Proclaimer Blog
Getting into the detail of Genesis 1-4
Of the making of books [on Genesis 1-4] there is much. As I've been wrestling with the text I've found this one particularly helpful – it's C John Collins Genesis 1-4, A linguistic, literary and theological commentary, published by P&R. I like it a lot. It's fairly technical – lots of Hebrew, for example, but still comprehensible to someone who's Hebrew is not much to brag about. There was a recent exchange of views over at Reformation21 about his latest book, Did Adam and Eve really exist? That might have put you off. It needn't. Notwithstanding the merits or otherwise of the review, that's a different book. (I also like very much Collins Science and Faith).
It has to be said, of course, that any commentary on these first few chapters, comes with the author's preconceptions about the nature of creation (days, age etc). There are no unbiased commentaries, in this sense. I don't always find myself agreeing with Collins, but it's testament to this volume that I still have found it immensely helpful. Not so easy to get hold of in UK, but worth searching out.