Exegetical Gems for Biblical Greek: A Refreshing Guide to Grammar and Interpretation by B. L. Merkle

Abstract

Reviewed by: Exegetical Gems for Biblical Greek: A Refreshing Guide to Grammar and Interpretation by B. L. Merkle Annelie van der Bank Merkle, B. L. 2019. Exegetical Gems for Biblical Greek: A Refreshing Guide to Grammar and Interpretation. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic. ISBN 978-0801098772. Pp. 192. Paperback. $14.62. Benjamin L. Merkle is an accomplished scholar who has authored, coauthored and edited quite a number of books. He is professor of New Testament and Greek at the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, USA. Exegetical Gems, his newest book published in 2019, is an accessible book consisting of thirty-five chapters, each of which explains some aspect of NT Greek. It can be used as a supplementary tool for new students learning biblical Greek for the first time, but it is also quite valuable for former students, whose skills need honing, as well as for lecturers who need a "refreshing" strategy to keep students motivated and inspired to study their subject material. While it dispels the assumption that learning Greek will reveal and explain all the treasures in the NT, it does live up to the positive comments on the blurb, one of which states that the book is "a very valuable guide for any student learning or relearning Greek." It is a dense volume, considering that its thirty-five chapters are limited to less than two hundred pages. Therefore, the reader should not expect to find elaborate explanations about the finer detail of Greek syntax. However, because the objectives of the book are stated clearly, it is doubtful that anyone would have such an expectation. Nevertheless, the amount of information on each grammatical concept is adequate for a former student that needs refreshing, or a current student who just needs another point of view from which to understand the practical relevance of the concepts. Each of the chapters follows a fixed outline—a good strategy to achieve a standardised pattern. It begins with the introduction of a particular text, followed by a brief summary of a specific element of Greek syntax—for example, a specified case of the noun, or a certain form of the verb, or other elements such as discourse analysis, exegetical misnomers, etcetera, and then concludes with a particular interpretation of the "gem" text. However, for a book on biblical Greek, it does have precious little Greek in it. The "gem" texts are found as text references in the subtitles to the chapter headings, for example, Rom 5:1 or Eph 4:12, but the wording of the text is not supplied. Therefore, when the author refers to the importance of the article in 1 Tim 3:2 (see chapter 8), there is no text for the reader to see the articles that form the subject of the chapter, especially if (s)he may not have a Greek NT at hand. Those passages that are printed in full are translated texts (in English) with only a particular word or phrase in Greek, and I suggest that it would have been more meaningful if [End Page 211] the particular passages—none of them very long—were quoted in Greek in their entirety, especially since the book also targets readers whose Greek is "rusty" and may need some reminding. This being said, overall, I did find the book "refreshing," as the title promised. The material in the "overview" section of each chapter gives a quick brush-up explanation of the subject matter and, despite the fact that it shares information that can be found in a textbook, it does not seem like a timeworn repetition of tedious facts, but a refreshing reminder of what a genitive noun (for example) can mean, and why the particular passage chosen as the "gem text" should be interpreted in a certain manner. Therefore, I strongly recommend this as a good read for students busy learning Greek, for pastors who do not read biblical texts in Greek regularly and for anyone who may need to brush up on their grammatical skills. Annelie van der Bank Stellenbosch University annelie.vanderbank@gmail.com Copyright © 2021 The New Testament Society of Southern Africa (NTSSA)