Our vice president of product development, Matt Lockhart, was joking with me when I announced I had finished an assignment to complete some extra work for the company.
"No, I'm not anticipating that, but studying Ezekiel really was a blessing. I don't think I've ever studied the whole book of Ezekiel before!"
This spring Standard Publishing will release a teacher's study Bible, filled with commentary that first appeared through the decades in the company's popular and widely used Standard Lesson Commentary. Like so many projects in life--and in publishing--completing the commentary for the Bible has taken more time than planned. Before Christmas the editorial team recruited several employees, former employees, and freelancers each to take a section of the Bible to finish as soon as possible. With something close to an apology, Matt asked me to take on the book of Ezekiel.
I learned a lot, reading the book and reading the Ezekiel commentary that has been published by Commentary writers through the years. It was something close to a devotional exercise, because periodically through the book, we authors were to insert a section called "What Do You Think?" with discussion questions for the teacher or group leader to use. Seeing the application of Ezekiel's prophecies and visions to the dilemmas and challenges of believers today was a blessing.
As I worked, I thought of the faithful editors who have so carefully prepared the Commentary chapters for decades, and I could see why some preachers buy each new annual edition as a reference for lesson and sermon preparation. My study made me almost--almost--interested in teaching the book of Ezekiel myself.
I'm guessing that might be a hard sell to my Thursday-morning men's group, though.
No comments:
Post a Comment