Cyril Barber is convinced that the books of Samuel were written not to display the horror of David's sins of murder and adultery, but rather to demonstrate God's faithfulness in raising up prophets, priests, and kings to move history toward the coming of Christ. The central focus of this commentary is to show that the sovereign God weaves His own historical patterns alongside human failure and sin. Some people will read this volume for the exegetical light it sheds on 2 Samuel. Others will seek personal applications and find help in the great lessons that can be learned from the mistakes and successes of the past. All who read it will derive a new appreciation for the work of God in human history. I should warn you that this commentary challenges familiar interpretations and looks at the events of 2 Samuel through a different set of glasses. But precisely for this reason I wish it a wide distribution. From the Foreword, by Erwin W. Lutzer

Much of the archaeology of Late Antique period remains in Jordan has concentrated on public buildings: churches, mosques, theatres, baths, and their major architectural features, such as mosaic floors. In this fourth report of the excavations at Tall Jawa in central Jordan, a single house with a rich repertoire of pottery, mould-made lamps, glass, and a small coin hoard, appears to span the transition period from the Late Byzantine to the Early Islamic period. Details of the construction of the building itself and of its mosaic pavements, the technology of its ceramic corpus, analysis of its inscribed lamps, painted plaster, objects and a small coin hoard all contribute to an understanding of village life for people during a period of linguistic, religious, and political transition. "The publication of Excavations at Tall Jawa, Jordan, Volume 4: The Early Islamic House is an important contribution that adds not only to the growing body of evidence for central Transjordan, but also to our understanding of non-urban Islamic archaeology and the seventh- to eighth-century transition." - Asa Eger, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Annotation Archaeologist McDonald presents the history of the identification of an array of biblical sites and offers his own suggestions for site locations based of information from the biblical texts, extra-biblical literary information, toponymic considerations, and archaeology. Some of the specific sites examined in this book include the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah; the Exodus itineraries; the territories and sites of the Israelite tribes, such as Reuben and Gad; as well as Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Gilead. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).