Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 20:1 — CHAPTER XX Ben-hadad, king of Syria, and thirty-two kings, besiege Samaria, 1. He sends an insulting message to Ahab; and insists on pillaging the whole city, 2-7. The elders of Israel counsel the king not to submit to such shameful conditions, 8. He sends a refusal to Ben-hadad; who, being enraged, vows revenge, 9-12. A prophet comes to Ahab, and promises him victory, and gives him directions how he should order

1 Kings 8:37 — Verse 1 Kings 8:37. If there be in the land famine - pestilence — The FOURTH case includes several kinds of evils:1. Famine; a scarcity or total want of bread, necessarily springing from the preceding cause, drought.2. Pestilence; any general and contagious disease.3.

2 Kings 20:1 — CHAPTER XX Hezekiah's sickness, and the message of the prophet to him, to prepare for death, 1. His distress and prayer to God, 2, 3. The Lord hears, and promises to add fifteen years to his life, and Isaiah prescribes a means of cure, 4-7. Hezekiah seeks a sign; and to assure him of the truth of God's promise, the shadow on the dial of Ahaz goes back ten degrees, 8-11. The King of Babylon sends a friendly message to Hezekiah, to congratulate him on his recovery; and to these messengers

2 Chronicles 1:17 — Verse 2 Chronicles 1:17. A horse for a hundred and fifty — Suppose we take the shekel at the utmost value at which it has been rated, three shillings; then the price of a horse was about twenty-two pounds ten shillings.ON Solomon's multiplying horses, Bishop Warburton

Job 18:9 — narrow point in form of a triangle, so that the farther they go the less room have they on the right and left, the hunters lining each side, while the drovers with their dogs are coming up behind. "The steps of his strength shall be straitened," Job 18:7.2. Nets, gins, and pitfalls, are laid or formed in different places, so that many are taken before they come to the point where the two lines close. "He is cast into a net, he walketh upon a snare - the trap is laid for him in the way-the snare in the

Job 40:1 — has happened from the carelessness of the transcriber, or, which appears most probable, from the skins of parchment composing the roll having by some accident changed their places. It is plain from the seventh verse of the forty-second chapter Job 42:7 that Jehovah is the last speaker in the poem. If, then, immediately after the end of the thirty-ninth chapter, we subjoin the fifteenth verse of the forty-second chapter, and place the fourteen first verses of the fortieth chapter immediately after

Job 5:24 — cloth, or skin, to be pitched any where in a few moments, and struck again with the same ease.The word נוך navecha, which we properly translate thy habitation, signifies a solid, permanent dwelling-place. ee Joshua 22:4, Joshua 22:6-8; 2 Samuel 18:17; 2 Samuel 19:8; 1 Kings 12:16; Psalms 52:7; Psalms 91:10; Psalms 132:3; Lamentations 2:4; Malachi 2:12; and with these passages compare the place in the text.As to תחטא techeta, which we translate thou shalt not SIN, it comes from חטא chata, to err,

Psalms 3:1 — as one forsaken of God, 1, 2; is confident, notwithstanding, that God will be his protector, 3; mentions his prayers and supplications, and how God heard him, 4, 5; derides the impotent malice of has adversaries, and foretells their destruction, 6, 7; and ascribes salvation to God, 8. NOTES ON PSALM IIIThis is said to be A Psalm of David, when he fled from Absalom his son. — See the account, 2 Samuel 15:1, c. And David is supposed to have composed it when obliged to leave Jerusalem, passing

Psalms 31:5 — rest of the verse was not suitable to the Saviour of the world, and therefore he omits it; but it is suitable to us who have been redeemed by that sacrificial death. St. Stephen uses nearly the same words, and they were the last that he uttered. Acts 7:59.

Psalms 42:7 — Verse Psalms 42:7. Deep calleth unto deep — One wave of sorrow rolls on me, impelled by another. There is something dismal in the sound of the original; תהום אל תהום קורא tehom el tehom kore; something like "And hollow howlings hung in air." Thompson's Ellenore.

Proverbs 24:17 — Verse Proverbs 24:17. Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, (into this mischief,) and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth — When he meets with any thing that injures him; for God will not have thee to avenge thyself, or feel any disposition contrary to love;

Ecclesiastes 9:10 — necessary to be done in this life, in reference to another?1. Turn from sin.2. Repent.3. Frequent the ordinances of God, and associate with the upright.4. Read the Scriptures.5. Pray for pardon.6. Believe on the Lord Jesus, that thou mayest obtain it.7. Look for the gift of the Holy Spirit.8. Bring forth in their seasons the fruits of it -(1) Repentance,(2) Faith; and(3) The Holy Spirit.9. Live to get good.10. And to do good.11. And refer every purpose and act to the eternal world.II. How should these

Isaiah 27:1 — Prosperity of the descendants of Abraham in the latter days, 12, 13. The subject of this chapter seems to be the nature, the measure, and the design of God's dealings with his people.1. His judgments inflicted on their great and powerful enemies, Isaiah 27:1.2. His constant care and protection of his favourite vineyard, in the form of a dialogue, Isaiah 27:2.3. The moderation and lenity with which the severity of his judgments have been tempered, Isaiah 27:7.4. The end and design of them, to recover them

Isaiah 41:1 — having intimated the deliverance from Babylon, and the still greater redemption couched under it, resumes the subject. He begins with the Divine vocation of Abraham, the root of the Israelitish family, and his successful exploits against the idolaters, 1-7. He then recurs to the Babylonish captivity, and encourages the seed of Abraham, the friend of God, not to fear, as all their enemies would be ultimately subdued under them, 8-16; and every thing furnished necessary to refresh and comfort them in them

Isaiah 43:22 — objects opposed to one another: thus, "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice," Hosea 6:6. "For I spoke not to your fathers, nor commanded them, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices; but this thing I commanded them, saying, Obey my voice," Jeremiah 7:22-23. And the meaning of this place of Isaiah seems to be much the same with that of Amos; who however has explained at large both parts of the comparison, and specified the false service opposed to the true: - "Have ye offered unto me sacrifices

Jeremiah 25:1 — CHAPTER XXV This chapter contains a summary of the judgments denounced by Jeremiah against Judah, Babylon, and many other nations. It begins with reproving the Jews for disobeying the calls of God to repentance, 1-7; on which account their captivity, with that of other neighbouring nations, during seventy years, is foretold, 8-11. At the expiration of that period, (computing from the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, to the famous edict

Jeremiah 5:1 — the higher order, from whose knowledge and opportunities better things might have been expected, 5. God therefore threatens them with the most cruel enemies, 6; and appeals to themselves if they should be permitted to practise such sins unpunished, 7-9. He then commands their enemies to raze the walls of Jerusalem, 10; that devoted city whose inhabitants added to all their other sins the highest contempt of God's word and prophets, 11-13. Wherefore his word, in the mouth of his prophet, shall be

Jeremiah 52:1 — introduction to the following Lamentations, as it gives an account of the mournful events which gave rise to them. Zedekiah's evil reign and rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar, 1-3. Jerusalem is taken by the Chaldeans after a siege of eighteen months, 4-7. Zedekiah pursued and taken in the plains of Jericho, and his whole army dispersed, 8, 9. The king's sons and all the princes of Judah slain in Riblah, 10. Zedekiah has his eyes put out by order of the Chaldean monarch; and is afterward bound in chains,

Ezekiel 9:1 — different parts of their body the marks of their idols. To indicate, likewise, that God was soon to forsake the temple, the shechinah, or glorious symbol of his presence, is seen to remove from the inner sanctuary to the threshold or door of the temple, 1-7. The prophet intercedes for his people; but God, on account of the greatness of their sins, will not be entreated, 8-11. NOTES ON CHAP. IXVerse Ezekiel 9:1. Cause them that have charge over the city — By those six men with destroying weapons the

1 Samuel 30:1 — desolate state of their city, are greatly affected, 3-5. The men mutiny, and threaten to stone David, who encourages himself in the Lord, 6. David inquires of the Lord, and is directed to pursue the Amalekites, with the promise that he shall recover all, 7, 8. He and his men begin the pursuit, but two hundred, through fatigue are obliged to stay behind at the brook Besor, 9, 10. They find a sick Egyptian, who directs them in their pursuit, 11-15. David finds the Amalekites secure, feasting on the spoils