Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 32:7 — Verse Isaiah 32:7. The instruments also of the churl are evil - "As for the niggard, his instruments are evil"] His machinations, his designs. The paronomasia, which the prophet frequently deals in, suggested this expression וכלי כליו vechelai kelaiv. The first word

Isaiah 40:2 — reconciliation of God to his returning people. To express this sense of the passage, which the words of the original will very well bear, it was necessary to add a word or two in the version to supply the elliptical expression of the Hebrew. Compare Isaiah 61:7; Job 42:10; Zechariah 9:12. חטאה chattaah signifies punishment for sin, Lamentations 3:39; Zechariah 14:19. But Kimchi says, "Double here means the two captivities and emigrations suffered by the Israelites. The first, the Babylonish captivity; the

Isaiah 46:1 — tender care of God, in bearing his people from first to last in his arms, and delivering them from their distress, 3, 4. The prophet, then, with his usual force and elegance, goes on to show the folly of idolatry, and the utter inability of idols, 5-7. From which he passes with great ease to the contemplation of the attributes and perfections of the true God, 8-10. Particularly that prescience which foretold the deliverance of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, with all its leading circumstances;

Isaiah 59:16 — This and the following verses some of the most eminent rabbins understand as spoken of the Messiah. Kimchi says that Rabbi Joshua ben Levi proposes this objection: "It is written, 'Behold, he will come in the clouds of heaven as the son of man,' Daniel 7:13; and elsewhere it is written, 'He cometh lowly, and riding upon an ass,' Zechariah 9:9. How can these texts be reconciled? Thus: If the Jews have merit, he will come unto them in the clouds of heaven; but if they be destitute of merit, he will come

Jeremiah 23:27 — Verse Jeremiah 23:27. By their dreams — Dreams were anciently reputed as a species of inspiration; see Numbers 12:6; 1 Samuel 28:6; Joel 3:1; Daniel 7:1. In the Book of Genesis we find many examples; and although many mistook the workings of their own vain imaginations

Jeremiah 29:7 — Verse Jeremiah 29:7. Seek the peace of the city — Endeavour to promote, as far as you can, the prosperity of the places in which ye sojourn. Let no disaffection appear in word or act. Nothing can be more reasonable than this. Wherever a man lives and has his nourishment

Jeremiah 47:1 — country was desolated to prevent their giving Tyre or Sidon any assistance, 1-5. The whole of this chapter is remarkably elegant. The address to the sword of Jehovah, at the close of it, is particularly a very beautiful and bold personification, 6, 7. NOTES ON CHAP. XLVIIVerse Jeremiah 47:1. The word of the Lord - against the Philistines — The date of this prophecy cannot be easily ascertained. Dr. Blayney thinks it was delivered about the fourth year of Zedekiah, while Dahler assigns it some

Lamentations 4:7 — Verse 7. Her Nazarites were purer than snow — נזיר nazir does not always signify a person separated under a religious vow; it sometimes denotes what is chief or eminent. It is applied to Joseph, Genesis 49:26. Blayney therefore translates here, HER NOBLES.

Daniel 10:13 — Michael came to take his place. Michael, he who is like God, sometimes appears to signify the Messiah, at other times the highest or chief archangel. Indeed there is no archangel mentioned in the whole Scripture but this one. See Jude 1:9; Revelation 12:7.

Hosea 7:16 — bending the Asiatic bow. For want of this knowledge not one commentator has hit the meaning of the passage.Shall fall by the sword — Their tongue has been enraged against ME; the sword shall be enraged against them. They have mocked me, (Hosea 7:5,) and their fall is now a subject of derision in the land of Egypt. What they have sown, that do they now reap.

Jonah 3:2 — faithfully deliver my message. The word κηρυξ in Greek answers to the Hebrew קורא kore: both signifying a crier, a herald, a preacher; one that makes proclamation with a loud and earnest cry. Such was John Baptist, Isaiah 40:3; such was Jesus Christ, John 7:18-37; and such were all his apostles. And such earnestness becomes a ministry that has to do with immortal souls, asleep and dead in sin, hanging on the brink of perdition, and insensible of their state. The soft-speaking, gentle-toned, unmoved preacher,

Micah 7:12 — Verse Micah 7:12. In that day also he shall come — Bp. Newcome translates: - "And in that day they shall come unto thee From Assyria and the fenced cities; And from Egypt even unto the river." Calmet translates: - "They shall come to thee from Assyria even

Zechariah 1:8 — emblematical of the affliction under which the Jews groaned.A man — An angel in the form of a man: supposed to have been the Lord Jesus; who seems to have appeared often in this way, as a prelude to his incarnation; see Joshua 5:13; Ezekiel 1:26; Daniel 7:13; Daniel 10:5. The same, probably, that appeared to Joshua with a drawn sword, as the captain of the Lord's host. Joshua 5:13-15.A red horse — An emblem of war and bloodshed.Among the myrtle trees — This tree was an emblem of peace; intimating

Zechariah 11:7 — Verse Zechariah 11:7. And I wilt feed the flock of slaughter — I showed them what God had revealed to me relative to the evils coming upon the land; and I did this the more especially for the sake of the poor of the flock.Two staves — Two shepherd's crooks.

Zechariah 7:1 — they had regarded themselves more than God; and that they had rested too much on the performance of external rites, although the former prophets had largely insisted on the superior excellence of moral duties, 1-14. NOTES ON CHAP. VIIVerse Zechariah 7:1. The fourth year of King Darius — Two years after they began to rebuild the temple, see Zechariah 1:1, A.M. 3486.The ninth month, even in Chisleu — This answers to a part of our November and December. The names of the month appear only

Malachi 2:6 — the instrument of converting many sinners.This character suits every genuine minister of God. And as the priest's lips should preserve knowledge, so the people should seek "the law at his mouth;" for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts, Malachi 2:7.

Matthew 18:22 — LAMECH, he shall be avenged seventy times seven." The just God punishes sin in an exemplary manner. Sinful man, who is exposed to the stroke of Divine justice, should be abundant in forgiveness, especially as the merciful only shall find mercy. Matthew 5:7, and on Matthew 6:14; Matthew 6:15. The sum seventy times seven makes four hundred and ninety. Now an offence, properly such, is that which is given wantonly, maliciously, and without ANY PROVOCATION. It is my opinion, that, let a man search ever so

Matthew 7:29 — Verse Matthew 7:29. Having authority — They felt a commanding power and authority in his word, i.e. his doctrine. His statements were perspicuous; his exhortations persuasive; his doctrine sound and rational; and his arguments irresistible. These they never felt

Matthew 8:20 — humiliation and debasement and, on that account, applied emphatically to himself, by the meek and lowly Jesus. Besides, it seems here to be used to point out the incarnation of the Son of God, according to the predictions of the prophets, Psalms 8:5; Daniel 7:13. And as our Lord was now showing forth his eternal Divinity in the miracles he wrought, he seems studious to prove to them the certainty of his incarnation, because on this depended the atonement for sin. Indeed our Lord seems more intent on giving

Luke 9:7 — Verse Luke 9:7. Herod the tetrarch — See note on Matthew 2:1; Matthew 14:1.By him — This is omitted by BCDL, two others, the Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, and four of the Itala. It is probable that Luke might have written, Herod, hearing of all the things