Bible Commentaries

Genesis 1:14 — which is illuminated by the sun: and as the earth completes a revolution on its own axis in about twenty-four hours, consequently each hemisphere has alternate day and night. But as the solar light reflected from the face of the moon is computed to be 50,000 times less in intensity and effect than the light of the sun as it comes directly from himself to our earth, (for light decreases in its intensity as the distance it travels from the sun increases,) therefore a sufficient distinction is made between

Genesis 3:6 — capacity to obtain knowledge.2. That all the means of information were within their reach.3. That there was no hinderance to the most direct conception of occurring truth.4. That all the objects of knowledge, whether natural or moral, were ever at hand.5. That they had the strongest propensity to know; and,6. The greatest pleasure in knowing.To have God and nature continually open to the view of the soul; and to have a soul capable of viewing both, and fathoming endlessly their unbounded glories and

Psalms 118:1 — PSALM CXVIII A general exhortation to praise God for his mercy, 1-4. The psalmist, by his own experience, encourages the people to trust in God, and shows them the advantage of it, 5-9; then describes his enemies, and shows how God enabled him to destroy them, 10-13. The people rejoice on the account, 15, 16. He speaks again of the help he received from the Lord; and desires admission into the temple, that he may enter and praise

Psalms 54:7 — Verse Psalms 54:7. For he hath delivered me — Saul had now decamped; and was returned to save his territories; and David in the meanwhile escaped to En-gedi. God was most evidently the author of this deliverance.Mine eye hath seen his desire upon mine enemies.

Isaiah 1:22 — pomegranates," mentioned Isaiah 8:2. And how much the Eastern people to this day deal in artificial liquors of prodigious strength, the use of wine being forbidden, may be seen in a curious chapter of Kempfer upon that subject. Amoen. Exot. Fasc. iii., Obs. 15.Thus the drunkard is properly described, Proverbs 23:30, as one "that seeketh mixed wine," and "is mighty to mingle strong drink," Isaiah 5:22. And hence the poet took that highly poetical and sublime image of the cup of God's wrath, called by Isaiah,

Isaiah 29:1 — Ariel, or Jerusalem, on Sennacherib's invasion, with manifest allusion, however, to the still greater distress which it suffered from the Romans, 1-4. Disappointment and fall of Sennacherib described in terms, like the event, the most awful and terrible, 5-8. Stupidity and hypocrisy of the Jews, 9-16. Rejection of the Jews, and calling of the Gentiles, 17. The chapter concludes by a recurrence to the favourite topics of the prophet, viz., the great extension of the Messiah's kingdom in the latter days,

Jeremiah 48:1 — distress of the cities of Moab, with which it opens, is finely described. The cries of one ruined city resound to those of another, 1-3. The doleful helpless cry of the children is heard, 4; the highways, on either hand, resound with the voice of weeping, 5; and the few that remain resemble a blasted tree in the wide howling waste, 6. Chemosh, the chief god of the Moabites, and the capital figure in the triumph, is represented as carried off in chains, with all his trumpery of priests and officers, 7.

Daniel 7:4 — wiverons, griffins, unicorns, with a congeries of natural and unnatural things, split eagles, two-headed swans, c., c., &c.The beast like a lion is the kingdom of the Babylonians and the king of Babylon is compared to a lion, Jeremiah 4:7; Isaiah 5:29; and is said to fly as an eagle, Jeremiah 48:40; Ezekiel 17:3; Ezekiel 17:7. The lion is considered the king of the beasts, and the eagle the king of the birds; and therefore the kingdom of Babylon, which was signified by the golden head of the great

Matthew 27:29 — knees, pretending to do him homage. The crown was not probably of thorns, in our sense of the word: there are eminently learned men who think that the crown was formed of the herb acanthus; and Bishop Pearce and Michaelis are of this opinion. Mark, Mark 15:17, and John, John 19:5, term it, στεφανον ακανθινον, which may very well be translated an acanthine crown or wreath, formed out of the branches of the herb acanthus, or bear's foot. This, however, is a prickly plant, though nothing like thorns, in

Matthew 4:23 — middle of the synagogue, on which he stood who read or expounded the law.3dly. The seats or pews for the men below, and the galleries for the women above.4thly. The lamps to give light in the evening service, and at the feast of the dedication. And,5thly. Apartments for the utensils and alms-chests.The synagogue was governed by a council or assembly, over whom was a president, called in the Gospels, the ruler of the synagogue. These are sometimes called chiefs of the Jews, the rulers, the priests

Matthew 8:2 — Spirit.The Greek name λεπρα, seems to have been given to this distemper, on account of the thin, white SCALES (λεπιδες) with which the bodies of the leprous were sometimes so covered as to give them the appearance of snow, Exodus 4:6; Numbers 12:10; 2 Kings 5:27.Herodotus, lib. 1, mentions this disorder as existing, in his time, among the Persians. He calls it λευκην, the white scab; and says, that those who were affected with it were prohibited from mingling with the other citizens; and so dreadful was

Matthew 9:23 — among the Jews, in times of calamity or death, is evident from Jeremiah 48:36. And among the Greeks, and Romans, as well as among the Jews, persons were hired on purpose to follow the funeral processions with lamentations. See Jeremiah 9:17-21; Amos 5:16. Even the poorest among the Jews were required to have two pipers, and one mourning woman. At these funeral solemnities it was usual with them to drink considerably; even ten cups of wine each, where it could be got. See Lightfoot. This custom is

Luke 16:31 — entrusted to our care are goods of body and soul: goods of nature and grace: of birth and education: His word, Spirit, and ordinances: goods of life, health, genius, strength, dignity, riches; and even poverty itself is often a blessing from the hand of God.5. That all these may be improved to God's honour, our good, and our neighbour's edification and comfort.6. That the time is coming in which we shall be called to an account before God, concerning the use we have made of the good things with which he

Luke 24:50 — Verse Luke 24:50. He led them out as far as to Bethany — The difficulties in this verse, when collated with the accounts given by the other evangelists, are thus reconciled by Dr. Lightfoot."I. This very evangelist (Acts 1:12) tells us, that when the disciples

John 21:15 — Verse John 21:15. Simon lovest thou me — Peter had thrice denied his Lord, and now Christ gives him an opportunity in some measure to repair his fault by a triple confession.More than these? — This was a kind of reproach to Peter: he had professed a more

Acts 13:1 — Of the prophets and teachers in the Church of Antioch, 1. By command of the Holy Spirit the Church appoints Saul and Barnabas to a particular work, 2, 3. They depart, and travel to Seleucia, Cyprus, and Salamis, preaching in the Jewish synagogues, 4, 5. At Paphos they meet with Bar-Jesus or Elymas, a Jewish sorcerer, who endeavoured to prevent the deputy of the island from receiving the Christian faith, 6-8. Saul, for the first time called Paul, denounces the judgments of God upon him, and he is struck

Romans 6:1 — continuing in sin, under the wicked persuasion that the more we sin the more the grace of God will abound, 1. For, having been baptized into Christ, we have professed thereby to be dead to sin, 2-4. And to be planted in the likeness of his resurrection, 5. For we profess to be crucified with him, to die and rise again from the dead, 6-11. We should not, therefore, let sin reign in our bodies, but live to the glory of God, 12-14. The Gospel makes no provision for living in sin, any more than the law did;

1 Peter 2:5 — Verse 1 Peter 2:5. Ye also, as lively stones — λιθοι ζωντες. Living stones; each being instinct with the principle of life, which proceeds from him who is the foundation, called above λιθον ζωντα, a living stone.The metaphor in this and the following verse is as

Revelation 1:20 — may be an allusion to those brilliants set in rings, and worn επι της δεξιας, UPON the right hand. In Jeremiah 22:24, Coniah is represented as a signet on the right hand of the Lord; and that such signets were in rings see Genesis 38:18; Genesis 38:25; Exodus 18:11; Daniel 6:17, Haggai 2:23. On close examination we shall find that all the symbols in this book have their foundation either in nature, fact, custom, or general opinion. One of the cutchery seals of the late Tippoo Saib, with which he

Revelation 12:1 — CHAPTER XII. The woman clothed with the sun, and in travail, 1, 2. The great red dragon waiting to devour the child as soon as born, 3, 4. The woman is delivered of a son, who is caught up unto God; and she flees to the wilderness, 5, 6. The war in heaven between Michael and the dragon, 7, 8. The dragon and his angels are overcome and cast down to the earth; whereupon the whole heavenly host give glory to God, 9-11. The dragon, full of wrath at his defeat, persecutes the woman,