Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 4:32 — Verse 1 Kings 4:32. He spake three thousand proverbs — The book of Proverbs, attributed to Solomon, contain only about nine hundred or nine hundred and twenty-three distinct proverbs; and if we grant with some that the first nine chapters are not the work of

2 Kings 16:1 — CHAPTER XVI Ahaz begins to reign, acts wickedly, and restores idolatry in Judea, 1-4. Rezin, king of Syria, besieges Jerusalem, but cannot take it; he takes Elath, and drives the Jews thence, 5, 6. Ahaz hires Tiglath-pileser against the king of Syria and the king of Israel, and gives him the silver and gold that were found in the treasures

1 Chronicles 19:1 — CHAPTER XIX David sends a congratulatory message to Hanun, king of Ammon, 1, 2. He treats the messengers with great incivility, 3, 4. David is exasperated, but condoles with the degraded messengers, 5. The Ammonites prepare for war, and hire thirty-two thousand chariots, and besiege Medeba, 6, 7. David sends Joab to attack them; he defeats the Syrians and Ammonites, 8-15. The discomfited

2 Chronicles 18:1 — joins affinity with Ahab, king of Israel, 1, 2; who invites him to assist him in the war against the Syrians, to which Jehoshaphat agrees, 3. They consult the prophets concerning the success of the war; and all, except Micaiah, promise Ahab victory, 4-17. Micaiah relates his vision concerning the lying spirit in the mouth of Ahab's prophets, 18-22. Zedekiah, a false prophet, opposes Micaiah; and Micaiah is put in prison, 23-27. Both the kings go against the Syrians; the confederate armies are defeated,

Ezra 4:7 — Verse Ezra 4:7. In the days of Artaxerxes — After the death of Cambyses, one of the Magi named Oropaestus by Trogus Pompeius, Smerdis by Herodotus, Mardus by AEschylus, and Sphendatates by Ctesias, usurped the empire, feigning himself to be Smerdis, the brother

Psalms 14:4 — Verse Psalms 14:4. Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? — Is there not one of them who takes this dreadful subject into consideration? To their deeply fallen state they add cruelty; they oppress and destroy the poor, without either interest or reason.Who

Psalms 144:12 — Verse Psalms 144:12. That our sons may be as plants — God had promised to his people, being faithful, THREE descriptions of BLESSINGS, Deuteronomy 28:4.1. The fruit of the body - sons and daughters.2. The fruits of the ground - grass and corn in sufficient plenty.3.

Psalms 34:4 — Verse Psalms 34:4. I sought the Lord — This is the reason and cause of his gratitude. I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me out of all my fears. This answers to the history; for when David heard what the servants of Achish said concerning him,

Psalms 54:4 — Verse Psalms 54:4. Behold, God is mine helper — This would naturally occur to him when he saw that Saul was obliged to leave the pursuit, and go to defend his territories, when he was on the very point of seizing him. God, whose providence is ever watchful, had

Psalms 69:4 — Verse Psalms 69:4. Then I restored that which I took not away. — I think, with Calmet, that this is a sort of proverbial expression, like such as these, "Those who suffered the wrong, pay the costs." Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi. "Kings sin, and the people

Psalms 89:27 — is not always to be understood literally in Scripture. It often signifies simply a well-beloved, or best-beloved son; one preferred to all the rest, and distinguished by some eminent prerogative. Thus God calls Israel his son, his first-born, Exodus 4:22. See also Ecclus 36:12. And even Ephraim is called God's first-born, Jeremiah 31:9. In the same sense it is sometimes applied even to Jesus Christ himself, to signify his supereminent dignity; not the eternal Sonship of his Divine nature, as inveterate

Psalms 89:4 — Verse Psalms 89:4. Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. — And this covenant had most incontestably Jesus Christ in view. This is the seed, or posterity, that should sit on the throne, and reign for ever and ever. David

Psalms 90:4 — Verse Psalms 90:4. For a thousand years in thy sight — As if he had said, Though the resurrection of the body may be a thousand (or any indefinite number of) years distant; yet, when these are past, they are but as yesterday, or a single watch of the night. They

Proverbs 4:16 — Verse Proverbs 4:16. Except they have done mischief — The night is their time for spoil and depredation. And they must gain some booty, before they go to rest. This I believe to be the meaning of the passage. I grant, also, that there may be some of so malevolent

Ecclesiastes 9:4 — Verse Ecclesiastes 9:4. For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope — While a man lives he hopes to amend, and he hopes to have a better lot; and thus life is spent, hoping to grow better, and hoping to get more. The Vulgate has, "There is none that shall

Isaiah 1:10 — this spirited address to the rulers and inhabitants of Jerusalem, under the character of princes of Sodom and people of Gomorrah. Two examples of a sort of elegant turn of the like kind may be observed in St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans, Romans 15:4-5; Romans 15:12-13. See Locke on the place; and see Isaiah 1:29; Isaiah 1:30, of this chapter, which gives another example of the same.AND - like unto Gomorrah. - The ו vau is added by thirty-one of Kennicott's MSS., twenty-nine of De Rossi's and one,

Isaiah 4:3 — Verse Isaiah 4:3. Written among the living — That is, whose name stands in the enrolment or register of the people; or every man living, who is a citizen of Jerusalem. See Ezekiel 13:9, where, "they shall not be written in the writing of the house of Israel,"

Jeremiah 7:4 — Verse Jeremiah 7:4. The temple of the Lord — In the Chaldee the passage stands thus:-"Do not trust in the words of lying prophets, which say, Before the temple of the Lord ye shall worship; Before the temple of the Lord ye shall sacrifice; Before the temple of the

Joshua 21:4 — Verse Joshua 21:4. Out of the tribe of Judah - Simeon, and - Benjamin, thirteen cities. — These tribes furnished more habitations to the Levites in proportion than any of the other tribes, because they possessed a more extensive inheritance; and Moses had commanded,

Judges 4:1 — Sisera, captain of Jabin's army, at the river Kishon, and gives him a total overthrow, 12-16. Sisera leaves his chariot, and flies away on foot; enters the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber, by whom he is slain, while secreting himself in her apartment, 17-24. NOTES ON CHAP. IVVerse Judges 4:1. When Ehud was dead. — Why not when Shamgar was dead? Does this not intimate that Shamgar was not reckoned in the number of the judges?