Bible Commentaries

Leviticus 16 overview — placement of this chapter. They would have put it somewhere else! But, as Seiss expressed it, "Its proper place seems to be exactly where God put it."Joseph A. Seiss, The Gospel in Leviticus, (Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, recent reprint of an 1860 publication), p. 282. The theological point of departure for this chapter was accurately discerned and convincingly presented by Gordon J. Wenham, a highly-respected, present-day scholar: (Paraphrase). It began in Leviticus 10, referred to from the

Daniel 10:18-21 — prisoners in a pit (Isaiah 24:21). God presides in the heavenly council; in the assembly of the gods he gives his decision (Psalms 82:1). Both of these quotations are taken from Good News Bible."Good News Bible (New York: American Bible Society, 1976), en loco. The firm New Testament word on the function of angels includes the following: (1) They bear away the souls of the departed in death (Luke 16:22). (2) They exercise diligence to watch over little children (Matthew 18:11). (3) All of the angels

Joel 3:1 — after the outpouring of God's Spirit upon all flesh. Hailey correctly identified the time-frame of this chapter with "the dispensation following Pentecost."Homer Hailey, A Commentary on the Minor Prophets (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1972), p. 56. All applications of these words to some future millennium, or to pre-Christian episodes, are incorrect. "I shall bring back the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem" One is at once aware of variations from this rendition, "The RSV (and a number of translations)

Amos 4:4-5 — the worshipper. And why do men do otherwise than what God has commanded in their worship? The answer is right here. As in this case with ancient Israel, "they do what pleases them" and not what pleases God. DISASTERS GOD HAD SENT UPON ISRAEL In Amos 4:6-12, are listed no less than seven calamities which the Lord had visited upon Israel in the hope of inducing them to repentance and wooing them to return unto the Lord. The lesson to be derived from such events is one which has proved to be very difficult

Amos 5:19-20 — according to McKeating, thus making all of the actions consecutive, thus: "Running from a lion, he meets a bear. In even greater panic, he reaches the shelter of his house. A snake strikes him from a crevice in the wall."Henry McKeating, op. cit., p. 46. However it may be translated, the passage clearly teaches that there shall be no possibility of escape from the adverse judgment of God upon human wickedness. It must not be thought that Israel was totally wrong about the judgment day, for they were

Numbers 4:1-16 — The status of Israel after the exile was not that of God's wife, but that of God's slave, as evident in Hosea, third chapter. "From thirty years old and upward" (Numbers 4:3). This minimal age of thirty was reduced to "twenty-five" in Numbers 8:23-26, probably for the purpose of allowing a five-year apprenticeship. To question the accuracy of this account on the basis of 1 Chronicles 23:24-27, where the age was reduced to "twenty," is unacceptable. The Jews of the whole temple era departed in many

Haggai 2:23 — spirit and power" of Elijah. Similarly, Jesus, the true Messiah, was the true "Son of David," a title held by Zerubbabel only by accommodation. A note in the Douay Version states: "This promise relates to Christ who was of the race of Zerubbabel."<26a> "The meaning is that the Messianic descent was to come through Zerubbabel, of the line of David, just as it did through David himself."Charles L. Feinberg, op. cit., p. 895. And, of course, both the Matthew and Lucan genealogies show that this

Zechariah 4:2 — lamps in common usage in his day. As for the meaning of this candlestick: "It symbolizes the Jewish Theocracy, and ultimately the Church."Robert Jamieson, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1961), p. 850. It also undoubtedly symbolizes "the Word of God," as revealed in verse 6. The whole figure is that of the Jewish theocracy holding forth the Word of God for all the world in the pre-Christian centuries. This vision placed the candlestick,

Matthew 18:15 — always justified, of course, on the basis that the alleged wrong-doing was a "public" matter, and therefore requiring no private confrontation with the "wrong-doer"! A careful study of Matthew 5:23-24; Matthew 18:15-17 and Galatians 6:1 will prove that there are no exceptions to Christ's injunction requiring spiritual persons to go to the offender first alone. That some people do not obey this injunction cannot remove it. It is the solemn conviction of this expositor that many of

Mark 12:35-37 — prophets this dual nature of the Holy One. This accounts for the APPARENT contradictions in the prophecies concerning Christ, some prophecies hailing him as "Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6), and other prophecies making him to be "despised and rejected … man of sorrows … esteemed not … numbered with transgressors … acquainted with grief … bruised … wounded … and afflicted" (Isaiah

John 1:3 — heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist (Colossians 1:16-17). Yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him (1 Corinthians 8:6). (God hath) spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all

John 2:10 — arm of God, how can we hope that it will be arrested by the frail and yielding barrier of the grave? … If sin conceals the worse that is behind tomorrow, may it not also conceal the worse that lies behind the grave?G. H. Morrison, op. cit., p. 6. 6.    In the progression of the material universe, all material things being inferior to the great spiritual realities, there is the same downward course. The sun itself will finally become a burned-out star and our earth but a

Acts 21:22-24 — for the "poor saints" would be diverted to the greedy priests in the "den of thieves and robbers," so vehemently condemned by the Christ himself. It appears that the absorption into the Jerusalem church of so many Pharisees (Acts 6:7; Acts 15:5) had created a situation in which a Pharisaical party in the church itself was as busy as beavers grafting as much as possible of the law of Moses onto Christianity; and, although they had not yet gone so far as to insist on Gentiles keeping

Romans 10:12-13 — is also true along with the fact that repentance, confession and baptism are all necessary to any effective calling upon the Lord. That is why Ananias said to Paul himself: Arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on his name (Acts 22:16). But the argument here is that it takes more than calling on the name of the Lord to be saved, if such calling on his name is understood otherwise than inclusive of the preconditions of salvation we have been discussing. The proof is as follows: Not

Romans 13:1 — through, casting great fragments of our civilization into collision with one another, and threatening by their attrition to break up and disappear altogether. Sir Stanley Baldwin, Address: Truth and Politics, delivered at Edinburgh University, November 6, 1925. Modern Essays of Various Types (New York: Charles E. Merrill Company, 1927), p. 213. Thus, Stanley Baldwin described the disastrous effects which always accompany the dissolution of states and the breakdown of authority. Paul's revelation that

Romans 5:1 — obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name's sake (Romans 1:5). But now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all nations unto obedience of faith (Romans 16:26). It would be impossible to overestimate the significance of Paul's placement of these two verses, situated like the lions on each side of the throne of Solomon, standing as the Alpha and the Omega, guarding the portals of this great treatise of

Hebrews 10:25 — impediment whatever was allowed to interfere. As Pliny said, "On an appointed day they had been accustomed to meet before daybreak." Henry Bettenson, Documents of the Christian Church (New York and London: Oxford University Press, 1947), p. 6. He went ahead to relate that their services were nothing of a scandalous or improper kind, that they partook of a meal of the most harmless and ordinary variety, that each sang a hymn to Christ as God, and that they bound themselves with a promise

Hebrews 7:1-3 — means "King of righteousness," thus the very name becomes a title of the Lord Jesus Christ. (2) "King of Salem" means "King of peace," and thus the title of Melchizedek is another appropriate title of our Lord (Isaiah 9:6 ff; Psalms 72:7). (3) Melchizedek was both king and priest, a double dignity not enjoyed by any illustrious Hebrew, not even Moses, and startlingly typical of Jesus Christ who is both king and high priest. (4) Melchizedek received tithes of Abraham,

Hebrews 9:2 — identified by the articles of furniture in it as the holy place. In it there were the golden candlestick on the south, the table of showbread on the north, and the golden altar of incense near the curtain, or veil (Exodus 40:22; Exodus 40:24; Exodus 40:26). Such is the importance of these objects, as being the patterns of great spiritual realities which they typified, that some particular attention is due each of them. THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK History, through the overruling providence of God, has preserved

Revelation 20 overview — determined by the view already taken of the preceding chapters. After the introductory letters to the seven churches, the vision of the final judgment has already appeared six times in the preceding chapters: In the relation of the seals (Revelation 6:12-17). In the relation of the trumpets, the judgment of the world city (Revelation 11:14-19). In the harvest of the earth (Revelation 14:14-20). At the pouring out of the vials of wrath (Revelation 16:12-20). In the judgment of the harlot (Revelation