Douglas Stuart’s commentary on Exodus is a welcome contribution. His exegetical comments are helpful and to the point. For example:
When Jesus said, ‘The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath’ (Mark 2:27), he summarized the point of these two laws, as well as other relating to the Sabbath. Both of them emphasize that the Sabbath, whether of years or days, was intended by God to provide restoration and well-being for God’s people, not merely a cessation of all activity. [p. 530]
In addition to this, Stuart strongly defends Mosaic authorship (something can’t be taken for granted even among evangelical commentators). Another example:
It was once popular in many circles and is still popular in some to theorize that true, full monotheism emerged only during and after the exile, i.e., in hte sixth century BC at the earlist, as reflected in ‘Second Isaiah.’ By this theory the first commandment of Exod 20:3 was merely intended to make Yahweh the main God of the Israelites and to require them to worship other gods only secondarily. Since some of the scholars who have held that view actually date the Covenant Code earlier than the Ten Commandments and few date it as late as the exile, the present verse, properly understood, functions as a sharp piece of metal in the balloon of such a developmental theory about Israelite monotheism. [p. 533, n. 239]
Stuart also includes helpful contemporary applications. A final example:
Thus [based on the principle of the Sabbath command, that “the person who works endlessly and/or makes others do so oppresses himself and/or others”] the family that expects a wife/mother to prepare twenty-one meals per week without respite and serve the needs of the family equally on all days violates the command as would the dairy farmer who never takes a break from the twice-daily milking, or the policeman who does special-duty sifts on days off from reqular shifts, or the pastor who never sets for himself or herself a day off or its equavalent. [p. 533, n. 237] [ Unfortunately, though as would be expected from a Gordon-Conwell professor, Stuart is egalitarian ]
