Bible Commentaries

Exodus 32:35 — Verse Exodus 32:35. The Lord plagued the people — Every time they transgressed afterwards Divine justice seems to have remembered this transgression against them. The Jews have a metaphorical saying, apparently founded on this text: "No affliction has ever happened

1 Kings 13:1 — CHAPTER XIII A man of God prophesies against Jeroboam's altar, and foretells the destruction of that altar, and of its idolatrous priests by Josiah; and gives Jeroboam a sign that the prophecy should be accomplished, 1-3. Jeroboam is enraged, and orders the man of God to be seized; and stretching out his hand for this purpose, his arm dries up, 4. The altar is rent, and the ashes poured out, according to the sign given by the man of God; and at his intercession Jeroboam's

1 Kings 3:25 — Verse 1 Kings 3:25. Divide the living child in two — This was apparently a very strange decision, and such as nothing could vindicate had it been carried into execution; but Solomon saw that the only way to find out the real mother was by the affection and tenderness

1 Kings 6:1 — fourth year of Solomon's reign, and in the second month, he laid the foundations of the temple; the length sixty cubits, the breadth twenty, and the height thirty cubits; besides the porch, which was twenty cubits in length, and ten cubits in height, 1-3. A description of its different external parts, 4-10. God's promise to Solomon, 11-13. Description of its internal parts and contents, 14-36. Temple finished in the eighth month of the eleventh year of Solomon's reign, being seven years in building,

1 Kings 9:28 — to prove that this was not the Ophir of the Bible, which it seems was so situated as to require a voyage of three years long to go out, load, and return. Mr. Bruce has discussed this subject at great length; see his Travels, vol. ii., chap. iv., p. 354, c. He endeavours to prove1. That Ezion-geber is situated on the Elanitic branch of the Arabian Gulf or Red Sea.2. That Tharshish is Moka, near to Melinda, in the Indian Ocean, in about three degrees south latitude.3. That Ophir lies somewhere in

Psalms 45:4 — glory; strips man of his assumed merits; proclaims and enforces the necessity of humiliation or repentance because of sin, humiliation under the providential hand of God, and humility in imitation of the character of the Lord Jesus Christ throughout life.3. The Gospel teaches RIGHTEOUSNESS: shows the nature of sin, wrong, injustice, transgression, c. works righteousness in the heart; and directs and influences to the practice of it in all the actions of life. The Gospel leads him who is under its influences

Psalms 57:1 — PSALM LVII David cries to God for mercy, with the strongest confidence of being heard, 1-3; he describes his enemies as lions, 4; thanks God for his deliverance, 5; and purposes to publish the praises of the Lord among his people, 6-11. NOTES ON PSALM LVIIThe title is, To the chief Musician, Al-taschith, (destroy not,) a golden Psalm of

Leviticus 15:31 — Verse Leviticus 15:31. Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness — By this separation the cause became less frequent, and the contagion, if it did exist, was prevented from spreading. So pest-houses and fever-wards are constructed for the

Ecclesiastes 3:14 — Verse 14. I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever — לעולם leolam, for eternity; in reference to that grand consummation of men and things intimated in Ecclesiastes 3:11. God has produced no being that he intends ultimately to destroy. He made every thing in reference to eternity; and, however matter may be changed and refined, animal and intellectual beings shall not be deprived of their existence. The brute creation

Isaiah 22:25 — as a repetition and confirmation of the sentence above denounced against him.WHAT is said of Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, Isaiah 22:20-24, is very remarkable; and the literal meaning is not easy to be understood. From Isaiah 9:6, and from Revelation 3:7, it seems to belong to our Lord alone. The removal of Shebna from being over the treasure of the Lord's house, Isaiah 22:19, and the investiture of Eliakim with his robe, girdle, office, and government, Isaiah 22:20, c., probably point out the change

Isaiah 3:6 — Verse Isaiah 3:6. Of the house of his father - "Of his father's house"] For בית beith, the house, the ancient interpreters seem to have read מבית mibbeith, from the house; του οικειου του πατρος αυτου, Septuagint; domesticum patris sui, Vulgate; which gives no good

Isaiah 50:1 — CHAPTER L In this chapter God vindicates his dealings with his people, whose alienation is owing to themselves, 1. And, by allusion to the temporal deliverances connected with the drying up of the Red Sea and the Euphrates, asserts his power to save, 2, 3; namely, by the obedience and sufferings of the Messiah, 4-6; who was at length to prove victorious over all his enemies, 7-9. The two last verses exhort to faith and trust in God in the most disconsolate circumstances; with a denunciation of vengeance

Isaiah 66:3 — Verse Isaiah 66:3. He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man - "He that slayeth an ox killeth a man"] These are instances of wickedness joined with hypocrisy; of the most flagitious crimes committed by those who at the same time affected great strictness in the performance

Daniel 3:2 — Verse Daniel 3:2. Sent to gather together the princes — It is not easy to show what these different offices were, as it is difficult to ascertain the meaning of the Chaldee words. Parkhurst analyzes them thus: - The PRINCES — אחשדרפניא achashdarpenaiya,

Hosea 3:1 — represented the gracious manner in which God will restore the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, 1-4. It is also very strongly intimated that the whole house of Israel will be added to the Church of Christ in the latter days, 5. NOTES ON CHAP. IIIVerse Hosea 3:1. Go yet, love a woman — This is a different command from that mentioned in the first chapter. That denoted the infidelity of the kingdom of Israel, and God's divorce of them. He gave them up to their enemies, and caused them to be carried into

Numbers 34:19 — Verse Numbers 34:19. - c. And the names of the men - are these — It is worthy of remark that Moses does not follow any order hitherto used of placing the tribes, neither that in chap. i., nor that in chap. vii., nor that in chap. xxvi., nor any other but places

Joshua 4:19 — Verse Joshua 4:19. On the tenth day of the first month — As the Israelites left Egypt on the fifteenth day of the first month, A.M. 2513, (see Exodus 14:1-31), and they entered into Canaan the tenth of the first month, A.M. 2553, it is evident that forty years, wanting five days, had elapsed from the time of their exodus from Egypt to their entrance into the promised inheritance.Encamped

Joshua 9:26 — peace, and renounced their idolatry, they would have had life on honourable terms. As it was, they barely escaped with their lives, and were utterly deprived of their political liberty. Even the good that is sought by unlawful means has God's curse on it.3. We need not be solicitous for the character of the Gibeonites here; they are neither our models, nor believers in the true God, and therefore pure religion is not concerned in their prevarication and falsity.4. We see here of what solemn importance

Judges 16:1 — CHAPTER XVI Samson comes to Gaza; they lay wait for him; he rises by night, and carries away the city gates, 1-3. Falls in love with Delilah, 4. The lords of the Philistines promise her money if she will obtain from Samson the secret in which his strength lay, 5. By various artifices she at last obtains this; and communicates it to the Philistines, who seize and

2 Samuel 15:1 — the land, prepares the people for revolt, 7-11. He gains over Ahithophel, David's counsellor, 12. David is informed of the general defection of the people; on which he, and his life-guards and friends, leave the city, and go towards the wilderness, 13-18. The steadfast friendship of Ittai, the Gittite, 19-22. David's affecting departure from the city, 23. He sends Zadok and Abiathar with the ark back to Jerusalem, 24-29. He goes up Mount Olivet; prays that the counsel of Ahithophel may be turned