STRAIGHT TO THE HEART OF 1 & 2 SAMUEL
60 bite-sized insights
By Phil Moore. Monarch Books. 272 pages. £8.99
ISBN 978 0 857 212 528
Any help with understanding and applying Old Testament is always welcome especially if it is crafted so as to be accessible to Christians with busy lives.
Phil Moore, who leads a New Frontiers church in Wimbledon, is a gifted Bible teacher, has written a book, suitable for daily devotions, which takes us right through the life of King David using 1 & 2 Samuel. The reader is given a feast of practical advice for pursuing a godly life and will find lots of stimulating Bible links to other parts of Scripture.
I enjoyed getting to grips with the book, but its fault is that it is too keen to give personal application. The book’s theme is ‘becoming the kind of person God can use’. While there is much to learn in this area from 1 & 2 Samuel, not every chapter really addresses that subject and sometimes it seems as if the exposition has been shoe-horned into an unnecessary straightjacket, rather than letting the Bible speak for itself.
The top man on 1 & 2 Samuel for me is still Dale Ralph Davis with his Christian Focus commentaries. But, nevertheless, the reader will find some real treasure here.
John E. Benton,
pastor, Chertsey Street Baptist Church, Guildford
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