Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 8:46-53 — Kings 8:46). (2)    Although God's name was associated with the house Solomon built, God's "dwelling place" is emphatically declared to be "in heaven" (1 Kings 8:32; 1 Kings 8:34; 1 Kings 8:36; 1 Kings 8:39; 1 Kings 8:43; 1 Kings 8:45; 1 Kings 8:48) no less than seven times. (3)    Both the ubiquitousness and the omniscience of God appear in the declaration that God knows "the hearts of all the children of men" (1 Kings 8:39). Also in the view that "the heaven

Job 2:7-10 — disease as Elephantiasis,International Critical Commentary, Job, p. 23. basing their conclusion upon many symptoms of the disease mentioned subsequently in the Book of Job, such as, his fetid breath (Job 19:17), maggots breeding in the sores (Job 7:5), the falling off of the skin (Job 30:30), feelings of terror (Job 3:25; 6:40), terrible dreams and horrible nightmares (Job 7:14), a sensation of strangulation (Job 7:15), and disfiguration of his appearance (Job 2:12). Whatever it was, it was as loathsome

Proverbs 1:1-7 — the wise, and their dark sayings. The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of knowledge; But the foolish despise wisdom and instruction." "Some commentators interpret these words as the introduction to the whole book";Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 558. but, they are a kind of prelude to this first portion. However, it is also true that they stand appropriately enough as a fitting introduction to the whole book. Right here, we have a statement of what the Book of Proverbs is all about. There are

Isaiah 14:1-2 — Revelation (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1977), p. 118. (For further comments on this see Vol. 12, p. 80 in my New Testament Series.) The key to understanding this is in the truth that Christ Alone is the true Israel of God (See John 15.). Every baptized believer "in Christ" is a bond-servant of Christ; and every Gentile who ever became a Christian by being baptized "into Christ" thus became a "servant" of Christ, who is indeed the true Israel of God. No doubt the racial Jews of Isaiah's

Isaiah 53:4-6 — Satan executed every cruelty possible upon Jesus; because without the sacrifice of Jesus in paying the penalty of human transgressions, Satan would have achieved his purpose of the total destruction of Adam's race. The words "borne our griefs" in Isaiah 53:4 in the Hebrew are literally "borne our sicknesses";Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 647. but this is not a reference to Jesus' suffering from all our sicknesses, but to his healing all diseases. It was to make this point clear that the translators

Isaiah 7:10-17 — In Exodus 2:8, Moses' sister, Miriam, in her childhood is called [~`almah]. (3) and (4) Twice in the Song of Solomon it refers to a chorus of young women (Song of Solomon 1:3) distinguished from Solomon's queens and concubines (Song of Solomon 6:8). (5) And in Proverbs 30:19 it refers to a maiden in contrast to an adulterous woman. (6) In Psalms 68:25 the word describes the damsels who played timbrels in the sanctuary; and any assumption that those damsels were anything but virgins is impossible."Homer

Ezekiel 4:4-8 — the people."J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 494. "And thou shalt set thy face toward the siege" This represented the intent purpose of God looking to the total destruction of the city. "With thine arm uncovered" There is another echo of Jeremiah 21:5 in this. God's arm was uncovered and outstretched to accomplish the destruction of the Jewish kingdom. "Lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it (Ezekiel's left side)… thou shalt bear their iniquity… so shalt thou bear the iniquity

Daniel 5:1-4 — his concubines, drank from them. They drank wine and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, or iron, of wood, and of stone." The date of this remarkable banquet was the night in which Babylon fell, usually given in the history books as in 538 B.C. A Babylonian text (presumably of Herodotus) was cited by Millard, which gave the date of this event as October 12, 539 B.C.A. R. Millard, The New Layman's Bible Commentary, Daniel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Company, 1979), p. 913. "Belshazzar

Mark 14:12 — passover, his disciples say unto him, Where wilt thou that we go and make ready that thou mayest eat the passover? On the first day of unleavened bread … The Jewish Passover always began at sundown on the 14th of Nisan, the following day, the 15th of Nisan, actually being the Passover day. The first day of unleavened bread was the preceding day, the 13th of Nisan (beginning at sundown on the 12th of Nisan). Since Christ died at the same hour the paschal lambs were being slain, that is, at 3:00

John 16:13 — widely held and devoutly believed by Christians of all generations, thus leaving an intolerable burden upon any view that would make these precious words a promise to all believers. Jesus was here speaking to "apostles only." (See under John 15:27 and John 16:4.) Again, the very manner of the Spirit's guidance of the apostles into all truth by bringing to their "remembrance" what Jesus had said (John 14:26) denies the application of this promise to Christians who have never "heard"

Romans 1:24-25 — God's authority, idolatries which were marked by all kinds of promiscuous relations between the sexes, all such excesses forming a standard part of the worship of ancient idols, of which things the Lord says it is a "shame" to speak (Ephesians 5:12), hence no catalogue of them is entered here. In a word, idolatrous worship consistently produced in people the kind of conduct that might be expected of beasts; but a far lower form of degradation is the subject of these verses, "the uncleanness"

Romans 11:25-26 — same fate of the hardened Israel, and were GLORYING IN IT. It is impossible to understand this chapter without focusing upon that problem of Gentile pride and conceit which dominates the thought in Romans and which was concisely stated in Romans 11:25 as the reason for the revelation of the mystery: "lest ye be wise in your own conceits." Now, what was there in this revealed mystery to allay the conceit of Gentiles glowing against the Jews? It was the thundering fact that God had spared

Ephesians 1:22-23 — 2:38-39). In the New Testament, no other means of coming into this corporation, that is, being "in Christ," is revealed except that which is taught by Paul and Jesus alike, namely, by being "baptized into Christ" (Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 12:13). For all who insist that they can be "in Christ" by some other action, a reminder is in order, that the corporation is not theirs, but Christ's. As being in Christ, of Christ, and in the Scriptural sense actually Christ,

James 2:26 — same people were the ones who murdered the Son of God. They had every kind of faith there is; so faith can and often does exist without works, being therefore separated from works. See full comment on the text from John in my Commentary on John, pp. 305-307. "Faith uses works as its means." R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 591. This is untrue because James represented works, not as something faith was using, but as something "working with," or "cooperating with" faith (James

Judges 8:18-21 — our disagreement with some of the commentators is any more pronounced than it is in this. Robert Boling, writing in Anchor Bible (Judges) says of this passage: "Thus Gideon rides roughshod over a basic covenant stipulation (Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11, "Thou shalt not kill"), inasmuch as the vengeance being executed here is strictly personal. He has usurped Jehovah's executive prerogative (Romans 12:19, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord")… an enormous act of private vengeance."Albert

Ruth 1:1-5 — of both King David and of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and is located only six or seven miles south of Jerusalem. Some believe that Elimelech was NOT justified in making this move. Matthew Henry labeled it as "unjustified."Matthew Henry Commentaries, p. 253. And the Targum suggests that the death of all three of these men was due to their leaving the land of Israel in the case of Elimelech and because of their marrying strange women in that of the two sons. Regarding the wives of the two sons, Josephus

1 Samuel 10:1-8 — at Bethel; and they would give him two loaves of bread. (3)    He would meet a band of prophets, playing instruments of music and prophesying. (4)    The Spirit of the Lord would come mightily upon Saul, and (5)    Saul himself would prophesy. Of course, the most important of these was No. 4. Saul's possession of the Spirit of God, evidently in the same manner as in the various Judges, was precisely the event that prepared him to be king

1 Samuel 4:19-22 — instances in the Bible of groups of statements which appear without strict regard to chronological arrangement. For example, the apostle Peter charged men of his generation saying, "God raised up Jesus… whom ye slew and hanged on a tree" (Acts 5:30, KJV). Ancient writers often violated many of our so-called "modern" rules of grammar and rhetoric, counting on the intelligence of the reader to aid in the art of communication. Is there any person who should really have any trouble understanding

2 Samuel 16:20-23 — counsel of Ahithophel esteemed, both by David and by Absalom." We are astounded that any scholar would diminish the guilt of Absalom's actions here with the claim that, "It was not a mere act of wantonness."International Critical Commentary, op. cit., p. 350. However, as Matthew Henry more accurately understood it: "Absalom's immediate compliance with the Devil's counsel as spoken by Ahithophel entirely suited Absalom's lewd and wicked mind. Absalom even went beyond the evil counsel of Ahithophel who had

2 Samuel 5:6-10 — of the world, a judgment underscored by the judgment of the United Nations' resolution of 1947, designating it as an international holy city, held in honor by Moslems, Jews and Christians alike."George A. Turner in Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia, p. 905. Christians honor Jerusalem as the place from which the "Word of the Lord went forth," the scene of Our Lord's earthly ministry, especially the place where he made Atonement for the sins of mankind in his vicarious Death upon Calvary and his Resurrection