While the book of Malachi holds a prominent, memorable position at the end of the Old Testament in our English Bibles, “the book itself remains relatively obscure to most readers of Scripture” (p. 5). W. Dennis Tucker Jr. concedes that while brief passages on divorce (Mal 2:16) and tithing (Mal 3:10) receive frequent attention, “most of the book remains largely absent from our preaching and teaching” (p. 5). He aims to address this neglect through this commentary. Tucker serves as professor of Christian Scriptures at Baylor’s Truett Seminary and is best known for coauthoring (with Jamie Grant) the second volume on the book of Psalms in the NIVAC series.

The commentary opens with a twenty-page introduction, followed by eight chapters that focus on the text of Malachi itself. The introduction covers the expected areas: author and date, historical analysis, literary analysis, theological message, and outline of the book. Regarding the author, Tucker believes there are “compelling reasons for understanding” Malachi to be a proper noun (p. 6), and he situates the book itself in the post-exilic period, most “likely written prior to the visits of Ezra and Nehemiah” (pp. 7–8). In a somewhat curious decision, the briefest of all the chapters, chapter 1, covers only Malachi 1:1, the superscription of the book. Chapters 2–7 address the six disputations (1:2–5; 1:6–2:9; 2:10–16; 2:17–3:5; 3:6–12; 3:13–4:3), while the final chapter deals with the final three verses (4:4–6), described by Tucker as the closing appendices.

Each chapter includes six components: “Main Idea of the Passage,” “Literary Context,” “Translation and Exegetical Outline,” “Structure and Literary Form,” “Explanation of the Text,” and “Canonical and Theological Significance.” The “Explanation of the Text” is the lengthiest and appears in a double-column format; the other sections are presented in a single column with a generous outside margin. A unique design choice was made with the “Translation and Exegetical Outline” section. To read this section, the reader will need to rotate the book ninety degrees because the publisher sought to make the most of the extra two inches afforded by the height of the book by placing this section in landscape format. This layout accommodates three columns side-by-side—the Hebrew text, Tucker’s English translation, and an outline—while still allowing the font to be largely legible. Having to rotate the book in this way can be cumbersome and may not be worth the slightly larger font that resulted from this decision.

Tucker’s work reflects a command of the current literature on the book of Malachi. As would be expected, he is fully conversant with Joyce Baldwin, Ray Clendenen, Andrew Hill, James Nogalski, Ralph Smith, Pieter Verhoef, and Karl Weyde, though this reader was surprised to see no reference to Eugene Merrill, other than a brief citation from a dictionary entry (p. 74 n. 104).

In the Series Introduction, the general editor admits, “The way this series treats biblical books will be uneven” (p. xi). In other words, larger books of Scripture will not receive a full treatment of their entire contents—but the reader can rest assured that in this volume Malachi receives the deluxe treatment! Moving from this volume to another in the series that treats a longer OT book would most likely leave the reader disappointed. This would be due to Tucker’s entry modeling so well what this series seeks to accomplish, as well as his thoroughness with Malachi that might not be permissible with longer books.

Tucker demonstrates an understanding of the interpretive options of obscure passages. He fairly presents each view alongside its advocate(s), then argues convincingly for his own position. He applies this approach to key phrases like “among the Gentiles” (1:11), “holiness of the Lord” (2:11), the explanation for covering the Lord’s altar with tears (2:13), the identity of those speaking in 3:13–16, and others. Concerning one of the most discussed passages in Malachi, Tucker contends for rendering Malachi 2:16a as “If one hates [and] divorces [his wife].” He prefers this reading on the bases that it avoids having to emend the person of the first clause, it bypasses the “potential awkwardness posed by a shift in subjects,” and it coheres with the manner in which the verbs “hate” and “divorce” are used together in other biblical texts (p. 102).

Still, two areas of improvement may be noted. First, the reader of this commentary will be best served by having some background in Hebrew, at least a year of formal study. Tucker frequently references Hebrew words, themes, and syntax. He also uses the Hebrew versification for the end of the book, where 4:1–6 in our English Bibles becomes 3:19–24 in the Hebrew Bible. Some slight adjustments here could have made his work more approachable for a much broader audience. Second, while the “Canonical and Theological Significance” sections effectively draw out implications for faithful life and ministry, they lack warmth and depth. Expanding these with practical applications would better equip preachers and teachers of the word of God.

We live in a golden age of biblical commentaries, and in Tucker’s treatment of Malachi few stones are left unturned. In fact, this reviewer would need to do a thorough search back through the book to attempt to find a single undisturbed stone! Those preaching or teaching the book of Malachi will be richly rewarded by time spent in this volume by Tucker on the final book of the Twelve.