No, no. I am sorry. I did not mean for that. I do love reading these early Fathers. I do think you get a better understanding, although I really love parsing the Bible myself.
I worry about the influence of other thinkers who have their own philosophy and politics to defend and thus interpret the Scriptures with those in mind. For me I prefer to read the Word of God in the raw or as close as I can get to it.
You may enjoy the Jewish Study Bible for your OT studies. It is very insightful and you can follow Jewish thinking and see how they got to were they ended up at when Jesus arrived on the earth.
thank you — I will look up the Jewish bible! It is good to read the word of God in the raw, but it is also good to read it in community — and that community also includes past Christians.