Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 3:24 — Verse Isaiah 3:24. Instead of sweet smell - "perfume."] A principal part of the delicacy of the Asiatic ladies consists in the use of baths, and of the richest oils and perfumes; an attention to which is in some degree necessary in those hot countries. Frequent mention

Isaiah 59:18 — gumlaiya hu gimla yeshallem, "The Lord of retribution, he will render recompense." He manifestly read בעל baal instead of כעל keal. מרי גמליא marey gumlaiya is בעל גמלות baal gemuloth; as מרי מרירותא marey merirutha is בעל אף baal aph. Proverbs 22:24. And so in the Chaldee paraphrase on Isaiah 35:4: מרי גמליא יי הוא יתגלי marey gamlaiya yeya hu yithgeley, "The Lord of retribution, Jehovah himself, shall be revealed;" words very near to those of the prophet in this place.The second כעל keal, which

Isaiah 64:4 — Verse Isaiah 64:4. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard - "For never have men heard"] St. Paul is generally supposed to have quoted this passage of Isaiah, Isaiah 64:1; Isaiah 2:9; and Clemens Romanus in his first epistle has made the same quotation,

Isaiah 7:1 — house. This makes the subject of this, and the following, and the beginning of the ninth chapters, in which there are many and great difficulties.Chap. vii. begins with an historical account of the occasion of this prophecy; and then follows, Isaiah 7:4-16, a prediction of the ill success of the designs of the Israelites and Syrians against Judah; and from thence to the end of the chapter, a denunciation of the calamities to be brought upon the king and people of Judah by the Assyrians, whom they had

Habakkuk 2:1 — and in the plainest language, that all who read it with attention (those just persons who exercise an unwavering faith in the declaration of God respecting the violent irruption of the merciless Babylonians) may flee from the impending vengeance, 1-4. The fall of the Chaldeans, and of their ambitious monarch is then predicted, 5-10; and, by a strong and bold personification, the very stone and wood of those magnificent buildings, which the Babylonish king had raised by oppression and bloodshed,

Matthew 13:8 — see on Luke 8:15.Some a hundred-fold. — For the elucidation of this text, I beg leave to introduce the following experiment. In 1816 I sowed, for a third crop, a field with oats, at Millbrook, in Lancashire the grains weighed, on an average, 3/4 of a grain each. One grain produced three stalks with three ears: the largest had 68 grains in it, the second 26, and the third 25. Whole number of grains 119, which together weighed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 grs The root separately, after

Matthew 16:18 — Verse Matthew 16:18. Thou art Peter — This was the same as if he had said, I acknowledge thee for one of my disciples-for this name was given him by our Lord when he first called him to the apostleship. See John 1:42.Peter, πετρος, signifies a stone, or fragment of a rock; and our Lord, whose constant custom it was to rise to heavenly things through the medium of earthly, takes occasion from the name, the metaphorical meaning of which was strength and stability,

Matthew 23:37 — our blessed Lord seriously and earnestly wished the salvation of the Jews.2. That he did every thing that could be done, consistently with his own perfections, and the liberty of his creatures, to effect this.3. That his tears over the city, Luke 19:41, sufficiently evince his sincerity.4. That these persons nevertheless perished. And5. That the reason was, they would not be gathered together under his protection: therefore wrath, i.e. punishment, came upon them to the uttermost.From this it is evident

Matthew 25:35 — Verse 35. I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat — Every thing which is done to a follower of Christ, whether it be good or evil, he considers as done to himself, see Matthew 25:40; Acts 9:4-5; Hebrews 6:10. Of all the fruits of the Spirit, none are mentioned here but those that spring from love, or mercy; because these give men the nearest conformity to God. Jesus had said, Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy;

Matthew 4:18 — Verse Matthew 4:18. Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother — Why did not Jesus Christ call some of the eminent Scribes or Pharisees to publish his Gospel, and not poor unlearned fishermen, without credit or authority? Because it was the kingdom of heaven

Matthew 6:11 — temporal as well as spiritual good.2. We have merited no kind of good from his hand, and therefore must receive it as a free gift: Give us, c.3. We must depend on him daily for support we are not permitted to ask any thing for to-morrow: give us to-day.4. That petition of the ancient Jews is excellent: "Lord, the necessities of thy people Israel are many, and their knowledge small, so that they know not how to disclose their necessities: Let it be thy good pleasure to give to every man, what sufficeth

Mark 14:3 — Verse Mark 14:3. Alabaster box — Among critics and learned men there are various conjectures concerning the alabaster mentioned by the evangelists: some think it means a glass phial; others, that it signifies a small vessel without a handle, from α negative

John 10:3 — opening the door to the true shepherd, we may discover the second mark of a true minister-his labour is crowned with success. The Holy Spirit opens his way into the hearts of his hearers, and he becomes the instrument of their salvation. See Colossians 4:3; 2 Corinthians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 16:9; Revelation 3:8.The sheep hear his voice — A third mark of a good shepherd is that he speaks so as to instruct the people - the sheep hear HIS voice; he does not take the fat and the fleece, and leave

Acts 13:9 — supposes the συμβουλος of Hesychius to be corrupted from συνδουλος fellow servant, which is a term not unfrequently applied to apostles, c., in the New Testament, who are called the servants of God and it is used by Paul himself, Colossians 1:7; Colossians 4:7. The Latin original is the most probable. It is well known that the Jews in the apostolic age had frequently two names, one Hebrew, the other Greek or Roman. Saul was born of Jewish parents, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; he had therefore his first name

Acts 9:17 — that was not made such by Christ himself. If we consider the authority as coming by man, or through any description of men, we should be arrested and confounded by the difficult question, Who baptized the apostles? Jesus Christ baptized no man, John 4:2. Who then baptized Peter! Can the Roman conclave answer this question? I trow not. It would be as difficult to answer it as to prove Peter's supremacy. We have no evidence who baptized the apostles, who themselves baptized so many others. The truth

1 Corinthians 13:7 — distinguishing property of love to cover and conceal the fault of another; and it is certainly better to consider the passage in this light than in that which our common version holds out; and this perfectly agrees with what St. Peter says of charity, 1 Peter 4:8: It shall cover the multitude of sins; but there is not sufficient evidence that the original will fully bear this sense; and perhaps it would be better to take it in the sense of contain, keep in, as a vessel does liquor; thus Plato compared the

1 Corinthians 2:6 — hogs; and cursed is he who teaches his son Grecian wisdom. Bava Kama, fol. 82.2. Jewish wisdom; that of the scribes and Pharisees, who crucified our Lord, 1 Corinthians 2:8.3. The Gospel, which is called the wisdom of God in a mystery, 1 Corinthians 2:7.4. The wisdom, του αιωνος τουτου, of this world; that system of knowledge which the Jews made up out of the writings of their scribes and doctors. This state is called העולם הזה haolam hazzeh, this or the present world; to distinguish it from העולם הבא

2 Corinthians 13:1 — CHAPTER XIII. The apostle again says that this is the third time he has purposed to come and see them; and threatens that he will, by the power of Christ, punish every incorrigible sinner, 1-4. Exhorts them to examine themselves, whether they be in the faith, 5, 6. Prays that they may do no evil, 7. And shows how ardently he wished their complete restoration to unity and purity, 8, 9. Tells them for what reason he writes to them, 10. Bids

Galatians 3:29 — any one who has felt it, and given in his life and conversation full proof that he has felt it, should not only let it slip, but at last deny that he ever had it, and even ridicule a work of grace in the heart! Such instances have appeared among men.4. The Jewish covenant, the sign of which was circumcision, is annulled, though the people with whom it was made are still preserved, and they preserve the rite or sign. Why then should the covenant be annulled? This question admits a twofold answer.1.

1 Timothy 6:16 — few lines after, he says,- Συ το κρυπτομενον Ιδιαις αυγαις. "Thou art He who art concealed by thy splendours." All these are excellent, but they are stars of the twelfth magnitude before the apostolic SUN.See a quotation from Euripides, 2 Timothy 4:8.