Bible Commentaries

Daniel 7:6 — Verse Daniel 7:6. Another like a leopard - four wings - four heads — This was the Macedonian or Greek empire; and Alexander the Great its king. Alexander and his subjects are fitly compared to a leopard.1. The leopard is remarkable for its swiftness. Alexander

Hosea 14:7 — Verse Hosea 14:7. They that dwell under his shadow shall return — The Targum is curious: "They shall be gathered together from the midst of their captivity; they shall dwell under the shadow of his CHRIST, and the dead shall revive."They shall revive as the corn

Amos 2:6 — publicly in honour of Astarte, the father and son entered into impure connections with the same female.5. They were cruel in their oppressions of the poor; for the garments or beds which the poor had pledged they retained contrary to the law, Exodus 22:7-26, which required that such things should be restored before the setting of the sun.6. They punished the people by unjust and oppressive fines, and served their tables with wine bought by such fines. Or it may be understood of their appropriating to

Nahum 3:1 — slaughter which she spreads around her, 1-3. Because Nineveh is a city wholly given up to the grossest superstition, and is an instructress of other nations in her abominable rites, therefore she shall come to a most ignominious and unpitied end, 3-7. Her final ruin shall be similar to that of No, a famous city of Egypt, 8-11. The prophet then beautifully describes the great ease with which the strong holds of Nineveh should be taken, 12, and her judicial pusillanimity during the siege, 13; declares

Zechariah 13:7 — Verse Zechariah 13:7. Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd — This is generally understood of Jesus Christ. The sword is that of Divine justice, which seemed to have been long asleep, and should long ago have struck either MAN, or his SUBSTITUTE, the Messiah. Jesus

Zechariah 9:14 — Ephraim, and raised up thy sons, O Zion, against thy sons, O Greece, and made thee as the sword of a mighty man.Zechariah 9:14: And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrows shall go forth like lightning.The reader will consult what is said on Hosea 7:16, relative to the oriental bow, which resembles a [figure "C"] in its quiescent state, and must be recurved in order to be strung. Here, Judah is represented as the recurved bow; Ephraim, as an arrow placed on the string, and then discharged against

Matthew 10:1 — CHAPTER X. Jesus calls, commissions, and names his twelve disciples, 1-4. Gives them particular instructions relative to the objects of their ministry, 5, 6. Mode of preaching, c., 7-15. Foretells the afflictions and persecutions they would have to endure, and the support they should receive, 16-25. Cautions them against betraying his cause, in order to procure their personal safety, 26-39. And gives especial promises to those who

Matthew 16:22 — reading is the sense of the passage. The French, Italian, and Spanish, render it the same way. Blind and ignorant man is ever finding fault with the conduct of God. Human reason cannot comprehend the incarnation of the Almighty's fellow, (Zechariah 13:7,) nor reconcile the belief of his divinity with his sufferings and death. How many Peters are there now in the world, who are in effect saying, This cannot be done unto thee - thou didst not give thy life for the sin of the world - it would be injustice

Matthew 21:44 — fall, well; if not, the other witness threw a stone upon his heart, and despatched him. That stone thrown on the culprit was, in some cases, as much as two men could lift up. Tract Sanhed. and Bab. Gemara, and Lightfoot. See also the note on John 8:7.He, whether Jew or Gentile, who shall not believe in the Son of God, shall suffer grievously in consequence; but on whomsoever the stone (Jesus Christ) falls in the way of judgment, he shall be ground to powder, λικμησει αυτον - it shall make him so

Matthew 24:23 — the Christ, without miracles to avouch his Divine mission, so it was the common artifice of these impostors to show signs and wonders, σημεια και τερατα; the very words used by Christ in this prophecy, and by Josephus in his history: ANT. b. xx. c. 7. Among these Simon Magus, and Dositheus, mentioned before; and Barcocab, who, St. Jerome says, pretended to vomit flames. And it is certain these and some others were so dexterous in imitating miraculous works that they deceived many; and such were

Matthew 6:33 — Verse Matthew 6:33. But seek ye first the kingdom of God — Matthew 3:7.His righteousness — That holiness of heart and purity of life which God requires of those who profess to be subjects of that spiritual kingdom mentioned above. Matthew 5:20.The seventh reason against these worldly cares and fears is-because the

Matthew 7:14 — Verse Matthew 7:14. Because strait is the gate — Instead of οτι because, I should prefer τι how, which reading is supported by a great majority of the best MSS., versions, and fathers. How strait is that gate! This mode of expression more forcibly points out

Matthew 7:28 — Verse Matthew 7:28. The people were astonished — οι οχλοι, the multitudes; for vast crowds attended the ministry of this most popular and faithful of all preachers. They were astonished at his doctrine. They heard the law defined in such a manner as they had

Mark 8:23 — his hands upon the blind man: it required no miracle to separate the eyelids, and, therefore, natural means only were employed - this was done by rubbing them with spittle; but whether by Christ, or by the blind man, is not absolutely certain. Mark 7:33. It has always been evident that false miracles have been wrought without reason or necessity, and without any obvious advantage; and they have thereby been detected: on the contrary, true miracles have always vindicated themselves by their obvious

Luke 1:7 — Verse Luke 1:7. Both were now well stricken in years. — By the order of God, sterility and old age both met in the person of Elisabeth, to render the birth of a son (humanly speaking) impossible. This was an exact parallel to the case of Sarah and Abraham, Genesis

Luke 7:12 — Verse Luke 7:12. Carried out — The Jews always buried their dead without the city, except those of the family of David. No burying places should be tolerated within cities or towns; much less in or about churches and chapels. This custom is excessively injurious

John 11:52 — Church out of the Jewish and Gentile believers.Children of God that were scattered abroad. — Probably John only meant the Jews who were dispersed among all nations since the conquest of Judea by the Romans; and these are called the dispersed, John 7:35, and James 1:1; and it is because he refers to these only, that he terms them here, the children of God, which was an ancient character of the Jewish people: see Deuteronomy 32:5; Isaiah 43:6; Isaiah 45:11; Jeremiah 32:1. Taking his words in this

John 13:2 — 13:26; John 13:30, it appears that the supper was not then ended: nay, it is probable that it was not then begun; because the washing of feet (John 13:5) was usually practised by the Jews before they entered upon their meals, as may be gathered from Luke 7:44, and from the reason of the custom. I think that John wrote, not γενομενου, but γινομενου, as in BL. Cant. and Origen, which latter reading is approved by several eminent critics, and should be translated as above. By the supper I suppose to be meant,

John 18:31 — that they were proceeding against Christ as an enemy of the state, and not as a transgressor of their own peculiar laws and customs. Hence, though they assert that he should die according to their law, because he made himself the Son of God, John 19:7, yet they lay peculiar stress on his being an enemy to the Roman government; and, when they found Pilate disposed to let him go, they asserted that if he did he was not Caesar's friend, John 18:12. It was this that intimidated Pilate, and induced him

John 7:1 — CHAPTER VII. Jesus continues in Galilee, 1. He is desired to go to the feast of tabernacles, 2-5. His answer, 6-9. He goes up, and the Jews seek him at the feast, 10-13. He teaches in the temple, 14-24. The Jews are confounded by his preaching, 25-27. He continues to teach; they wish to slay him, 28-30. Many of the people believe on him, 31. The Pharisees murmur, and our Lord reasons with them, 32-36. His preaching on the last day of the feast, 37-39. The people are greatly divided in their opinions