In seminary I heard someone recommend The Treasury of David by Spurgeon. For those of you who have it, I was wondering your thoughts. Do you use it? Would you recommend it?
i've owned it in hardcopy for years. Spurgeon's style here is more devotional than commentary (just my humble opinion), or, viewed from another perspective: it takes him forever to come to the point.... but in the meanwhile, you'll be charmed dna blessed by his worshipful treatment of the text. In effect, he preaches through the Psalms; and, although its all good stuff, its not a quick or handy reference if you're looking for concise commentary material.
You could try it online at spurgeon.org and if you like it, buy it. I don't own it but it was and is considered a masterpiece.
Spurgeon's style here is more devotional than commentary
I agree with Mark here, Its great if you plan on going through the Psalms alone or in an accountability group/small group/ Sunday School, but I'm not sure if you would continue to reference it in a preaching series on Psalms as structural sermon material. Not to say it shouldn't be read it in preparation for preaching/teaching in Psalms or enjoying Psalms in general.
I agree with Mark's comments. I have it in hardback, and Spurgeon can be enjoyable to read, but if you are looking for a concise analysis of the text, you won't find it here.
Do you use it? Would you recommend it?
When want to dig into Psalms, The Treasury of David is worthwhile; has explanatory notes and quaint sayings along with hints to preachers.
Thankful for Charles Spurgeon Collection (86 vols.)
Keep Smiling [:)]
I have it and love it. It is very devotional, but he does a good job of dealing with the meaning of the Psalm as well. One of my favorite features is how he pulls together good quotes from authors we've never heard of commenting on the Psalms as well.
Obviously, it is not a critical commentary. It is devotional in nature. It is much like his sermons.
But it is extremely valuable and insightful in my opinion. I am biased as Spurgeon is my favorite preacher. It is great for sermon preparation in my opinion. Spurgeon has many helpful insights.
If you love Spurgeon's sermons you will love this. If you don't enjoy Spurgeon's sermons, you won't like this either.
I bought this yesterday and have just read through his thoughts on Psalm 1 and found them very helpful and insightful.
Not a statistically valid sample of the entire work but I thought I would share this!
Graham
Devotional commentaries have their place. This is one of the better ones and very suitable to the Psalms which seem to be a devotional all their own.
My feeling is that if you love the Psalms, you will benefit from this.
I also find treasures in AF Kirkpatrick, The Book of Psalms in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and College Collection.
The two volume commentary on Psalms in the Crossway Classic Commentaries series are a condensed version of Treasury of David
Here is what J I Packer wrote in the introduction to these two volumes
[quote]Spurgeon wrote 135 books and edited twenty-eight more; so the firm had much to cope with. Spurgeon’s supreme literary contribution was his seven-volume, 3,000-page exposition of the Psalms, titled The Treasury of David, put together over twenty-one years and published between 1869 and 1883. It has been constantly in print from Spurgeon’s day to our own, and is here abridged into two volumes to give it a new lease on life.
Not sure how much was deleted to condense the work down to two volumes, probably a lot of material is missing from the original.
