Bible Commentaries

Genesis 14:18 — writers and by our Lord himself."William Neil, Harper's Bible Commentary (New York: Harper and Row, 1975), p. 43. The N.T., of course, has a magnificent discussion of this event in Hebrews, where it is mentioned in Hebrews 5:5-6; Hebrews 5:10; Hebrews 6:20, and repeatedly throughout Hebrews 7. The only other reference to Melchizedek in the Bible is in Psalms 110:4. This account in Hebrews is discussed thoroughly in my commentary on Hebrews, Hebrews 5:5—7:28, to which reference is made for those

Exodus 15:11-15 — of Philistia. Then were the chiefs of Edom dismayed; The mighty men of Moab, trembling taketh hold upon them. All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away." "O Jehovah" Scholars have pointed out that a substitute for this name was used in Exodus 15:2, where the short form, Yah, is used (an abbreviation for Jehovah), perhaps for the sake of maintaining the rhythm, that being the first occurrence of it. Later, it was also used extensively in proper names, as in Abijah, Ahaziah, Hezekiah, Zedekiah,

Exodus 20:14 — God flung His "Thou shalt not!" squarely against it. Nevertheless, the highest intelligence and reason approve and endorse the commandment. The sin of adultery is against a number of vitally important entities: (1) It is against God (Genesis 39:9); (2) It is against the very body of the sinner (1 Corinthians 6:18); (3) It is even against the soul of the violator (Proverbs 6:32); (4) It is against the family. No marriage can withstand the destructive force of this sin (Matthew 19:9); (5) It is a sin

Exodus 27:1-8 — given, it evidently stood somewhere near the grand entrance into the court of the tabernacle, being by far the most important thing that fell upon the eyes of anyone entering the court. "The bronze (brass) speaks of manifested divine judgment (Numbers 21:9, John 3:14, Revelation 1:15). At Calvary, Christ met the burning heat of divine justice against sin. Upon this altar the burnt offering was completely consumed, portraying Him who knew no sin, yet was `Made… sin for us, enduring the full wrath

Exodus 28:1-5 — This chapter may be captioned, "Garments of the Priesthood." However, the greater part of it deals with the special vestments of the High Priest. There are six paragraphs: (1)    summary of the High Priest's garments (Exodus 28:1-5); (2)    instructions for making the ephod (Exodus 28:6-15); (3)    directions for the breastplate (Exodus 28:16-30), (4)    how the robe was made (Exodus 28:31-35) (5)    the

Job 42:1-6 — however far these may go beyond human conception. You have reasons for what you do, of which we are totally ignorant"Van Selms, p. 155. "Who is this that hideth counsel without knowledge" "In this Job repeats the question which God had asked in Job 38:2, admitting that he spoke out of limited knowledge, too confidently of things too wonderful for him to understand."Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Vol. 13, p. 291. In our interpretation of Job 38:2, we applied the words to the speech of Elihu; but

Psalms 133:1-3 — have tried to find in this a Biblical injunction recommending that married brothers live in the same dwelling with their parents. From the beginning, God has ordained that a man should "leave his father and his mother and cleave unto his wife" (Genesis 2:24). Mixing multiple families under one roof is an impossible social device. "What is referred to here is a covenant nation of `brothers' worshipping together in Jerusalem."Leslie C. Allen, Vol. II, p. 212. As Dummelow pointed out, "This exquisite gem

Psalms 44:17-22 — her."H. C. Leupold, p. 346. Furthermore, the problem was greatly aggravated by the evident fact that their faithfulness to God actually appeared to be "the reason why" they suffered. That is the meaning of the thundering words, "For thy sake" in Psalms 44:22. Of course, this is the very verse which Paul quoted in Romans 8:36. "Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant" All these verses through Psalms 44:22 are a very vigorous profession by the psalmist of absolute innocence on the part of Israel. It

Leviticus 15:1-12 — carried deep and powerful overtones of human depravity and the need of divine cleansing. "There is an almost necessary connection between religion and sex because both belong to the sphere of the sacred."Nathaniel Micklem, Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 2 (New York: Abingdon Press, 1953), p. 74. An amazing difference here from previous chapters lies in the fact that they dealt with defiling things that were outside of man, but this deals with "the defiling things that come OUT OF US."Merrill F. Unger,

Isaiah 15:1-9 — singular is used indicates that Isaiah himself is the author of this prophecy given in "time past" (Isaiah 16:13). There are seventeen place-names in this brief little chapter referring to places literally all over Moab. Eerdmans New Bible Dictionary (1962) does not even mention six of these, but here is that source's information on most of the others:ArChief city of Moab, location unknown.KirFortified city at elevation 3,370 feet, 11 miles east of the Dead Sea, and 15 miles north of the Arnon River.Dibon

Isaiah 32:1-8 — and broke the images and cut down the grove. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him there was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him, for he clave unto the Lord, and departed not from following him" (2 Kings 18:3-5). Yes, indeed, in the context of a record of other kings of Israel, Hezekiah was indeed righteous; but in the absolute sense, no. The situation is the same as it was with other Old Testament heroes who bore the designation of "righteous

Jeremiah 33:14-18 — own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." (Revelation 1:5-6, KJV). KINGS AND PRIESTS UNTO GOD These are Christians, called by the apostle Peter "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9), and of whom the prophecy declares that "They live and reign with Jesus Christ a thousand years!" (Revelation 20:6). And just who are these? They are those who participated in the "first resurrection." They are those who experienced the new birth

Mark 13 overview — Topics appearing in this chapter are: Jesus' prophecy of the destruction of the temple (Mark 13:1-2); four disciples inquire as to the time of it and the sign preceding it (Mark 13:3-4); Jesus answers their compound question with (a) a special charge to the apostles (Mark 13:5-13); (b) a specific sign of the destruction of the temple (Mark 13:14-23);

John 3:16 — Christ, but to John the apostle. This whole chapter may be read in less than five minutes; and thus there is nothing unusual or atypical in the Master's brief exhortation of Nicodemus concerning those "heavenly things" mentioned in John 3:12. To make of these short remarks some big sermon and to allege on that basis that the interview must have been terminated already is to overlook the near certainty that this interview was longer than a mere five minutes. Moreover, after Nicodemus rejected

Hebrews 1:3 — effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had made purification of sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Two credentials of the King are noted under Hebrews 1:2, and the other five are given here. 1.    "The effulgence of his glory" refers to the personal excellence of Christ, making him entitled to the kingship of the world by the very qualities of his life and character, even

Hebrews 10:22 — hypocrite can ever really draw near to God. Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). The Holy Spirit says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). Success is promised the obedient. "And thou shalt find him, when thou searchest after him with all thy heart and with all thy soul" (Deuteronomy 4:29). In the parable of the sower, the seed which produced the good fruit was that which fell

Hebrews 12:2 — own benefit, feeding his faith with the same word of God available to all, and having recourse to prayer, just like all other men, and even choosing not to know certain things, such as, for example, the day and hour of the end of the world (Matthew 24:36). In the sense, then, of having lived it to the fullest, Jesus perfected our faith, and, in addition, made the atoning sacrifice and built the institution which he called "my church" as a sanctuary for all who believe him. Who for the

Hebrews 2:3 — great majority of unredeemed people shall fail to win the crown. So great a salvation is an appropriate designation for the redemption in Christ; and the true greatness of it is apparent because of: (1) the greatness of the Saviour who achieved it; (2) the greatness of the disaster from which it rescues the sinner; (3) the greatness of the eternal reward in heaven provided by it; (4) the greatness of the Saviour's love that underlies it; (5) the greatness of the adversary who opposes it; (6) the

1 Peter 4:16 — as a Christian" has the meaning of "if any man is put to death for being a Christian," exploding in one short text the false theory that the mere profession of Christianity did not become a capital offense until the times of Domitian. (2) It identifies the divinely authorized name which was bestowed upon Christ's followers by the mouth of God himself, that is, the name Christian. (3) The chosen people, the new Israel of God, the church of Christ is commanded to glorify God in this name.

2 Samuel 7:4-7 — here. DID THE JEWISH TEMPLE HAVE GOD'S APPROVAL? The answer to this question is an unqualified negative. If it had been God's will, He would never have destroyed it twice! Jesus Christ referred to the temple as "A den of thieves and robbers" (Matthew 21:13). It was the temple crowd who engineered the crucifixion of Christ and opposed the preaching of the gospel. They were not merely thieves and robbers but liars and murderers as well. Significantly, the Book of Hebrews bypasses and ignores the Jewish