Finding a Great Commentary

In reading Paul Wright's Justification: God's Plan & Paul's Vision, he encouraged students to not buy commentary series but to buy the best commentaries out there on each individual book. For the amount of money most students of the Bible have, it is prudent to make each purchase worthy of that money. I previously bought the Tyndale Bible Commentaries and some of the books are junk. Wright argued that the best writers usually never work together, and my experience has shown that to be right.

I was at a loss on how to discover what commentary was the best one for each book. Even my smart friends would not know what were the best commentaries outside of their specific fields. Then this morning, I randomly ran across a site through searching on the Tower of Babel, of all things, that answered this problem.

BestCommentaries.com

At Best Commentaries, they have the commentaries sorted by the book they address along with user ratings for each book. They can also be sorted by academic level: pastoral, technical, devotional, or special study.

Now the system is not flawless because it is based on user reviews and some unscrupulous commentator could get all of his friends to give him a good review like I did with Isaac's Jones Soda photo years back, which catapulted him into the top ten for weeks. And there is the hazard of people giving reviews who just like a guy but do not really know if his commentary is worthy of a good review.

I notice that Paul Kissling's Genesis (The College Press Niv Commentary. Old Testament Series) has no reviews.

Anyway, this site is a step in the right direction. It probably does not save me from emailing a few friends and asking for reliable commentaries, but it will help.