Bible Commentaries

Ezra 2:59-63 — the Jewish priesthood are dearly visible here. "Concern for pedigree and purity can easily turn to pride and superiority; and this trend was tragically exemplified by many of the community's later descendants."Wycliffe Bible Commentary, op. cit., p. 39. The Sadducees and Pharisees of the times of Christ prided themselves upon the purity of their descent from Abraham, supposing that their kinship with the patriarch alone would assure them of eternal life. How wrong they were! John the Baptist had

Ezra 3:8-10 — during which the opposition of the "peoples of the land" would be vented against Israel in their full hostility. Bowman, of course, insisted that what took place here occurred during the reign of Darius I, Sept. 21, 520 B.C.The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 3, p. 592. This writer, however, believes that there were two occasions when the foundation "was laid," and that the one in 520 B.C. was the second. This chapter plainly states that the first time was during the reign of Cyrus, or at least leaves that

Job 11:1-6 — My doctrine is pure" Job had not promulgated any new doctrine, "But Zophar's point in this seems to be that, in rejecting the theology of his friends, Job was implicitly claiming to have superior understanding."The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 369. With a friend like Zophar no man would need an enemy. These brutal words, addressed without feeling either of compassion or sympathy, to Job, of whom Zophar claimed to be a friend, are unsurpassed for sheer stupidity and cruelty. If his words had

Job 25:1-4 — be any logical argument whatever in this speech. "The stars are not pure in his sight" One may well wonder where he got an idea like this. When God viewed the Creation, "He beheld everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). This means that the stars were pure in God's sight; thus Bildad's word here is another example of the fact that Job's friends had not spoken of God the things that were right (Job 42:7). It is believed by many scholars that much of this last half

Job 29:18-25 — light of my countenance they cast not down. I chose out their way, and sat as chief, And dwelt as a king in the army, As one that comforteth the mourners." "Although from a Pauline perspective we know that, `There is none righteous, no not one' (Romans 3:10), the case of Job makes it clear that some men indeed are innocent and righteous."Ibid. Sinless perfection, of course, was achieved by only One in the whole history of mankind. "Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus it is He"!Martin Luther, Hymn,

Psalms 107:4-9 — to the children of men! For he satisfieth the longing soul, And the hungry soul he filleth with good." "They wandered… in a desert way… found no city" The antecedent of the pronoun `they' is the "redeemed" and "gathered" of Psalms 107:2-3, namely, the Children of Israel whom God returned to Canaan from Babylon. As Barnes noted, "These verses are a reference to the redeemed of the Lord, as having wandered,… been hungry and thirsty, etc."Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament (Grand

Psalms 144:12-15 — scholars as to the exact meaning of the metaphors here; but the idea is clear enough. Strong, vigorous sons, and beautiful efficient daughters adorn the primary unit of any successful society, namely, the family. (2)    Psalms 144:13 stresses the full storehouses and the fantastic growth of their flocks of sheep. (3)    Psalms 144:14 speaks of "well laden" oxen, hauling in the bumper crops. "No breaking in… no going forth… no outcry in the streets"

Psalms 29:4-5 — Yea, Jehovah breaketh in pieces the cedars of Lebanon." "Yea, Jehovah breaketh in pieces the cedars" (Psalms 29:5). Thunder in this psalm is metaphorically referred to as "The voice of Jehovah." But in this clause and the very similar one in Psalms 29:3, it is God Himself who is "upon the waters" and who "breaketh the cedars." It is really frightening to see first hand what tremendous energies are unleashed in a bolt of lightning. This writer remembers a very large oak tree, some four or five feet

Isaiah 25:9-12 — shall be mowed down in the final destruction."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 727 All of the figures that God uses in the Bible to describe the final punishment of the wicked are all repulsive: (1) the lake of fire; (2) the perpetual silence; (3) the outer darkness;, (4) where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth; (5) where the fire is not quenched and the worm dieth not; (6) a pool of blood up to the horses bridles for 200 miles! etc. This description is the seventh;, (7) a man trying to

Isaiah 52:1-2 — on the holy altar, forbade the reading of the Torah, and in other ways polluted and desecrated the literal Jerusalem; and eventually, another horde of "uncircumcised" people under Vespasian and Titus stormed and destroyed literal Jerusalem, deported 30,000 of its citizens to Egypt, put to death over a million of them and crucified 30,000 young men upon the walls of the city. Thus, it is clear enough that to make Jerusalem in this passage a place that the "uncircumcised" would never enter any more

Isaiah 66:7-9 — history."Ibid. This is prophesied by the metaphor of birth without travail. This was fulfilled, "By the far-flung commonwealth of the Christian Church springing up all over the Roman empire in a single generation."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 653. "She was delivered of a man-child" The oldest Christian understanding of this passage identifies it with the birth of the Christ. "This was the position of Jerome";Albert Barnes' Commentary, Vol. II, p. 431. and we have never seen any improvement on

Jeremiah 1:17-19 — the king of Judah was powerless to execute the sentence. "The astonishing thing is that Jeremiah lived as long as he did. How long he lived is an unexplained miracle of history."Raymond Calkins, Jeremiah the Prophet (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1930), p. 23. It happened to Jeremiah, exactly like it happened to God's "Two Witnesses" in the Apocalypse. God said. "I will give power unto my… witnesses. These have power… to smite the earth as often as they will… and when they have

Jeremiah 1:8-10 — remnant" who would form the nucleus of the New Israel in Christ; and all racial considerations on God's part disappeared forever! Four times the New Testament declares that, "There is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles" (Acts 11:12; Acts 15:9; Rom. 3:12; and 10:12).

Jeremiah 49:14-18 — more than two centuries afterward. See Vol. 2 of the minor prophets series of commentaries for a full discussion of Obadiah. Obadiah is not the only prophet who gave pronouncements of God's wrath upon the Edomites. Others are Ezekiel 25:12-14; Ezekiel 35:1-15; Joel 3:19; Amos 9:12; Isaiah 21:11-12; Isaiah 34:5-7; Isaiah 63:1-6. So far I have already commented upon all of these (except the ones in Ezekiel). To all of these, of course, there must also be added the prophecies against Edom through the

Jeremiah 50:21-28 — Babylon is here called the "hammer of the whole earth," and that is a name which historically has been used of "(1) Judas Maccabaeus for his victory over Syria, (2) of Charles Martel, which means `Charles the Hammer,' the victor in the Battle of Tours in 732 A.D., and (3) of Edward I of England, upon whose tomb in Westminster Abbey are the words (in Latin) `Hammer of the Scots.'"J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 481. "I have laid a snare for thee" "Babylon imagined herself impregnable; but, according to

Ezekiel 18:21-24 — Ezekiel."Ibid. What is God's ultimate objective for human life? It certainly is not the destruction of the wicked. As an apostle said, "God is longsuffering to you-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). "God's pleasure is that the wicked should turn from his evil way, and live."Charles Lee Feinberg in Ezekiel (Moody Press), p. 103. The Calvinistic nonsense that a person "once saved is always saved" encounters here a shocking refutation in the behavior

Ezekiel 23:43-49 — relying upon alliances with evil nations for their protection, (2) forgetting God and wallowing in the sensuous debaucheries connected with their shameless worshipping the pagan fertility gods, resulting in the total wreck of the nation's morality, and (3) forgetting God and the profaning of his sanctuary, his sabbaths, and their whole land, along with their forsaking all of his holy commandments and ordinances. They were indeed ruined morally, socially, religiously, and militarily. Israel as a separate

Ezekiel 24:6-10 — make thick the broth, and let the bones be burned." "Woe to the bloody city" The implications of this epithet hurled against Jerusalem by God Himself may be read in the terrible fate of Nineveh, which city God addressed in the very same language (Nahum 3:1). "Whose rust is not gone out of it" The "rust" here symbolizes the blood-guiltiness of Jerusalem. In the parable, this meant that the ingredients of the caldron were poisoned by the rust, and the mess within fit only to be destroyed. "Take out of

Daniel 9:15-19 — destroyed temple and the devastated city. Also, of interest is the basis of Daniel's prayer: (1)    the previous blessings of God are mentioned; (2)    the persistent sins of the people are repeatedly confessed; (3)    it is admitted that the reproach which has fallen upon Israel is of their own sinful deeds and entirely their fault; (4)    not any righteousness either of the people or of Daniel are alleged as grounds for

Hosea 8:4 — secular kings were ever anything other than a snare and a pit for the chosen people. "The princes" were necessarily corollary to the existence of kings; hence both were mentioned here. The Pentateuch which was designated by Jesus as God's Word (John 10:34-35) had provided judges for Israel; and all of their kings were a violation of the prior written Law of God. "Of their silver and their gold have they made them idols" This was a sin compounded by the fact that God had given them the very wealth which