Bible Commentaries

Psalms 104:1 — PSALM CIV The majesty and power of God manifested in the creation of the heavens and the atmosphere, 1-3; of the earth and sea, 4-9; of the springs, fountains, and rivers, 10-13; of vegetables and trees, 14-18; of the sun and moon, 19; of day and night, and their uses, 20-23; of the riches of the earth, 24; of the sea, its inhabitants, and its uses, 25, 26; of God's general providence

Psalms 121:8 — sense of the passage is, Neither the day of prosperity nor the night of adversity shall hurt thee; nor the heat of persecution, nor the coldness of friends or relatives: all these shall work for thy good.3. "He shall preserve thee from all evil;" - and,4. Especially from every thing that might hurt thy soul: "He shall preserve thy soul."The psalmist concludes with this encouraging assurance.1. "The Lord shall preserve thy going out." We are always beginning or ending some action, going abroad or returning

Psalms 138:1 — PSALM CXXXVIII The psalmist praises the Lord for his mercies to himself, 1-3. He foretells that the kings of the earth shall worship him, 4, 5. God's condescension to the humble, 6. The psalmist's confidence, 7, 8. NOTES ON PSALM CXXXVIIIThe Hebrew and all the Versions attribute this Psalm to David, and it is supposed to have been made by him when, delivered from all his enemies, he was

Psalms 21:1 — of remark. The occasion of it is variously understood. Some think it was composed to celebrate the victory obtained over Sennacherib; others, that it was made on the recovery of Hezekiah, and the grant of fifteen years of longer life; see Psalms 21:4. Others and they with most appearance of propriety consider it a song of rejoicing composed by David for his victory over the Ammonites, which ended in the capture of the royal city of Rabbah, the crown of whose king David put on his own head, see Psalms

Psalms 28:1 — PSALM XXVIII A righteous man in affliction makes supplication to God, and complains of the malice of his enemies, 1-4; whom he describes as impious, and whose destruction he predicts, 5. He blesses God for hearing his prayers, and for filling him with consolation, 6, 7; then prays for God's people, 8, 9. NOTES ON PSALM XXVIIIThis Psalm is of the same complexion with

Psalms 90:1 — hundred and ten years, and Moses himself one hundred and twenty; Miriam his sister, one hundred and thirty; Aaron his brother, one hundred and twenty-three; Caleb, four-score and five years; and their contemporaries lived in the same proportion. Psalms 90:4. Therefore the Psalm cannot at all refer to such ancient times. If the title be at all authentic, it must refer to some other person of that name; and indeed איש אלהים ish Elohim, a man of God, a divinely inspired man, agrees to the times of the prophets,

Ecclesiastes 12:3 — lost; the few that remain being incapable of properly masticating hard substances or animal food. And so they cease; for soft or pulpy substances, which are requisite then, require little or no mastication; and these aliments become their ordinary food.4. Those that look out of the windows — The optic nerves, which receive impressions, through the medium of the different humours of the eye, from surrounding objects - they are darkened; the humours becoming thick, flat, and turbid, they are no

Ecclesiastes 12:4 — Verse Ecclesiastes 12:4. And the doors shall be shut in the streets —5. The doors - the lips, which are the doors by which the mouth is closed.6. Be shut in the streets — The cavities of the cheeks and jaws, through which the food may be said to travel before it

Isaiah 1:5 — to be found in you a whole limb on which you can be smitten." Which agrees with what follows: "From the sole of the foot even unto the head, there is no soundness in it:" and the sentiment and image is exactly the same with that of Ovid, Pont. ii. 7, 42: - Vix habet in nobis jam nova plaga locum. There is no place on you for a new stripe. Or that still more expressive line of Euripides; the great force and effect of which Longinus ascribes to its close and compressed structure, analogous to the

Isaiah 17:1 — CHAPTER XVII Judgments of God upon Damascus, 1-3; and upon Israel, 4-6. Good effects of these judgments on the small remnant or gleaning that should escape them, 7, 8. The same judgments represented in other but stronger terms, and imputed to irreligion and neglect of God, 9-11. The remaining verses are a distinct prophecy,

Isaiah 2:1 — kingdom. The whole of the third chapter, with the first verse of the fourth, is a prophecy of the calamities of the Babylonian invasion and captivity; with a particular amplification of the distress of the proud and luxurious daughters of Sion; Isaiah 4:2-6 promises to the remnant, which shall have escaped this severe purgation, a future restoration to the favour and protection of God.This prophecy was probably delivered in the time of Jotham, or perhaps in that of Uzziah, as Isaiah is said to have

Isaiah 60:4 — Verse Isaiah 60:4. Shall be nursed at thy side - "Shall be carried at the side."] For תאמנה teamanah, shall be nursed, the Septuagint and Chaldee read תנשאנה tinnasenah, shall be carried. A MS. has על כתף תנשאנה al catheph tinnasenah, "shall be carried on the shoulder;"

Isaiah 63:8 — himself saved them." An angel of his presence means an angel of superior order, in immediate attendance upon God. So the angel of the Lord says to Zacharias, "I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God," Luke 1:19. The presence of JEHOVAH, Exodus 33:14-15, and the angel, Exodus 33:20-21, is JEHOVAH himself; here an angel of his presence is opposed to JEHOVAH himself, as an angel is in the following passages of the same book of Exodus. After their idolatrous worshipping of the golden calf, "when God

Jeremiah 36:1 — country was about to be visited, if not prevented by a timely repentance, 1-3. The prophet employs Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, to write from his mouth all the words of the Lord, and then to read them publicly upon a fast day in the Lord's house, 4-8. A general fast is proclaimed in the following year, viz., the fifth year of the reign of Jeheiakim; upon which occasion Baruch, in obedience to the prophet's command, reads the words of Jeremiah to all the people at the entry of the new gate of the

Jeremiah 50:1 — all the Babylonish idols, and the utter desolation of Chaldea, through the instrumentality of a great northern nation, 1-3. Israel and Judah shall be reinstated in the land of their forefathers after the total overthrow of the great Babylonish empire, 4, 5. Very oppressive and cruel bondage of the Jewish people during the captivity, 6, 7. The people of God are commanded to remove speedily from Babylon, because an assembly of great nations are coming out of the north to desolate the whole land, 8-10.

Ezekiel 37:14 — Verse Ezekiel 37:14. And shall put my Spirit — רוחי ruchi. Here רוח ruach is taken for the Holy Ghost. They were living souls, animal and intellectual beings, when they had received their souls, as mentioned above: but they could only become spiritual, holy, and

Hosea 10:1 — This chapter treats of the same subject, but elegantly varied. It begins with comparing Israel to a fruitful vine but corrupted by too much prosperity, 1. It next reproves and threatens them for their idolatry, 2; anarchy, 3; and breach of covenant, 4. Their idolatry is then enlarged on; and its fatal consequences declared in terms full of sublimity and pathos, 5-8. God is now introduced complaining of their excessive guilt; and threatening them with captivity in terms that bear a manifest allusion

Hosea 3:4 — Verse Hosea 3:4. Many days without a king — Hitherto this prophecy has been literally fulfilled. Since the destruction of the temple by the Romans they have neither had king nor prince, nor any civil government of their own, but have lived in different nations

Hosea 4:2 — Verse Hosea 4:2. By swearing, and lying — Where there is no truth there will be lies and perjury; for false swearing is brought in to confirm lying statements. And when there is no mercy, killing, slaying, and murders, will be frequent. And where there is no

Zechariah 3:1 — CHAPTER III While the Jews were rebuilding their temple, their adversaries endeavoured to stop the work, Ezra 5:3-4, c. This vision is therefore calculated to give them the strongest encouragement that God, after plucking them as brands out of the fire (or captivity of Babylon,) would not now give them up, but would continue to prosper and favour them and that notwithstanding