Bible Commentaries

2 Kings 17 overview — monuments. (3)    The depopulation of Samaria and its environs was also a result of the fall of the Northern Kingdom. One of the "monuments" cited by several scholars recorded that some 27,920 were deported by Sargon,The Pulpit Commentary. Vol. 5b, p. 331. but that did not include the number carried into captivity by Tiglath-pileser (2 Kings 15:29). Also, that might have been merely the number of the initial list of captives. In fact, Hammond pointed out that, "The 27,920 were those taken from

Job 1 overview — "Reserved in chains (pits) of darkness to the day of judgment" (2 Peter 2:7). See more on this under verse 12, below. Regarding Revelation 12:7-9, I have written half a dozen pages regarding that key passage in Vol. 12 of my New Testament Series, pp. 265-271. In this light, therefore, how can a score of Biblical scholars write that, "We have here a scene in heaven where Satan questions Job's motives"?J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 292. To explain such opinions, we must suppose (1) that they are made

Isaiah 47:1-4 — Goel, Jehovah Sabaoth is his name, the Holy One of Israel." First, we should notice the snide, derogatory remark of Wardle who wrote that, "Babylon is here erroneously personified as a virgin, as if never before captured."Peake's Commentary Series, p. 465. The source of such a ridiculous remark is Mr. Wardle's blind allegiance to one of the silly dictums of critical butchers of the Word of God, namely, that the application of the word "virgin" to any nation means that such a nation had never suffered

Isaiah 59:15-21 — Indeed, this final paragraph of the chapter undoubtedly refers to Him. No one can attentively read this passage and doubt it. This is a most beautiful description of the Redeemer, and of the effects of his coming."Albert Barnes' Commentary, Vol. II, p. 350. Jehovah's concern at the terrible, near hopeless, condition of mankind; and the statement in Isaiah 59:16 that he "wondered that there was no intercessor" falls short of expressing the fullness of God's concern. The word should be rendered, "He was

Isaiah 65:1-7 — people, and (2) that all of the fleshly nation were indeed the people of God. Neither proposition was true, except in the rather loose sense that God created all men. Hailey wrote: "Jehovah's reply is that he is rejecting them (Israel),"Homer Hailey, p. 513. and that the Gentiles will also be called as God's people. These seven verses are, "A castigation of the rebellious idolaters among them (which were the majority of the nation) and a warning that God's punishment must one day fall. However the innocent

Jeremiah 44:15-19 — before God sent the children down into Canaan to extirpate it and replace it with the knowledge of the true God."International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p. 271. The type of sexual orgies that went along with such worship is clearly visible in Numbers 25, in which event Israel demonstrated their preference for that kind of worship over that which God had commanded, a preference which they maintained down to the events of this chapter. "The Israelites turned to the worship of the Queen of Heaven as Ashteroth

Ezekiel 38:17-23 — words, but the Word of God. "That prophesied that I would bring thee (Gog) against them (Israel)" Some believe this is a reference to prophecies that may have been lost;Anton T. Pearson in Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1962), p. 757. but Keil stated that, "It is evident enough that there is no reference here to lost prophecies about Gog and Magog, but to general prophecies that are met with throughout the Old Testament."Ibid., p. 169. Moses, the greatest of the Old Testament prophets

Ezekiel 5:5-12 — impossibilities involved in the acceptance of such a false theory that true scholars are unable to allow it. Beasley-Murray stated flatly that, "We may approach this book in confidence that it is what it purports to be, namely the record of Ezekiel's 25-year ministry to his fellow-exiles in Babylon."G. R. Beasley-Murray in the New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 665. No, Ezekiel did not invent the regulations, statutes, and ordinances of God which Israel had so long and so thoroughly violated. Those

Amos 6:5 — sound of the viol" One is amused at a comment which finds nothing more here than the fact (?) that, "Amos does not like the contemporary fashion in music! We might translate, 'who wail to the accompaniment of the lute.'"Henry McKeating, op. cit., p. 50. Not much is known about this singing, but Barnes is probably correct: "The word which Amos alone uses in this place describes probably a hurried flow of unmeaning, unconsidered words, in which the rhythm of words and music was everything, the sense,

Zechariah 7:2-3 — rescued them from a land that in time would have totally corrupted them. "Should I weep in the fifth month" merely means, should we continue to keep the fast day. Keil identified this as. "The fifth month (Ab) on the tenth day; because, in Jeremiah 52:12-13, that was the day in which the temple and Jerusalem were destroyed by fire."C. F. Keil, Commentary on Old Testament, Vol. 10 (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 306. It appears, however, that this one fast day was

Matthew 13:55-56 — welcomed with "Hosannas" in Jerusalem; but the same illogical phenomenon is yet seen in men who will blindly reject a faith that was held by men like Paul, Washington, Newton, and countless others of the greatest minds ever known on earth. (5) It was moral cowardice. The gossips of Nazareth did not have the moral courage to kneel at the feet of Jesus. The rich young ruler did so, but the citizens of Nazareth had no such grace. (6) It was the opiate of the people. Where have we heard that

Matthew 23:7-9 — the apostles. Plummer expressed it: "They were to abandon the practice of appealing to `the fathers,' which had done so much evil in perpetuating misleading traditions."Alfred Plummer, Commentary on Matthew (London: Elliot Stock, 1909), p. 315. The sense of Christ's teaching recorded in this place is always violated when men are willing to accept the authority of "Doctor So and So" instead of the teachings of the word of God. Call no man your father on earth … At least the

Matthew 27:50 — attention to the "seven utterances." The time of the Master's death was three o'clock in the afternoon on the day of preparation for the Passover, making it occur on the afternoon, before sunset, when the actual Passover legally began. Matthew 27:51-53 relate to the Six Wonders of Calvary which received considerable attention in Matthew's gospel and which are of such surpassing interest that a special study of them is here included. THE PHENOMENA ATTENDING THE CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION There

Romans 6:4 — who dips a piece of hot iron in the water. Kenneth S. Wuest, op. cit., p. 96. Thayer: Definition of [@baptisma]: immersion, submersion. R. L. Whiteside, A New Commentary on Paul's Letter to the Saints at Rome (Denton, Texas: Miss Inys Whiteside, 1945), p. 130. The quote from Mosheim is also found here. Mosheim: In this century (the first) baptism was administered in convenient places, without the public assemblies; and by immersing the candidate wholly in water. Barrett: Paul here makes use of the

1 Corinthians 11:34 — THE LORD'S SUPPER The central ordinance of Christianity is the Lord's Supper, standing in a metaphor as a summary of the whole Christian religion: "Except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of man ye have no life in you" (John 6:53). See my Commentary on John, pp. 186-188. The nature of this precious rite is discerned in seven words, as follows: 1.    Retrospective. It looks back to Calvary, bringing to the worshiper's mind the night of betrayal, agony, blood

2 Corinthians 11:6 — worthless oratorical style of the Greeks. See treatise below on Greek Oratory. I came unto you … not with excellence of speech or of wisdom … not in persuasive words of wisdom … not in the wisdom of men … (1 Corinthians 2:1-5). All that is said in the above paragraph applies equally here. There is not a hint in either place of Paul's ability. He was an eloquent and powerful speaker. All of these expressions he was applying to the Greek oratory which he rejected as worthless,

1 Timothy 3:2 — seven are listed in this verse. Without reproach … This is the great and all-inclusive qualification. Wuest pointed out that the Greek word from which this comes means "one who cannot be laid hold upon," Kenneth S. Wuest, op. cit., p. 52. that is, a man without a handle, one who has given evil men no occasion whatever to blame or censure him. The late Grover Cleveland Brewer denominated this as really the only qualification for elder, the other qualifications mentioned here and in

1 Peter 2:5 — "living stones" are to be understood as "distinguishing the Christian church, the spiritual temple of God, both from the temples of the idols and the temple in Jerusalem, which were built of dead materials." James Macknight, op. cit., p. 451. It is not enough, then, to see the spiritual temple of God, which is the church, as merely attaining a higher glory than the Jewish temple; the true temple is of a totally different kind, the same being the only kind God ever wanted. Are built up

Revelation 21 overview — vanquished, following the final judgment of all men, and when the long drama of human struggles and temptations shall have been concluded. Christ promised that his faithful servants should "enter into the joy" of their Lord at his coming (Matthew 25:23); Paul encouraged the Philippians with precious words of their "citizenship … in heaven" (Philippians 3:20); Peter wrote that, "We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13); James

Revelation 6:7-8 — of the first seal to take his place with the other "judgments" upon mankind, indeed not as their equal, but as their king and leader. For "Neither does the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son" (John 5:22). The above analysis of these four riders absolutely requires that the first be understood as the Lord Jesus Christ. The denial of this can lead to exactly the kind of pessimism mentioned by Caird. "The futurist interpretation holds that these