Bible Commentaries

Genesis 29:4 — Verse Genesis 29:4. My brethren, whence be ye? — The language of Laban and his family was Chaldee and not Hebrew; (see Genesis 31:47); but from the names which Leah gave to her children we see that the two languages had many words in common, and therefore Jacob and the shepherds might understand each other with little difficulty. It is possible also that Jacob might have learned the Chaldee or Aramitish language from his mother, as this was his mother's tongue.

Genesis 32:31 — Verse Genesis 32:31. The sun rose upon him — Did the Prophet Malachi refer to this, Malachi 4:2: Unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings? Possibly with the rising of the sun, which may here be understood as emblematical of the Sun of righteousness - the Lord Jesus, the pain and weakness of his thigh passed away, and he felt both in soul and body that he was healed of his plagues.

Proverbs 25:4 — Verse Proverbs 25:4. Take away the dross from the silver — You cannot have a pure silver vessel till you have purified the silver; and no nation can have a king a public blessing till the wicked - all bad counsellors, wicked and interested ministers, and sycophants - are banished from the court and cabinet. When the wise and good only are the king's ministers and advisers, then the throne will be established in righteousness, and his administration be a universal blessing.

Proverbs 8:4 — Verse Proverbs 8:4. Unto you, O men — אישים ishim, men of wealth and power, will I call; and not to you alone, for my voice is אל בני אדם al beney Adam, "to all the descendants of Adam;" to the whole human race. As Jesus Christ tasted death for every man, so the Gospel proclaims salvation to all: to YOU - to every individual, my voice is addressed. Thou hast sinned; and thou must perish, if not saved by grace.

Ecclesiastes 4:6 — Verse Ecclesiastes 4:6. Better is a handful with quietness — These may be the words of the slothful man, and spoken in vindication of his idleness; as if he had said, "Every man who labours and amasses property is the object of envy, and is marked by the oppressor as a subject for spoil; better, therefore, to act as I do; gain little, and have little, and enjoy my handful with quietness." Or the words may contain Solomon's reflection on the subject.

Ecclesiastes 7:4 — Verse Ecclesiastes 7:4. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning — A wise man loves those occasions from which he can derive spiritual advantage; and therefore prefers visiting the sick, and sympathizing with those who have suffered privations by death. But the fool - the gay, thoughtless, and giddy - prefers places and times of diversion and amusement. Here he is prevented from seriously considering either himself or his latter end. The grand fault and misfortune of youth.

Song of Solomon 6:5 — Verse Song of Solomon 6:5. Turn away thine eyes — As the sight of so many fires after night was extremely dazzling, and the eye could not bear the sight, so the look of the bride was such as pierced the heart, and quite overwhelmed the person who met it. Hence the bridegroom naturally cries out, "Turn away thine eyes from me, for they have overcome me."Thy hair is as a flock of goats — See on Song of Solomon 4:1.

Daniel 4:36 — Verse Daniel 4:36. My reason returned — Every thing was fulfilled that was exhibited by the dream and its interpretation. It is very likely that this unfortunate king had so concealed himself that the place of his retreat was not found out; and the providence of God had so watched over every thing, that, on his return to his palace, he found his counsellors and his lords, who received him gladly, and cleaved to and served him as they had formerly done.

Malachi 1:4 — Verse Malachi 1:4. They shall build, but I will throw down — We have already seen enough of the wickedness of the Edomites to justify the utmost severity of Divine justice against them. The pulling down predicted here was by Judas Maccabeus; see 1Mac 5:65; and by John Hyrcanus; see Joseph. Antiq., lib. xiii. c. 9. s. 1.They shall call them, The border of wickedness — A wicked land. Among this people scarcely any trace of good could ever be noted.

Matthew 21:22 — Verse Matthew 21:22. All things - ye shall ask in prayer, believing — In order to get salvation, there must be,1. a conviction of the want of it: this begets,2. prayer, or warm desires, in the heart: then3. the person asks, i.e. makes use of words expressive of his wants and wishes:4. believes the word of promise, relative to the fulfilment of his wants: and5. receives, according to the merciful promise of God, the salvation which his soul requires.

Matthew 27:4 — Verse Matthew 27:4. Innocent blood. — αιμα αθωον, a Hebraism, for an innocent man. But instead of αθωον, innocent, two ancient MSS., Syriac, Vulgate, Sahidic, Armenian, and all the Itala; Origen, Cyprian, Lucifer, Ambrose, Leo, read δικαιον, righteous, or just.What

Mark 1:5 — Verse Mark 1:5. All the land — See on Matthew 3:4-6.Confessing their sins. — It was an invariable custom among the Jews to admit no proselyte to baptism, till he had, in the most solemn manner, declared that he forever had renounced all idolatrous worship, all heathenish superstitions, and promised an entire and unreserved submission to the law of Moses. This was necessary for a proselyte adult - a child dedicated to God by baptism must be brought up in this faith.

Mark 4:15 — Verse Mark 4:15. THESE are they — Probably our Lord here refers to the people to whom he had just now preached, and who, it is likely, did not profit by the word spoken.Where the word is sown — Instead of this clause, four copies of the Itala read the place thus - They who are sown by the way side, are they WHO RECEIVE THE WORD NEGLIGENTLY. There are thousands of this stamp in the Christian world. Reader, art thou one of them?

John 8:48 — Verse 48. Thou art a Samaritan — This was the same, among them, as heretic, or schismatic, among us. This is the only time in which the Jews gave our Lord this title of reproach; and they probably grounded it on his having preached among them, and lodged in their villages. See the account in John 4:39-40; but Samaritan, among them, meant a person unworthy of any credit.Hast a devil? — Art possessed by an evil spirit; and art, in consequence, deranged.

Acts 11:4 — Verse Acts 11:4. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order] εξετιθετο αυτοις καθεξης. This is the very style of St. Luke; see his Gospel, Luke 1:3. To remove their prejudice, and to give them the fullest reasons for his conduct, he thought it best to give them a simple relation of the whole affair; which he does, as we have seen in the preceding chapter, with a few additional circumstances here. See the notes before.

Romans 4:18 — Verse Romans 4:18. Who against hope believed in hope — The faith of Abraham bore an exact correspondence to the power and never-failing faithfulness of God; for though, in the ordinary course of things, he had not the best foundation of hope, yet he believed that he should be the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken; namely, that his posterity should be like the stars of heaven for multitude, and like the dust of the earth.

2 Corinthians 2:4 — Verse 2 Corinthians 2:4. For out of much affliction, c.] It is very likely that the apostle's enemies had represented him as a harsh, austere, authoritative man who was better pleased with inflicting wounds than in healing them. But he vindicates himself from this charge by solemnly asserting that this was the most painful part of his office; and that the writing of his first epistle to them cost him much affliction and anguish of heart, and many tears.

Galatians 4:5 — Verse Galatians 4:5. To redeem them — εξαγοραση. To pay down a price for them, and thus buy them off from the necessity of observing circumcision, offering brute sacrifices, performing different ablutions, c., &c.That we might receive the adoption of sons. — Which adoption we could not obtain by the law for it is the Gospel only that puts us among the children, and gives us a place in the heavenly family. On the nature of adoption Romans 8:15; Romans 8:15.

Philemon 1:23 — Verse Philemon 1:23. Epaphras, my fellow prisoner — Epaphras was a Colossian, as we learn from Colossians 4:12: Epaphras, who is one of you. But there is no account there of his being in prison, though the not mentioning of it does not necessarily imply that he was not. Some time or other he had suffered imprisonment for the truth of the Gospel; and on that account St. Paul might, in a general way, call him his fellow prisoner.

Revelation 6:4 — Verse Revelation 6:4. Another horse-red — The emblem of war; perhaps also of severe persecution, and the martyrdom of the saints.Him that sat thereon — Same say, Christ; others, Vespasian; others, the Roman armies; others, Artabanus, king of the Parthians, &c.,