Dictionary of the Old Testament Pentateuch

The first of the prestigious dictionaries in the "IVP Bible Dictionary Series." This is a unique project of its kind, whose purpose is to bridge the gap between the high scholarship of the academic world and the practical reference needs of pastors, teachers, students, and anyone who needs to delve deeply into the specific study of a topic within the biblical text and access contemporary academic debate on it in an easy way, avoiding hours of reading thick and cumbersome volumes.

The first five books of the Old Testament lay the foundations upon which all the rest of Scripture rests. Their major themes, historical events, and prominent characters establish the vectors along which biblical history unfolds. The very structure of the Old Testament would collapse if the Pentateuch were removed, and all New Testament thought would be barely comprehensible without it.

Structured alphabetically in dictionary form, as its name suggests, it covers, through some two hundred articles, all the main topics related to the Pentateuch and susceptible to debate, from A to Z, from Aaron to Zoology, debating each of them exhaustively.

Although the title might suggest that this is a biblical dictionary, nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, it is more like a commentary in dictionary form. But it is not that either. Its approach is radically different and diverges from both. Its goal is not to "explain" the different names we may encounter when reading the five books that make up the Pentateuch, nor to analyze the text exegetically verse by verse, but rather to focus on those topics, characters, and issues that are the subject of hermeneutical and theological debate:

And of course, in a work of this caliber, a complete battery of indexes, maps, charts, and diagrams could not be missing, including an index of biblical texts and passages cited, thousands of references, which allows for an in-depth analysis of any Pentateuch text simply by starting from the biblical citation. Without underestimating the very complete thematic index, with hundreds of entries and cross-references that facilitates the study of all those topics not directly addressed.

With this, it combines the value of a dictionary and a commentary in the same work. Do we need information about any particular name or term as we would in a biblical dictionary? The thematic index gives us the keys to obtain all the necessary information and more. Do we want to study a specific text or passage as we would in a biblical commentary? The index of texts and passages gives us the necessary references to do so with astonishing ease.

To all this is added an important and useful introduction on how to use and make the most of all the multiple possibilities that the work offers.

It is, therefore, one of the best resources available for the Bible scholar, a valuable tool of the highest quality and highest level, destined to become a reference for the study and research of the Holy Scriptures for many years. As anticipated by comments on it from some of the most prestigious biblical professors and scholars, such as Robert P. Gordon, professor at the University of Cambridge, who says about it:

 "I like the idea of focusing on the main themes; it is well-conceived. It provides a great deal of analysis and profitable discussions. It should represent a new way for many readers to access the study of the Pentateuch, and I give the project the warmest of welcomes."