Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 17:9 — Verse 1 Kings 17:9. Get thee to Zarephath — This was a town between Tyre and Sidon, but nearer to the latter, and is therefore called in the text Zarephath which belongeth to Sidon; or, as the Vulgate and other versions express it, Sarepta of the Sidonians. Sarepta

1 Kings 19:1 — CHAPTER XIX Ahab tells Jezebel what Elijah had done; she is enraged, and threatens to take away his life, 1, 2. He leaves Jezreel, and comes to Beer-sheba, and thence to the wilderness, where he is fed and encouraged by an angel, 3-9. His complaint and the vision by which God instructs him, 10-14. He is sent to Damascus, in order to anoint Hazael king over Syria, and Jehu king over Israel, 15-18. He meets with Elisha, who becomes his servant, 19-21. NOTES ON CHAP. XIXVerse 1 Kings

1 Kings 9:13 — Verse 1 Kings 9:13. Called them the land of Cabul — Whether this epithet was given to this land by Hiram as a mark of disapprobation, or what is its proper meaning, the learned are not agreed. That there was a country of this name in the promised land in the

2 Chronicles 14:1 — years, 1. He makes a great reformation in Judah, and builds cities of defense, 2-7. His military strength, 8. He is attacked by Zerah the Ethiopian, with an immense army; Asa cries to the Lord, attacks the Ethiopians, and gives them a total overthrow, 9-12. He takes several of their cities, their cattle, &c., and returns to Jerusalem, laden with spoils, 13-15. NOTES ON CHAP. XIVVerse 2 Chronicles 14:1. The land was quiet ten years. — Calmet thinks these years should be counted from the fifth

Ezra 10:2 — Verse Ezra 10:2. Shechaniah the son of Jehiel — He speaks here in the name of the people, not acknowledging himself culpable, for he is not in the following list. It is in the same form of speech with that in James, James 3:9. With the tongue curse we men. He seems to have been a chief man among the people; and Ezra, at present, stood in need of his influence and support.Yet now there is hope in Israel — מקוה mikveh, expectation, of pardon; for the people were convinced

Nehemiah 6:1 — CHAPTER VI Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, insidiously desire a conference with Nehemiah, which he refuses, 1-4. They then charge him with the design of rebelling, and causing himself to be made king, 5-7; which he denies, and prays to God for support, 8, 9. A false prophet is hired by Tobiah and Sanballat, to put him in fear; he discovers the imposture, and defeats their design, 10-13. He prays to God against them, 14. The wall is finished in fifty-two days, 15. He discovers a secret and treasonable correspondence

Nehemiah 9:3 — Verse Nehemiah 9:3. One fourth part of the day — As they did no manner of work on this day of fasting and humiliation, so they spent the whole of it in religious duties. They began, says Calmet, on the first hour, and continued these exercises to the third hour;

Nehemiah 9:6 — Verse Nehemiah 9:6. Thou preservest them all — ואתה מחיה את כלם vettah mechaiyeh eth cullam, and thou givest life to them all: and the host of the heavens, לך משתחוים lecha mishtachavim, prostrate themselves unto thee. How near is this to the opinion of Kepler,

Esther 9:32 — Verse Esther 9:32. The decree of Esther confirmed these matters — It was received by the Jews universally with all respect, and they bound themselves to abide by it.The Vulgate gives a strange turn to this verse: Et omnia quae libri hujus, qui vocatur Esther,

Psalms 148:9 — Verse Psalms 148:9. Mountains, and all hills — Whether primitive, secondary, or alluvial; of ancient or recent formation, with all their contents, quarries, mines, and minerals. But what a profusion of wisdom and skill is lavished on these! To instance only in the

Psalms 56:9 — Verse Psalms 56:9. When I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back — As soon as they know that I call upon thee, then, knowing that thou wilt hear and save, my enemies will immediately take flight. The cry of faith and prayer to God is more dreadful to

Psalms 59:9 — Verse Psalms 59:9. Because of his strength will I wait upon thee — With this reading, I can make no sense of the passage. But instead of עזו uzzo, "his strength," עזי uzzi, "my strength," is the reading of fourteen of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., of the Vulgate,

Psalms 9:12 — Verse Psalms 9:12. When he maketh inquisition for blood — This not only applies to the Canaanites, Moabites, Ammonites, and Philistines, who shed the blood of God's people unjustly, but to all the nations of the earth who, to enlarge their territory, increase

Psalms 9:13 — Verse Psalms 9:13. Have mercy upon me, O Lord — David, having laid down the preceding maxims, now claims his part in their truth. I also am in trouble through the unjust dealings of my enemies; I am brought to the gates of death; have mercy on me, and lift me

Proverbs 9:7 — Verse Proverbs 9:7. He that reproveth a scorner — לץ lets, the person who mocks at sacred things; the libertine, the infidel; who turns the most serious things into ridicule, and, by his wit, often succeeds in rendering the person who reproves him ridiculous.

Numbers 36:1 — recommendation of certain chiefs of the tribe of Joseph, who stated the case of the daughters of Zelophehad, 1-4. The daughters of Zelophehad are commanded to marry in their own tribe, 5, 6; which is to be an ordinance in all similar circumstances, 7-9. The daughters of Zelophehad marry their father's brother's sons, and thus their inheritance is preserved in their own tribe, 10-12. The conclusion of the commandments given by the Lord to the Israelites in the plains of Moab, 13. NOTES ON CHAP. XXXVI

Deuteronomy 8:1 — God's past mercies, 1, 2. Man is not to live by bread only, but by every word of God, 3. How God provided for them in the wilderness, 4. The Lord chastened them that they might be obedient, 5, 6. A description of the land into which they were going, 7-9. Cautions lest they should forget God in their prosperity, 10-16, and lest they should attribute that prosperity to themselves, and not to God, 17,18. The terrible judgments that shall fall upon them, should they prove unfaithful, 19, 20. NOTES ON CHAP.

Deuteronomy 9:27 — Verse Deuteronomy 9:27. Remember thy servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — As if he had said: "These are their descendants, and the covenant was made with those patriarchs in behalf of these." God bestows many blessings on comparatively worthless persons, either

Joshua 10:2 — for the royal residence generally were. It does not appear that the Gibeonites had any king-they seem to have been a small but powerful republic, all the men thereof were mighty, merely governed by their elders: for in their address to Joshua, Joshua 9:11, they mention no king, but simply state that they were sent by their elders and the inhabitants of their country; nor do we any where read of their king; and therefore we may naturally suppose that they had none.

1 Samuel 7:9 — Verse 1 Samuel 7:9. Samuel took a sucking lamb — This sucking lamb must have been eight days under its mother before it could be offered, as the law says, Leviticus 22:27.Though Samuel was not a priest, yet he offered this sacrifice; or he might have ordered Eleazar