Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 22:41-44 — almost all respects a godly man, his main mistake being that alliance with Ahab."Ibid. "In these verses, the narrator returns to the history of the kingdom of Judah, giving a brief sketch of the reign of Jehoshaphat, which is more covered completely in 2 Chronicles 17-20."Albert Barnes, op. cit., p. 224.

2 Kings 15:23-26 — that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel." "Pekahiah… reigned two years" "The sacred author knew nothing important to write concerning this evil ruler other than the circumstances of his death (2 Kings 15:25)."The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 299. Josephus wrote concerning him that, "He followed the barbarity of his father, and so ruled but two years only, after which he was slain by his friends at a feast, by the treachery of one Pekah,

2 Chronicles 22:4-6 — Ahaziah's leaving his capital city to visit his sick relative in Jezreel, it gave Jehu the opportunity to exterminate both royal houses, both that of Jehoram king of Israel and that of Ahaziah king of Judah. The first nine verses here are parallel with 2 Kings 8:24 b-29, and 9:21,27-28). See our comments under those verses.

2 Chronicles 33:14-17 — peace-offerings and of thanksgiving, and commanded Judah to serve Jehovah, the God of Israel. Nevertheless the people sacrificed still in the high places, but only unto Jehovah their God." The people sacrificed in the high places, but only unto Jehovah their God (2 Chronicles 33:17). "This was still contrary to the Mosaic Law and actually accomplished little more than apply a new name to the old Baal worship."Ibid. These reforms in Manasseh's reign came far too late to have much effect; and besides that, his reign

2 Chronicles 8:12-13 — weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles." There are some uncertainties here. There seems to be an implied disapproval of Solomon's actions in offering all these sacrifices, which certainly were offered upon an unauthorized altar; and the word even in 2 Chronicles 8:13 most certainly suggests that what Solomon did here was sinful in usurping ritualistic functions that pertained to the priests. Francisco, however, insists that, "Solomon was directing the activities and was not personally involved."Broadman

Ezra 2:1 — Jewish exiles, although now released from captivity and allowed to return to their own land, were nevertheless still under the sovereignty of Cyrus, occupying a tributary province of the Persian empire."Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary, p. 288. This was a dramatic contrast with the glory days of David and Solomon. "Who came with Zerubbabel" "Here Zerubbabel appears as the leader of the return to Jerusalem. The name means seed of Babylon, indicating that he was born there. He is usually

Psalms 6:9-10 — eternally true that the righteous are indeed continually encompassed with bitter, determined, and ruthless enemies. Why? Why did Cain hate his brother Able and climax it with his murder? "Because his works were evil and his brother's righteous" (1 John 3:12). Servants of the devil hate the Christ; and as Jesus said, "Ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake" (Luke 21:17). Thus, the very name Christian is sufficient to incur the hatred and persecution of any true follower of Christ. All of the apostles

Psalms 85 overview — miraculous ending of the Babylonian captivity, as affirmed by a number of able scholars. "It evidently belongs to the time soon after the return from the Babylonian exile - either the days of discouragement before the building of the second temple (Ezra 4:5-24; Haggai 1; Zechariah 1:12-21) or the period of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:3).J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 363. - The situation into which the psalm could fit with more than average propriety is the time shortly after the return from the Babylonian captivity.H.

Isaiah 11 overview — cut down or destroyed. True to Isaiah's promise of a revelation from God a little at a time, "line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little" (See Introduction), Isaiah here gives additional information about: (1) the Messiah; (2) kingdom of God; (3) the character of Christians; (4) the punishment of Israel; (5) the destruction of Assyria; (6) the call of the Gentiles; and (7) the triumph of Christianity.

Ezekiel 18 overview — now trying to lay the blame for their woes on the sins of their fathers. The burden of this chapter is that God judges every man upon the basis of his individual and personal conduct. It ends with a passionate appeal for the wicked to repent (vv. 30-32)."Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House), p. 301 This is not the only chapter in which Ezekiel deals with this same subject. "He also did so in Ezekiel 3:16-21; Ezekiel 14:12-20; Ezekiel 33:1-20."Charles Lee Feinberg

Numbers 3:14-20 — their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers' houses." The effect of this very abbreviated genealogy is that of dividing the Levites into three divisions: (1)    the Gershonites (2)    the Kohathites, and (3)    the Merarites A marked difference in the method of numbering occurs here in that all males above the age of one month were included, whereas in the case of the military registration,

Malachi 3 overview — "without king, without prince, without altar, without sacrifice, and without ephod and teraphim" (Hosea 3:4-5). Robinson pointed out that most of these two chapters (Malachi 3-4) regards the Messiah, "The apocalyptic character of Malachi 3:13 to Malachi 4:2 is fine."George I. Robinson, The Twelve Minor Prophets (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1926), p. 168. It is simply incredible to us that he failed to include all of Malachi 3 in such an analysis, for the first verse (Malachi 3:1) of this

Deuteronomy 28:1-6 — blessings are prosperity in city, in field, in posterity, in wealth, and in the exaltation of Israel "high above all nations!" Israel, however failed to understand the two biggest words in this paragraph, namely, the mountain-high IF in Deuteronomy 28:1, and there is another IF just like it in Deuteronomy 28:2.

Acts 9 overview — This chapter reveals the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, the mighty persecutor (Acts 9:1-19), Paul's first ministry at Damascus, ending in the Jewish plot to kill him (Acts 9:20-25), his journey to Jerusalem and departure for Tarsus (Acts 9:26-30), a brief summary of the continued prosperity of the church (Acts 9:31), and the account of two miracles by Peter, (a) the healing of Aeneas at Lydda (Acts 9:32-35) and (b) the raising

James 3:9 — Therewith bless we the Lord and Father; and therewith curse we men, who are made after the likeness of God: Bless we … curse we … Note the use of "we" as in James 3:2; here again the use of it does not indicate any guilt on the part of James in this particular. As Ward said, "The we of pastoral tact shows how far James could go in his desire to win rather than repel." Ronald A. Ward, op. cit., p. 1230. Bless

1 Peter 1:18 — redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; Ye were redeemed … This is one of the great ransom passages of the New Testament, along with Mark 10:45; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Timothy 2:5, Revelation 1:5, and many others. Not with silver or gold … These are some of the corruptible things cited as examples; nothing of earthly value or merit made up the purchase price of Christians, but only the blood of Christ. From

Judges 5:5 — Israel" This is a very important verse. "The ancient and persistent tradition that connects the beginning of the religion of Israel with this holy mountain (Sinai) confirms the work of Moses beyond the shadow of a doubt."Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, p. 408. And that is by no means all that is proved by this reference. It effectively DENIES the critical canard that Yahweh was a Canaanite god which Israel adopted after they conquered the Promised Land. It reflects the great truth that God did indeed

2 Peter 1:15 — much of Peter's preaching." David F. Payne, op. cit., p. 601. However, the view here is that Peter meant the entire corpus of Christian doctrine which the church at the date of this letter already possessed, and which was acknowledged by Peter in 2 Peter 1:12. See more on this in the introduction. It is strange that the commentators are unanimously silent with reference to one of the biggest things in the verse, namely, that Peter entertained no idea whatever relative to any successor of his,

Revelation 12:2 — during the long period of waiting for the birth of the Messiah. At times, there must have been many, like Elijah, who felt that they were utterly alone, and like the prophets must have prayed for God to "take away" their lives (1 Kings 18:22; 1 Kings 19:4). This was a time of "waiting for the consolation of Israel" (Luke 2:25). This dramatic verse brings us near the time of the fulfillment of Genesis 3:15, for the child about to be born was the Seed of Woman, the Incarnate Son

Revelation 9:18 — "hyacinth" in this connection is interesting. The word has several meanings, and each one of them is suggestive of the terror here described: (1) It is a bulbous plant of the lily family having spike-like flowers, suggesting the weapons of ancient warfare. (2) It is the name of an ancient gem with a bluish-violet color, the color of smoke, which the word replaces in Revelation 9:17. (3) It is a plant frequently alluded to by the Greek poets, fabled to have born on its petals the words of grief. <footnote