Bible Commentaries

Jeremiah 29:11 — Verse Jeremiah 29:11. Thoughts of peace — Here God gives them to understand,1. That his love was moved towards them.2. That he would perform his good word, his promises often repeated, to them.3. That for the fulfilment of these they must pray, seek, and search.4. That he would hearken, and they should find him; provided,5. They sought him with their whole heart, Jeremiah 29:10-13.

Jeremiah 4:15 — Verse Jeremiah 4:15. For a voice declareth from Dan — Dan was a city in the tribe of Dan, north of Jerusalem; the first city in Palestine, which occurs in the way from Babylon to Jerusalem.Affliction from Mount Ephraim. — Between Dan and Jerusalem are the mountains of Ephraim. These would be the first places attacked by the Chaldeans; and the rumour from thence would show that the land was invaded.

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.

Daniel 4:3 — Verse Daniel 4:3. How great are his signs! — There are no preternatural signs like his! His wonders - miraculous interferences, are mighty - they surpass all human power. He is the Sovereign of all kings, and his dominion is everlasting; and every generation is a proof of his all-governing influence. These are very fine sentiments, and show how deeply his mind was impressed with the majesty of God.

Hosea 12:4 — Verse Hosea 12:4. He had power over the Angel — Who represented the invisible Jehovah.He wept, and made supplication — He entreated with tears that God would bless him; and he prevailed. The circumstance of his weeping is not mentioned in Genesis.He found him in Beth-el — It was there that God made those glorious promises to Jacob relative to his posterity. See Genesis 28:13-15.

Zechariah 13:4 — Verse Zechariah 13:4. Neither shall they wear a rough garment — A rough garment made of goats' hair, coarse wool, or the coarse pile of the camel, was the ordinary garb of God's prophets. And the false prophets wore the same; for they pretended to the same gifts, and the same spirit, and therefore they wore the same kind of garments. John Baptist had a garment of this kind.

Zechariah 2:4 — Verse Zechariah 2:4. Run, speak to this young man — Nehemiah must have been a young man when he was [Persian] sakee, or cup-bearer, to Artaxerxes.As towns without walls — It shall be so numerously inhabited as not to be contained within its ancient limits. Josephus, speaking of this time, says, WARS v. iv. 2, "The city, overflowing with inhabitants, by degrees extended itself beyond its walls."

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 15:29 — Verse 29. Went up into a mountain — το ορος, THE mountain. "Meaning," says Wakefield, "some particular mountain which he was accustomed to frequent; for, whenever it is spoken of at a time when Jesus is in Galilee, it is always discriminated by the article. Compare Matthew 4:18, with Matthew 5:1; and Matthew 13:54, with Matthew 14:23; and Matthew 28:16. I suppose it was mount Tabor."

Matthew 23:4 — Verse Matthew 23:4. They bind heavy burdens — They are now so corrupt that they have added to the ceremonies of the law others of their own invention, which are not only burdensome and oppressive, but have neither reason, expediency, nor revelation, to countenance them. In a word, like all their successors in spirit to the present day, they were severe to others, but very indulgent to themselves.

Matthew 25:4 — Verse Matthew 25:4. Took oil in their vessels — They not only had a sufficiency of oil in their lamps, but they carried a vessel with oil to recruit their lamps, when it should be found expedient. This the foolish or improvident neglected to do: hence, when the oil that was in their lamps burned out, they had none to pour into the lamp to maintain the flame.

Luke 5:12 — Verse Luke 5:12. A certain city — This was some city of Galilee; probably Chorazin or Bethsaida.A man full of leprosy — See this disease, and the cure, largely explained on Matthew 8:2-4; and see it particularly applied to the use of public preaching, Mark 1:40, &c. See also the notes on Leviticus 13:0, and Leviticus 14:0.Leviticus 13:1ff, Leviticus 14:1ff

John 6:10 — Verse John 6:10. There was much grass in the place. — Perhaps newly mown grass, or hay, is meant, (so the Vulgate faenum,) and this circumstance marks out more particularly that the passover was at hand. In Palestine the grass is ready for mowing in March; and this miracle seems to have been wrought only a few days before the commencement of that festival: see John 6:4.

Acts 14:4 — Verse Acts 14:4. The multitude of the city was divided — The Jews treated the apostles as false teachers, and their miracles as impositions; and many of the people held with them: while the others, who had not hardened their hearts against the truth, felt the force of it; and, being without prejudice, could easily discern the miracles to be the work of God, and therefore held with the apostles.

Acts 3:4 — Verse Acts 3:4. Look on us. — He wished to excite and engage his attention that he might see what was done to produce his miraculous cure, and, it is likely, took this occasion to direct his faith to Jesus Christ. Acts 3:16; Acts 3:16. Peter and John probably felt themselves suddenly drawn by the Holy Spirit to pronounce the healing name in behalf of this poor man.

Acts 4:11 — Verse Acts 4:11. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders — By your rejection and crucifixion of Jesus Christ, you have fulfilled one of your own prophecies, Psalms 118:22; and, as one part of this prophecy is now so literally fulfilled, ye may rest assured, so shall the other; and this rejected stone shall speedily become the head stone of the corner. Matthew 21:42.

Acts 4:25 — Verse Acts 4:25. By the mouth of thy servant David hast said — Several add, but impertinently, δια πνευματος αγιου, by the Holy Spirit; but it is sufficient that GOD has said it; and thugs we find that David spoke by the inspiration of God; and that the second Psalm relates to Jesus Christ, and predicts the vain attempts made by Jewish and heathen powers to suppress Christianity.

1 Peter 4:2 — Verse 1 Peter 4:2. That he no longer should live - in the flesh — Governed by the base principle of giving up his faith to save his life; to the lusts of men-according to the will of his idolatrous persecutors; but to the will of God; which will of God is, that he should retain the truth, and live according to its dictates, though he should suffer for it.

1 John 4:21 — Verse 1 John 4:21. This commandment have we — We should love one another, and love our neighbour as ourselves. The love of God and the love of man can never be separated; he who loves God will love his brother; he who loves his brother gives this proof that he loves God, because he loves with a measure of that love which, in its infinitude, dwells in God.

Revelation 17:4 — Verse Revelation 17:4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication — This strikingly represents the most pompous and costly manner in which the Latin Church has held forth to the nations the rites and ceremonies of its idolatrous and corrupt worship.