This book expands upon an idea so obvious that we usually miss it: that Jesus was intimately acquainted with the content of the Old Testament. He knew it as a Jew; He knew it as a member of the Godhead who originated it and related it to man; and He knew it as the One who would fulfill every one of its words.

Put another way: Jesus is the content of the Old Testament. Thus, we ignore Jesus’ relationship to the Old Testament at our own risk. But this book goes a long way in removing that risk.

Jason S. DeRouchie, ed. What the Old Testament Authors Really Cared About: A Survey of Jesus’ Bible. 496p., $45.99 (hardcover), Kregel Academic.

Rather than going in modern canonical order, the essays that make up this book are arranged to the original Old Testament canon: Law (the Pentateuch), Prophets (what you’d expect, plus Joshua/Judges/1-2 Samuel/1-2 Kings, minus Daniel/Lamentations), and Writings (Psalms, Proverbs, etc.).

It’s a textbook, to be sure, but most of the essays here are written in an engaging style that anyone with a decent knowledge of the Old Testament will be able to connect with, even as it helps formal students better connect the Old and New Testaments. It is, in editor Jason deRouchie’s own words, “a manageable survey of Jesus’ Bible.” It’s in depth enough to challenge the scholar, and outlined and illustrated enough for the regular but unscholarly read to track along and make the big connections. Overviews of each biblical book are also provided at the beginning of each chapter.

Throughout the book we get a sense of the unfaithfulness of God’s people, and the unending faithfulness of God—culminating with the arrival of the One who would begin his ministry by reading Isaiah 61 and announcing “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”