Pentecost, The (El Greco), 48

Philippi, 282

Pisidian Antioch cardo, 213

Roman Scourging, 413

Roman Wine Ship, 499

Royal Stoa, The, 308

Ruins of Roman aqueduct, 166

Sacrifice of Oxen, The (frieze), 238

Saint Luke Evangelist (El Greco), 3

Sergius Paulus Inscription from Antioch of Pisidia, 210

St. James the Lesser (de La Tour), 257

St. Paul’s Bay, 505

St. Paul’s Church, 214

St. Peter Preaching to the Multitude (da Panicale), 54

St. Philip baptizing the Queen of Ethiopia’s eunuch (de Pujol), 140

Statue of Artemis, 349

Stoning of Saint Stephen, The (Carracci), 123

Temple Inscription, 389

Temple of Artemis, 351

Temple of Augustus, Pisidian Antioch, 221

Theodotos Inscription, 107

Thessalonica, 300

Via Appia, 518

Maybe this will help.

Roy

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1097930#Comment_1097930

Here is how they appear to handle images for which they do not have license.

From the Volume on Ephesians.

Mattillo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1097932#Comment_1097932

Interesting! Thank you. Any one find anything distasteful theology wise reading it? Not trying to start a forum war... just curious if you were put off by something you read. I'm wondering where it sits theologically. Curious why it is in a Jewish base package

Friedrich

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1097976#Comment_1097976

Curious why it is in a Jewish base package

That is interesting. fyi, it is also in Standard Diamond. You likely know that already, but in case you didn't...

Dan Francis

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1097976#Comment_1097976

It is on the more liberal/critical end of spectrum, but coming from a Baptist viewpoint often times. If you are a very conservative sort this series might not be for you. All in all i find it quite helpful although occasionally the baptist point of view seems heavily discussed. But that is not typical just has come up a few times leaving me to sometimes skim over a paragraph or two quickly.

-dan

Mattillo

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/1098252#Comment_1098252

It is on the more liberal/critical end of spectrum, but coming from a Baptist viewpoint often times. If you are a very conservative sort this series might not be for you. All in all i find it quite helpful although occasionally the baptist point of view seems heavily discussed. But that is not typical just has come up a few times leaving me to sometimes skim over a paragraph or two quickly.

-dan

Thank you! That helps A lot