Favorite Books Read in 2022 - Number 4
In defense of time-tested tools
The New Bible Dictionary - J. D. Douglas (organizing editor)
I have talked to more than a few people who work with their hands that mourn the passing of iconic tool brands. Brands like Delta, Porter Cable, and Craftsman. Don’t those brands still exist? Well, kind of. Apparently they are mere shadows of what they once were. If true artisans are given the choice between a brand new set of Craftsman tools or the same set that has been sitting in a hoarder’s garage for sixty years, they will choose the latter every time. “They don’t make ‘em like they used to” is certainly applicable in the tool world.
The same goes for tools that pastors use. One example is the book I have here, the older edition of The New Bible Dictionary, published by Eerdmans. I have owned another Bible dictionary for years, but it has always seemed rather perfunctory and clinical. It’s fine, but that’s just it. It is…fine. Almost like AI wrote a Bible dictionary.
This book feels like a labor of love written by real scholars and editors. Among the list of contributing editors are F. F. Bruce and J. I. Packer. And I was able to purchase it for less than $10 used.
I turned to the tool during my recent Advent sermons through Isaiah. It came in handy as I looked up things like Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz and King Ahaz. I was also intrigued by this entry in the dictionary explaining the “host of heaven.”
How fascinating that, to the Hebraic mind, “celestial bodies” and “angelic beings” were almost indistinguishable. This helps unlock a new understanding of the “star” that guide the Magi to the Christ child in Luke 2. The fact that the author of this article also makes the connection to C. S. Lewis’ take on medieval cosmology, especially as it is fleshed out in the Ransom Trilogy," is icing on the cake.
I am grateful for old tools like this one and I look forward to good use for many years to come.