Bible Commentaries

Nehemiah 8:9 — Verse Nehemiah 8:9. Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha — This puts it out of doubt that, when the Tirshatha is mentioned, Nehemiah himself is intended, Tirshatha being the name of his office.Mourn not, nor weep. — This is a holy day to God: a day appointed for general rejoicing in Him who has turned our captivity, restored to us his law, and again established among us his ordinances.

Esther 9:15 — Verse Esther 9:15. And slew three hundred men — Esther had probably been informed by Mordecai that there were still many enemies of the Jews who sought their destruction, who had escaped the preceding day; and, therefore, begs that this second day be added to the former permission. This being accordingly granted, they found three hundred more, in all eight hundred. And thus Susa was purged of all their enemies.

Job 9:17 — Verse Job 9:17. He breaketh me with a tempest — The Targum, Syriac, and Arabic have this sense: He powerfully smites even every hair of my head and multiplies my wounds without cause. That is, There is no reason known to myself, or to any man, why I should be thus most oppressively afflicted. It is, therefore, cruel, and inconsequent to assert that I suffer for my crimes.

Psalms 34:9 — Verse Psalms 34:9. There is no want to them that fear him. — He who truly fears God loves him; and he who loves God obeys him, and to him who fears, loves, and obeys God, there can be no want of things essential to his happiness, whether spiritual or temporal, for this life or for that which is to come. This verse is wanting in the Syriac.

Psalms 57:9 — Verse Psalms 57:9. Among the people — The Israelites.Among the nations. — The Gentiles at large. A prophecy either relating to the Gospel times, Christ being considered as the Speaker: or a prediction that these Divine compositions should be sung, both in synagogues and in Christian churches, in all the nations of the earth. And it is so: wherever the name of Christ is known, there is David's known also.

Psalms 83:9 — Verse Psalms 83:9. Do unto them as unto the Midianites — Who were utterly defeated by Gideon, Judges 7:21-22.As to Sisera — Captain of the army of Jabin, king of Canaan, who was totally defeated by Deborah and Barak, near Mount Tabor, by the river Kishon; and himself, after having fled from the battle, slain by Jael, the wife of Heber, the Kenite. See Judges 4:15, &c.

Proverbs 9:13 — Verse Proverbs 9:13. A foolish woman is clamorous — Vain, empty women, are those that make most noise. And she that is full of clamour, has generally little or no sense. We have had this character already, see Proverbs 7:11. The translation of the Septuagint is very remarkable: Γυνη αφρων και θρασεια, ενδεης ψωμου γινεται, "A lewd and foolish woman shall be in need of a morsel of bread."

Ecclesiastes 9:6 — Verse Ecclesiastes 9:6. Also their love, and their hatred — It is evident that he speaks here of the ignorance, want of power, c., of the dead, in reference only to this life. And though they have no more a portion under the sun, yet he does not intimate that they have none anywhere else. A man threatens to conquer kingdoms, &c. He dies what are his threats?

Isaiah 13:4 — Verse Isaiah 13:4. Of the battle - "For the battle."] The Bodleian MS. has למלחמה lemilchamah. Cyrus's army was made up of many different nations. Jeremiah calls it an "assembly of great nations from the north country," Jeremiah 50:9. And afterwards mentions the kingdoms of "Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz, (i.e. Armenia, Corduene, Pontus or Phrygia, Vitring.,) with the kings of the Medes," Jeremiah 51:27-28. See Xenophon. Cyrop.

Isaiah 6:6 — Verse Isaiah 6:6. A live coal — The word of prophecy, which was put into the mouth of the prophet.From off the altar — That is, from the altar of burnt-offerings, before the door of the temple, on which the fire that came down at first from heaven (Leviticus 9:24; 2 Chronicles 7:1) was perpetually burning. It was never to be extinguished, Leviticus 6:12-13.

Ezekiel 13:9 — Verse Ezekiel 13:9. They shall not be in the assembly of my people — They shall not be reputed members of my Church. They shall not be reckoned in the genealogy of true Israelites that return from captivity; and they shall never have a possession in the land; they shall be exhereditated and expatriated. They shall all perish in the siege, by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence.

Ezekiel 4:9 — Verse Ezekiel 4:9. Take thou also unto thee wheat — In times of scarcity, it is customary in all countries to mix several kinds of coarser grain with the finer, to make it last the longer. This mashlin, which the prophet is commanded to take, of wheat, barley, beans, lentiles, millet, and fitches, was intended to show how scarce the necessaries of life should be during the siege.

Ezekiel 44:1 — CHAPTER XLIV This chapter gives an account of the glory of God having returned to the temple, 14. The Jews reproved for suffering idolatrous priests to pollute it with their ministrations, 5-8. Ordinances respecting the conduct of the priests, and the maintenance due to them, 9-31. NOTES ON CHAP. XLIVVerse Ezekiel 44:1. The outward sanctuary — In opposition to the temple itself, which was the inner sanctuary.

Ezekiel 6:9 — Verse Ezekiel 6:9. They that escape of you shall remember me — Those that escape the sword, the pestilence, and the famine, and shall be led into captivity, shall plainly see that it is God who has done this, and shall humble themselves on account of their abominations, leave their idolatry, and worship me alone. And this they have done from the Babylonish captivity to the present day.

Hosea 9:11 — Verse Hosea 9:11. Their glory shall fly away — It shall suddenly spring away from them, and return no more.From the birth — "So that there shall be no birth, no carrying in the womb, no conception."-Newcome. They shall cease to glory in their numbers; for no children shall be born, no woman shall be pregnant, for none shall conceive. Here judgment blasts the very germs of population.

Hosea 9:7 — Verse Hosea 9:7. The days of visitation — Of punishment are come.The prophet is a fool — Who has pretended to foretell, on Divine authority, peace and plenty; for behold all is desolation.The spiritual man — איש הרוח ish haruach, the man of spirit, who was ever pretending to be under a Divine afflatus.Is mad — He is now enraged to see every thing falling out contrary to his prediction.

Zechariah 12:2 — Verse Zechariah 12:2. Jerusalem a cup of trembling — The Babylonians, who captivated and ruined the Jews, shall in their turn be ruined.I incline to think that what is spoken in this chapter about the Jews and Jerusalem, belongs to the "glory of the latter times."Shall be in the siege — This may refer to some war against the Church of Christ, such as that mentioned Revelation 20:9.

Matthew 12:7 — Verse Matthew 12:7. I will have mercy, &c. — See this explained, Matthew 9:13. There are four ways in which positive laws may cease to oblige.First, by the natural law of necessity.Secondly, by a particular law, which is superior.Thirdly, by the law of charity and mercy.Fourthly, by the dispensation and authority of the Lawgiver.These cases are all exemplified from Matthew 12:4-8.

Matthew 23:9 — Verse Matthew 23:9. Call no man your FATHER] Our Lord probably alludes to the AB, or father of the Sanhedrin, who was the next after the nasi, or president. See on Matthew 20:21. By which he gives his disciples to understand that he would have no SECOND, after himself, established in his Church, of which he alone was the head; and that perfect equality must subsist among them.

John 12:42 — Verse 42. Among the chief rulers - many believed on him — We only know the names of two of them, Nicodemus, and Joseph of Arimathea.But-they did not confess him — Or it: they were as yet weak in the faith, and could not bear the reproach of the cross of Christ. Besides, the principal rulers had determined to excommunicate every person who acknowledged Christ for the Messiah; see John 9:22.