The Historical Commentary on the Old Testament is an international series of commentaries which devotes explicit attention to the history of interpretation of biblical tradition in all its stages, both within and without the Hebrew canon. The commentary stands in the Christian exegetical tradition. The treatment of every pericope is preceded by a new translation and a section called "Essentials and Perspectives" in which the author summarizes the results of the exegesis in non-technical language. Dr. Martin J. Mulder (1923-1994) was Professor of Semitic languages at the Free University Amsterdam (1970-1979) and Professor of Old Testament in Leyden University (1979-1989). He is the author of many studies on the text of the Old Testament and the history and religion of Ancient Israel. His very detailed commentary on 1 Kings 1-11 is the crown of his work.