Writing a commentary for preachers can be a pretty simple thing to do: just reproduce our sermon notes. Which is what most commentaries written for preachers do.
It is also easy to write a commentary with all sorts of insights and practical suggestions on how the text may be applied without, however, providing any understanding of what it is really that the book is about.
These things we are determined not to do in the commentaries prepared for ALBERITH.
1. It is our conviction that God's voice is most clearly heard when His Word is preached in such a way that the Holy Spirit may bring about an encounter of the members of your audiences with His word. Whether we choose a topic to preach on, or a passage of Scripture, it is the Word we preach, not a clever sermon we have either knitted together with hard work or lazily pilfered from somewhere.
2. We, therefore, do not want you to preach our sermons. We do not believe you are called to do that. God has called you to your congregation living out their lives where they are. What God has called you to do is to preach His sermons for your congregation. To do that you have to come before our Father and to ask Him what it is that He wants you to preach to your congregation.
Biblical commentaries fall into different categories. Imagine food and those who produce and manage them. At one end there is the farmer; he knows every plant and vegetable on his farm, what species they are, what varieties there are, what kind of special needs they have to grow well (some need full sun, others some shade), when is their season, and so on.
On the other end there are the chefs and cooks, who know how to satisfy the taste and nutritional needs of their clients (including their family members), what is best cooked with what and how, what is best served with what, etc.
These represent, analogically, the two main kinds of writings on the Bible. The exegetical commentaries will explain to you the etymology of the words in a sentence, how they are related grammatically to other words, and together what purpose they serve and what—together with other phrases and sentences—meaning they convey. They deal with the historical circumstances, speculating various scenarios that may or may not be relevant, for understanding the passage, etc. Very exciting stuffs if you are a "farmer," but as boring as clowns if you are not.
Expositions, or so-called's, may be likened to the dishes placed before us at the dining table. Some of these—esp. those prepared by good chefs and cooks who know their foods as well as the farmers—will tease our palate with wonder and fulfill just as well our nutrimental needs. Others look great but depend, like potato crisps in their cheesy and bacony flavours or instant curry noodles, almost entirely on a good dose of MSG and other "ingredients," to hook us into going back again and again. Those of us who do not know better will keep coming back even though they do little good for us.
Then there is the pantry (whether in a market or a home) where you will find all the fresh foods gathered, cleaned and ordered. Here, if it is in a reliable market, you can find out from those who take care of the pantry what the foods are that you are not familiar with, what you can do with them, how best to cook them or serve them, what nutritional needs do they meet, what not to pair with what, etc. This pantry, this is what we hope for the ALBERITH commentary. We want you to know what you cook and appreciate how best you can cook for your congregation. But, you will have to do the cooking.
©Alberith, 2022