A Review of "Everlasting Dominion" BOOK REVIEW


by TREVOR KIRSCH


I am finding more often today that I am nervous about buying new study or resource material. Books are expensive, time is precious, and I hate the thought of wasting either on a book that contains faulty theology. So I was very blessed and encouraged as I read through Eugene Merrill’s book “Everlasting Dominion: A Theology of the Old Testament” last year. I must admit that I read the book because it was required reading for an Old Testament theology course I was taking and not because I was naturally drawn to it. Also, the very first page of the preface set me on edge when it said, “Biblical theology is rather like the pinnacle of a pyramid ... If done well, it must be done by competent control of the languages of Biblical texts; for a claim to an understanding of the literature that depends solely on the transla- tions and interpretations of others, no matter how good, tends to vitiate any sense of authority the theologian brings to his or her assignment.”


Once I read this, I got very


discouraged as I struggle to master English. I have stayed far away from learning Hebrew and Greek for fear that languages are beyond me. How- ever, once I got past the preface and into the content of the book, I was built back up again as Merrill never again brought up the subject. He wrote as if address- ing people who hadn’t learned Biblical languages and never would. Merrill wrote in a very easy, conver- sational style while still staying true to his task — teaching the theology of the Old Testament.


To that end, I was also blessed by how he ap-


proached such a daunting subject. Merrill set pa- rameters for himself at the outset that, as much as possible, he would seek to examine the Old Testa- ment without reading the New Testament back into it. I was first introduced to this principle years ago as an important tool to correctly understanding the original intent and context of Old Testament passages. Yet I still find it hard to do on a consistent basis. The one passage that really caught me, in how


Merrill approached it, was about Psalm 110. I tend to see this chapter as so clearly messianic and read it in light of Hebrews 5, but is that how David understood it? I thought Merrill did a fine job of approaching it objectively without reading New Testament theology back into it.


The overall theme of the book is the Sovereign


God who creates and then rules as King over His cre- ation. Man is created to serve as God’s regent on the earth but this is deeply affected by the fall. A sub-theme within this is the relationship God forms with Israel and how the nation was to be dis- played before the other nations on the earth. As Israel stood before God at Sinai, He said, “Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Ex. 19:5-6, nasb). Israel never does this well and every king reigns imperfectly but that does not inval- idate the kingdom, it merely looks to a better king. The Old Testament teaches so much about the coming kingdom of God where the Messiah


will rule and reign on the earth. After reading this book, I saw such a clearer


continuity between the Old Testament and New Tes- tament than I did before. I felt, within a few weeks, that questions that had been lingering in my mind for seven years were being answered; fuzzy pictures I had in my mind were becoming clearer. In short, even though I started reading this book because I had to, I finished it because I wanted to. In regards to a re- source on Old Testament theology, I don’t know of a book I would recommend more highly. It is a valuable book for pastors, Sunday school teachers, and lay- people who want to have a better understanding and appreciation of the Old Testament.


Trevor has been serving at Compass Immanuel Church since 1998 and as lead pastor since 2019. He and his wife Twyilla have three children and two grandchildren.


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