Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Set

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Overall the set appears to be well done. Each Gospel or epistle covered has an introductory historical survey of the culture that the Gospel or epistle was written in as well as the specifics of the local customs or issues that are addressed within the Gospel or epistle.

The commentary then proceeds to address the historical-culture issues that each verse has as a backdrop. For example in the third volume the introduction to the Epistle to the Romans contains,

"Understanding Paul's own situation as he writes Romans helps us appreciate the purpose and theme of the letter. In 15:14-22, he looks at a period of ministry just concluded. "From Jerusalem all the way around Illyricum," Paul tells us, "I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ" (15:19). This verse indicates that Paul's ministry has reached a significant geographical turning point. As Luke tells us in Acts, Paul first preached Christ in Damascus (and perhaps Arabia) after his conversion (Acts 9:19-22; cf. Gal. 1:17). Only after three years did he go to Jerusalem to preach, and then only briefly (Gal. 1:18; cf. Acts 9:28-29). Why, then, mention Jerusalem as the starting point for his ministry? For two reasons. First, the city represents the center of Judaism, and Paul is concerned to show how the gospel spread from the Jews to the Gentiles. Second, the city stands at one geographic extremity in his missionary travels. At the other extremity is Illyricum, the Roman province occupying what is today Albania and parts of Yugoslavia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Only here does Paul refer to missionary work in this province, although such a ministry can be fit easily into the movements of Paul on his third missionary journey (see comments on Rom. 15:19). An "arc" drawn from Jerusalem to Illyricum, therefore, passes over, or nearby, the important churches that Paul has planted in south Galatia (Pisidian Antioch, Lystra, Iconium, Derbe), Asia (Ephesus), Macedonia (Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea), and Achaia (Corinth).
But what does Paul mean when he claims that he has "fully proclaimed" the gospel in these areas? The Greek has simply the equivalent of our verb "fulfill" (peplerokenai). To "fulfill" the gospel, therefore, probably means to preach it sufficiently such that viable churches are established. These churches can then carry on the task of evangelism in their own territories while Paul moves on to plant new churches in virgin gospel territory (cf. 15:20-21).
In pursuit of this calling, Paul is moving on to Spain (15:24). On the way, he hopes to stop off at Rome, evidently to enlist the Roman Christians' support for his new gospel outreach (see comments on 15:24). but before he can begin his trip to the western Mediterranean, he must first return to Jerusalem (15:25). Throughout the third missionary journey, Paul has collected money from the Gentile churches he planted to bring back to the impoverished Jerusalem believers. Now he is ready to embark on this trip, and he earnestly asks the Roman Christians to pray for it (15:30-33). The collection represents for Paul a key step in what he hopes will be the reconciliation of the Jewish and Gentile Christians in the early church" (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, vol. 3, pp. 3-5).

An example of the commentary itself from 2 Cor. 11:14:

"Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light (11:14). In some Jewish traditions, Satan transformed himself into an angel of light and deceived Eve a second time:

'Then Satan was angry and transformed himself into the brightness of angels and went away to the Tigris River to Eve and found her weeping. And the devil himself, as if to grieve with her began to weep and said to her, "Step out of the river and cry no more...come out to the water and I will lead you to the place where your food has been prepared."'"

Largely this set appears to be written as a tool for working pastors. It's tone is conversational and does not appeal to excessive use of jargon. It provides all kinds of references and antidotal information which would be useful for sermon illustrations and story-telling. In addition, contemporary source material is referenced as well as recommended reading should a topic peak the readers interest to the point where they wish to more fully explore it. While Zondervan's Backgrounds Commentary is not a scholarly reference, it is obviously aimed at the pastor or church leader who wants to go beyond the basics of a working knowledge of the Bible, yet who also wants a reference that doesn't take a week of reading to get at the stuff that they will eventually wind up presenting in a sermon or Bible study.

A caveat I do have offhand is that the footnotes appear as endnotes at the end of each Gospel or epistle. Stylistically I can understand why this was done as footnotes would break up the overall flow of the work presented; however for footnote geeks this does involve the "Sears Roebuck" method of getting at them.