Bible Commentaries

Amos 6:10 — during the siege of Samaria. The carcass shall be burnt, and the bones removed with no ceremony of funeral rites, and without the assistance of the nearest kinsman. Solitude shall reign in the house; and if one is left, he must be silent, (see Amos 8:3,) and retired, lest he be plundered of his scanty provision! Burning the body, and then collecting the ashes, and putting them into an urn, was deemed the most honourable mode of burial.

Obadiah 1:18 — captivity, the Jews, called here the house of Jacob and the house of Joseph, did break out as a flame upon the Idumeans; they reduced them into slavery; and obliged them to receive circumcision, and practise the rites of the Jewish religion. See 1Macc 5:3, c. 2Macc 10:15-23; and Joseph. Antiq., lib. xiii. c. 17.There shall not be any remaining — As a people and a nation they shall be totally destroyed. This is the meaning; it does not signify that every individual shall be destroyed.

Micah 3:5 — Verse Micah 3:5. That bite with their teeth — That eat to the full; that are well provided for, and as long as they are so, prophesy smooth things, and cry, Peace! i.e., Ye shall have nothing but peace and prosperity. Whereas the true prophet, "who putteth

Zechariah 1:20 — Verse Zechariah 1:20. Four carpenters. — Four other powers, who should defeat the powers intended by the horns. These are the same as the four chariots mentioned Zechariah 6:1-3; Zechariah 6:6-7. The first was NABOPOLASSAR, father of Nebuchadnezzar, who overturned the empire of the Assyrians. The second was CYRUS, who destroyed the empire of the Chaldeans. The third was ALEXANDER the Great, who destroyed the empire of the Persians.

Zechariah 14:16 — grand original festivals, which characterized different epochs in their history, viz.: -1. The feast of the passover, in commemoration of their departure from Egypt.2. The feast of pentecost, in commemoration of the giving of the law upon Mount Sinai.3. The feast of tabernacles, in commemoration of their wandering forty years in the wilderness.This last feast is very properly brought in here to point out the final restoration of the Jews, and their establishment in the light and liberty of the Gospel

Matthew 22:10 — Gathered together all - both bad and good — By the preaching of the Gospel, multitudes of souls are gathered into what is generally termed the visible Church of Christ.This Church is the FLOOR, where the wheat and the chaff are often mingled, Matthew 3:12.The FIELD, where the bastard wheat and the true grain grow together, Matthew 13:26-27.The NET, which collects of all kinds, both good and bad, Matthew 13:48.The HOUSE in which the wise and foolish are found, Matthew 25:1, c.And the FOLD, in which

Matthew 26:3 — Verse Matthew 26:3. Then assembled together the chief priests — That is, during the two days that preceded the passover.The high priest, who was called Caiaphas — Caiaphas succeeded Simon, son of Camith, about A. D. 16, or, as Calmet thinks, 25. He married

Mark 2:18 — following vices are very common to Pharisees.1. They are more busied in censuring the conduct of others than in rectifying their own.2. They desire that every one should regulate his piety by theirs and embrace their particular customs and forms of devotion.3. They speak of and compare themselves with other people, only that they may have an opportunity of distinguishing and exalting themselves.On the nature, times, and duration of fasting, see Matthew 6:16; Matthew 9:15.

Luke 16:3 — Verse Luke 16:3. I cannot dig — He could not submit to become a common day-labourer, which was both a severe and base employment: To beg I am ashamed. And as these were the only honest ways left him to procure a morsel of bread, and he would not submit to either,

Luke 24:32 — Verse 32. Did not our heart burn within us — His word was in our heart as a burning fire, Jeremiah 20:9. Our hearts waxed hot within us, and while we were musing the fire burned, Psalms 39:3. In some such way as this the words of the disciples may be

Luke 6:10 — Verse Luke 6:10. Whole as the other. — Many MSS., both here and in the parallel place, Mark 3:5, omit the word υγιης, whole. Griesbach leaves it out of the text. The hand was restored as the other. But had it only been a luxated joint, even allowing, with a German critic, that the bone regained its place by the effort made to stretch out the

John 11:20 — evangelist intended to convey the idea of her sorrow and distress; because anciently afflicted persons were accustomed to put themselves in this posture, as expressive of their distress; their grief having rendered them as it were immovable. See Ezra 9:3-4; Nehemiah 1:4; Psalms 137:1; Isaiah 47:1; Luke 1:79; and Matthew 27:61.

John 12:47 — of Christ in order to believe them; and he must believe, in order to keep them; and he must keep them in order to his salvation.I judge him not — I need not do it: the words of Moses and the prophets judge and condemn him. See the notes on John 3:17; John 5:45.

John 14:3 — Verse John 14:3. And if I go — And when I shall have gone and prepared a place for you - opened the kingdom of an eternal glory for your reception, and for the reception of all that shall die in the faith, I will come again, after my resurrection, and give you

John 3:21 — Verse John 3:21. Wrought in God. — In his presence, and through his assistance. This is the end of our Lord's discourse to Nicodemus; and though we are not informed here of any good effects produced by it, yet we learn from other scriptures that it had produced

John 3:27 — ready to lay it down when he pleases. I have told you from the beginning that I was only the forerunner of the Messiah, and was sent, not to form a separate party, but to point out to men that Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world: John 3:28.

John 6:47 — entitled to this, on his believing me to be the Messiah, and trusting in me alone for salvation. Our blessed Lord recapitulates here what he had said in the preceding discourse. The person who is saved is,1. drawn by the Father;2. hears his instructions;3. accepts the salvation offered;4. is given to Christ Jesus, that he may be justified by faith;5. is nourished by the bread of life;6. perseveres in the faith;7. is not lost, but is raised up at the last day; and8. is made a partaker of eternal life.

John 7:51 — Verse John 7:51. Doth our law judge any man — τον ανθρωπον, the man, i.e. who is accused. Perhaps Nicodemus did not refer so much to any thing in the law of Moses, as to what was commonly practiced among them. Josephus says, Ant. b. xiv. c. 9. s. 3, That the law has forbidden any man to be put to death, though wicked, unless he be first condemned to die by the Sanhedrin. It was probably to this law, which is not expressly mentioned in the five books of Moses, that Nicodemus here alludes. See laws

Acts 3:14 — Verse Acts 3:14. Ye denied the HOLY ONE — τον αγιον. A manifest reference to Psalms 16:10: Thou wilt not suffer thy HOLY ONE to see corruption; where the original word חסידיך Chasideyca, thy HOLY ONE, is translated by the Septuagint, τον Ὁσιον σου, a word

Acts 3:22 — Verse Acts 3:22. Moses truly said unto the fathers — On this subject the reader is requested to refer to the note, Deuteronomy 18:22; Deuteronomy 18:22. From this appeal to Moses it is evident that Peter wished them to understand that Jesus Christ was come,