Bible Commentaries

Genesis 19:23-25 — world, and we receive God's promises as sure and certain of fulfillment. There are visible a number of purposes behind God's judgmental action against those wicked cities: (1)    It was a great strengthening of Abraham's faith. (2)    It warned Lot. (3)    "It gave moral and religious instruction for all to come."J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 28.

Genesis 45:16-20 — little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours." "The report thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house" This is a clarification of what is stated in Genesis 45:2. The fact that Pharaoh did not require any elaboration as to who were "the brethren" of Joseph shows that Joseph had already informed him fully of all that had been happening. Pharaoh not only ratified and confirmed Joseph's words, but he put the invitation

Job 41 overview — "Leviathan is the name of a seven-headed sea-dragon in the old Canaanite myths current prior to the Israelite occupation; but that does not prove that Leviathan in the Book of Job is a mythological creature."Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Vol. 13, p. 289. "Once again the general features of the picture point to an actual animal, in this case, the crocodile."Layman's Bible Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 149. There is a consensus of practically all scholars on this. "Most scholars hold the view that it is the

Psalms 115 overview — Critical Commentary, Vol. II, p. 393. McCaw rejected the later dates, declaring that, "It is altogether simpler to see here the congregation assembled for worship at one of the great festivals in monarchic days."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 524. The simple truth of the matter is that, "Nobody knows"! This psalm is a part of the Hallel of Egypt. (See my discussion in Psalms 113.) Most writers agree that the psalm is liturgical, despite the fact that the exact usage of it in the worship is

Leviticus 22 overview — This chapter concludes the long Third Section of Leviticus that began back with Leviticus 11. The general subject of this part of Leviticus is, "Uncleanness and Its Putting Away."F. Meyrick, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 2, Leviticus (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. v. This final chapter of the section deals with laws of cleanness for the priests, the regulations on who may eat the things most holy, and holy, and various regulations of the

Isaiah 19 overview — organized chapter naturally divides into two sections. The first (Isaiah 19:1-15) falls into three stanzas or strophes: (a) strophe 1 (Isaiah 19:1-4) prophesies the overthrow of Egypt through civil strife and their suffering under a cruel ruler; (b) strophe 2 (Isaiah 19:5-10) prophesies the drying up of the Nile and the total collapse of Egypt's economy; (c) strophe 3 (Isaiah 19:11-15) foretells the incompetence of Egypt's vaunted wise men. The total picture that emerges in these fifteen verses is that of

Isaiah 48 overview — declaration excluding the ungodly from a share in the promises."T. K. Cheyne's Commentary, Vol. II, p. 1. The chapter falls into three divisions: "Each commencing with a call on Israel to pay attention: (1) `Hear ye this…' (Isaiah 48:1-11); (2) `Hearken unto me…' (Isaiah 48:12-15), and (3) `Come ye near unto me, hear ye this…' (Isaiah 48:16-22)."Pulpit Commentary, Vol. II, p. 214. The chapter is definitely addressed to two classes of people, namely the true believers, referred

Deuteronomy 20 overview — special instructions applicable to war against distant cities, envisioning a time when Israel, secure in its own boundaries, would be involved in war with nations outside the boundaries of Canaan. The most notable part of the chapter is in Deuteronomy 20:16-18, where is recorded the Divine Commission looking to the utter destruction of the nations of Canaan, that remarkable commandment being found nowhere else in the Bible. This holy war had two purposes: (1) the execution of God's sentence of death

Romans 15:2 — Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, unto edifying. These two verses exhibit the positive and negative statements: (1) we should not please ourselves; (2) we should please our neighbor. However, there is a limitation upon the meaning of pleasing neighbors, for Paul wrote: If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10). Therefore, it is not right that the Christian

1 Corinthians 4:1 — and the word "minister" here is not the same as in 1 Corinthians 3:5. "It is [@huperetes], and originally meant an under-rower in a trireme." Paul W. Marsh, A New Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 382. This is very similar to a word Luke used of ministers. "The word Luke used (Luke 1:2; Luke 4:20) is [@huperetai], used in medical terminology to refer to doctors who served under a principal physician." Herschel H. Hobbs, An Exposition of

2 Corinthians 13:4 — For he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth through the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live in him through the power of God toward you. Macknight's paraphrase of 2 Corinthians 13:4 is thus: For, though indeed Christ was crucified by reason of the weakness of his human nature, which was liable to death, yet he now liveth by the power of God. And though I also, his apostle, am weak, as he was, being subject to persecution,

1 Thessalonians 1:9 — the campaign in Philippi. Here is a glimpse of what an impression the Christian religion was making on the ancient Greek culture. It should be remembered that "not a few" of those in honorable estate accepted Christ in Thessalonica (Acts 17:12). Ye turned unto God from idols … Idols were big religion in Greece, and those who thus turned were Gentiles, that is, Greeks. As Clarke said: This could not be spoken of either the Jews or the devout persons, but of the heathen Greeks; and of

1 Thessalonians 3 overview — chapter in focus was as follows: Paul left Silas and Timothy at Berea, proceeding to Athens (Acts 17:14-15). On arriving in Athens he urgently summoned them to join him. They did so at once, and Timothy was sent back to Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 3:1-12). Silas was sent to another part of Macedonia (Berea?) (Acts 18:5). Paul left Athens and went to Corinth (Acts 18:1). Both Silas and Timothy joined Paul at Corinth (Acts 18:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:6). This epistle was written shortly after the reunion

2 Thessalonians 2:2 — assumption that the Second Advent was soon to arrive have mistakenly read the New Testament, and it is their fault, not the fault of the New Testament. In fact, Satan may have had a strong hand in fostering the misunderstanding. Hendriksen said: In view of 2 Thessalonians 3:17, the idea that someone had even sent a forged letter (a letter purporting to be from Paul) — though open to certain objections — cannot be lightly dismissed. William Hendriksen, A New Testament Commentary, Epistles to

2 Timothy 2:15 — straight course" (as plowing a straight furrow); and the Greeks used the word for "expound soundly." Kenneth S. Wuest, Word Studies from the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1973), Vol. II, 2 Tim., p. 135. The old expositors understood this as a reference to making the proper division between the law and the gospel, between the Old Testament and the New Testament; and, in view of the basic meaning of the words here rendered "handling

2 Timothy 4:16 — judgment of God. His was a sin against the truth. At my first defense … Many learned opinions are in disagreement about the occasion of this first defense. It has been variously understood as meaning Paul's appearance before the Sanhedrin (Acts 23:1-10), his appearance before Felix (Acts 24:1-23), his first appeal to Caesar (Acts 25:11-12), also as the defense which he made at his arraignment (preliminary trial) on the occasion of his last imprisonment, and which had taken place only shortly

Judges 9 overview — official recognition of Baal as the covenant god. Three other measures of the importance of this chapter may also be noted: (1)    "Here is revealed the doctrine that wickedness is never allowed to go unpunished."D. K. Campbell, p. 93. (2)    There is no clearer lesson in the history of mankind exhibiting the consummate wickedness of polygamy and concubinage than is to be found in this extended story of the posterity of Gideon. Hervey stated that, "It was polygamy

1 John 4:5 — teachers could be recognized and refused. Significantly, in the early church, there were persons supernaturally endowed with the ability to "discern spirits," that is, the ability to know which were of God and which were not (1 Corinthians 12:10); but it appears that John had the succeeding ages in mind here, a period when all who might have had that apostolic gift no longer lived. Other tests already stressed in this first paragraph of the chapter were: (1) the test of confessing that Jesus

Revelation 15:1 — angels having seven plagues, which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God. And I saw another sign in heaven … Beasley-Murray connected this mention of the seven angels with "the seven angels that stand before God (Revelation 8:2)," G. R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation (Greenwood, South Carolina: The Attic Press, 1974), p. 234. concluding that this structural parallelism between the trumpets and bowls corresponds to a parallelism in content. Lenski, however, did

Revelation 2:14-15 — teaching by some who openly advocated it, perhaps on the basis that some kind of compromise with paganism was inevitable. Balaam, repeatedly mentioned by New Testament writers, is usually held up as an example of evil. His error is set forth in Numbers 25 :lff; 31:16. Regarding the Nicolaitans, some have supposedly found a connection between his name and that of Balaam; but Beckwith noted that: The purely symbolical interpretation of the name based upon a supposed identity of the Greek word [@Nikolaos]