Eugene Merrill: "[The authors] take the [OT] record at

face value, and with good control of the biblical and nonbiblical data reconstruct the fuller background of Israel's internal and international affairs in such a way as to clarify the OT texts for modern readers.... They succeed in doing this thanks to the lucidity of style, copious use of photographs and drawings, and the very evident reverence brought to the sacred text." (Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society)