Doran interacts with the relevant contemporary Greek historical sources as well as Josephus and the Dead Sea Scroll literature. The work provides a useful guide for the complex historical events and many characters that comprise this period of the intertestamental period, a period all the more significant due to its allusions in the prophecies of Daniel. Introductions to Hebrew poetry can run the risk of being so general as to be of little exegetical value or so detailed as to require the memorization of lengthy lists of technical terms. Berlin's introduction achieves an excellent balance between art and science. Although it is too short to achieve a complete review of the subject, it introduces the reader to all the basic ideas involved in the interpretation of poetry.
Berlin maintains a scepticism toward all attempts to define meter and rhythm in Hebrew poetry.
A useful section on reading a poem in terms of identifying its movement appears just before the bibliography at the end of the chapter. The introduction provides a survey of ancient Near Eastern parallels and theological emphases. The divine monologues were then added by the final redactor of the book. Newsom recognizes the speculative nature of this assessment. For Newsom the Satan in Job is a personification of God's doubt about the human heart, allowing the picture of God to be one of confidence in Job's faithfulness.