Bible Commentaries

Exodus 13:1 — commands that all such, both of man and beast, should be sanctified unto him, 1, 2. Orders them to remember the day in which they were brought out of Egypt, when they should be brought to the land of Canaan; and to keep this service in the month Abib, 3-5. Repeats the command concerning the leavened bread, 6, 7, and orders them to teach their children the cause of it, 8, and to keep strictly in remembrance that it was by the might of God alone they had been delivered from Egypt, 9. Shows that the consecration

Exodus 14:1 — CHAPTER XIV The Israelites are commanded to encamp before Pi-hahiroth, 1, 2. God predicts the pursuit of Pharaoh, 3, 4. Pharaoh is informed that the Israelites are fled, and regrets that he suffered them to depart, 5. He musters his troops and pursues them, 6-8. Overtakes them in their encampment by the Red Sea, 9. The Israelites are terrified at his approach, 10.

Exodus 28:1 — CHAPTER XXVIII Aaron and his sons are set apart for the priest's office, 1. Garments to be provided for them, 2, 3. What these garments were, 4, and of what made, 5. The ephod, its shoulder-pieces, and girdle, 6-8. The two onyx stones, on which the names of the twelve tribes were to be engraven, 9-14. The breastplate of judgment; its twelve precious stones, engraving,

Exodus 3:15 — Verse Exodus 3:15. This is my name for ever — The name here referred to is that which immediately precedes, יהוה אלהים Yehovah Elohim, which we translate the LORD GOD, the name by which God had been known from the creation of the world, (see Genesis 2:4.) and

Exodus 33:1 — CHAPTER XXXIII Moses is commanded to depart from the mount, and lead up the people towards the promised land, 1. An angel is promised to be their guide, 2. The land is described, and the Lord refuses to go with them, 3. The people mourn, and strip themselves of their ornaments, 4-6. The tabernacle or tent is pitched without the camp, 7. Moses goes to it to consult the Lord, and the cloudy pillar descends on it, 8, 9. The people, standing at their tent doors, witness

Exodus 38:26 — Verse Exodus 38:26. A bekah for every man — The Hebrew word בקי beka, from בקי baka, to divide, separate into two, seems to signify, not a particular coin, but a shekel broken or cut in two; so, anciently, our farthing was a penny divided in the midst and then

Exodus 5:1 — CHAPTER V Moses and Aaron open their commission to Pharaoh, 1. He insultingly asks who Jehovah is, in whose name they require him to dismiss the people, 2. They explain, 3. He charges them with making the people disaffected, 4, 5; and commands the task-masters to increase their work, and lessen their means of performing it, 6-9. The task-masters do as commanded, and refuse to give the people straw to assist them in making

2 Kings 7:1 — of Samaria, 1. One of the lords questions the possibility of it; and is assured that he shall see it on the morrow, but not taste of it, 2. Four lepers, perishing with hunger, go to the camp of the Syrians to seek relief and find it totally deserted, 3-5. How the Syrians were alarmed, and fled, 6, 7. The lepers begin to take the spoil, but at last resolve to carry the good news to the city, 8-11. The king, suspecting some treachery, sends some horsemen to scour the country, and see whether the Syrians

2 Kings 8:1 — CHAPTER VIII Account of the sojourning of the Shunammite in the land of the Philistines, during the seven years famine, 1, 2. She returns, and solicits the king to let her have back her land; which, with its fruits, he orders to be restored to her, 3-6. Elisha comes to Damascus, and finds Ben-hadad sick; who sends his servant Hazael to the prophet to inquire whether he shall recover, 7-9. Elisha predicts his death, tells Hazael that he shall be king, and shows him the atrocities he will commit,

Ezra 7:1 — of Artaxerxes in behalf of the Jews, 11-26. Ezra's thanksgiving to God for these mercies, 27, 28. NOTES ON CHAP. VIIVerse Ezra 7:1. In the reign of Artaxerxes — This was Artaxerxes Longimanus, the seventh of whose reign chronologers place A.M. 3547, sixty-eight years after Cyrus had sent back Zerubbabel. - Calmet. See the introduction.Son of Seraiah — Either this could not have been Seraiah the high priest, who had been put to death by Nebuchadnezzar one hundred and twenty-one years before

Psalms 11:1 — PSALM XI David's friends advise him to flee to the wilderness from Saul's fury, 1-3. He answers that, having put his trust in God, knowing that he forsakes not those who confide in him, and that he will punish the ungodly, he is perfectly satisfied that he shall be in safety, 4-7. NOTES ON PSALM XIThe inscription is, To the chief

Leviticus 14:1 — CHAPTER XIV Introduction to the sacrifices and ceremonies to be used in cleansing the leper, 1-3. Two living birds, cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop, to be brought for him who was to be cleansed, 4. One of the birds to be killed, 5; and the living bird, with the cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop, to be dipped in the blood, and to be sprinkled on him

Leviticus 16:1 — CHAPTER XVI The solemn yearly expiation for the high priest, who must not come at all times into the holy place, 1, 2. He must take a bullock for a sin-offering, and a ram for a burnt-offering, bathe himself, and be dressed in his sacerdotal robes, 3, 4. He shall take two goats, one of which is to be determined by lot to be a sacrifice; the other to be a scapegoat, 5-10. He shall offer a bullock for himself and for his family, 11-14. And shall kill the goat as a sin-offering for the people, and

Numbers 35:1 — CHAPTER XXXV The Israelites are commanded to give the Levites, out of their inheritances, cities and their suburbs for themselves and for their cattle, goods, c., 1-3. The suburbs to be 3,000 cubits round about from the wall of the city, 4, 5. The cities to be forty-two, to which six cities of refuge should be added, in all forty-eight cities, 6, 7. Each tribe shall give of these cities in proportion to its possessions,

Numbers 8:4 — Verse Numbers 8:4. This work of the candlestick, c. — See many curious particulars relative to this candlestick, Numbers 8:4- : and "Exodus 25:39". The candlestick itself was an emblem of the Church of Christ the oil, of the graces and gifts of the Spirit of God; and the light, of those gifts and graces in action among men. See Revelation 1:12-20. God builds his Church and sends forth his Spirit

Deuteronomy 5:15 — and beast. When in Egypt they had no rest; their cruel task-masters caused them to labour without intermission; now God had given rest, and as he had showed them mercy, he teaches them to show mercy to their servants: Remember that thou wast a servant.3. To afford peculiar spiritual advantages to the soul, that it might be kept in remembrance of the rest which remains at the right hand of God.Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. — Here is a variation in the manner

Joshua 1:1 — THE BOOK OF JOSHUA -Year before the common Year of Christ, 1451. -Julian Period, 3263. -Cycle of the Sun, 10. -Dominical Letter, B. -Cycle of the Moon, 10. -Indiction, 15. -Creation from Tisri or September, 2553. CHAPTER I Moses being dead, God commissions Joshua to bring the people into the promised land, 1, 2. The extent of the

Joshua 13:6 — Verse Joshua 13:6. Misrephoth-maim — Joshua 11:7.These will I drive out — That is, if the Israelites continued to be obedient; but they did not, and therefore they never fully possessed the whole of that land which, on this condition alone, God had promised

Joshua 3:10 — Verse Joshua 3:10. Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you — The Israelites were apt to be discouraged, and to faint at even the appearance of danger; it was necessary, therefore, that they should have the fullest assurance of the presence and

2 Samuel 23:8 — Verse 2 Samuel 23:8. These be the names of the mighty men — This chapter should be collated with the parallel place, 1 Chronicles 11:11-47; and see Kennicott's First Dissertation on the printed Hebrew text, pages 64-471.The Tachmonite that sat in the seat —