Bible Commentaries

Ezra 9:1-2 — correct the situation did not take place until the twentieth day of the ninth month (Ezra 10:9), the critical scholars at once account for this "gap," as they call it, by supposing that, "The story of the reading of the law and its aftermath (Nehemiah 7:73 b-9:37) should be inserted into the Book of Ezra, between Ezra 8 and Ezra 9."Ibid. As noted above, we believe in the integrity and authenticity of both Ezra and Nehemiah; and we do not accept the assumed authority of 20th century scholars to revise

Job 27:1-7 — JOB'S FINAL STATEMENT (Job 27-31): JOB AGAIN SPEAKS OF HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS "And Job again took up his parable, and said, As God liveth who hath taken away my right, And the Almighty who hath vexed my soul (For my life is yet whole in me, And the Spirit of God is in my nostrils); Surely

Job 34:1-9 — God." "Hear my words, ye wise men" The break at the beginning of this chapter means that Job had completely ignored Elihu, and that here Elihu turned to address the crowd that is imagined to have assembled to hear the speeches.Matthew Henry's Commentary, Vol. 3, p. 184. Kelly pointed out that the crowd of onlookers here is "imagined,"Layman's Bible Commentary, op. cit., p. 134. there being no reference whatever to it in the text. However, the idea that the wise men here are a different group from the three

Psalms 19:1-4 — day uttereth speech, And night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language; Their voice is not heard Their line is gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world." We cannot accept this rendition of Psalms 19:3, to the effect, as Rawlinson put it, that, "There is no speech; there are no words; their voice is not heard."G. Rawlinson in The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 129. The King James Version here has the following: "There is no speech nor language where

Psalms 24:1-2 — 24:2). This indicates that God not only created the earth and everything in it, and all who dwell in it, but that he is the sustainer of the entire creation continually. God through Christ "Upholds all things through the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3). Why do the particles of an atom revolve around the nucleus at the speed of light for countless thousands of years without ever slowing down? Why do the stars and satellites of all the galaxies move at a speed almost incomprehensible throughout eons

Psalms 35:1-10 — the "chaff" to be burned up, which was the usual way of disposing of it, but that it be "driven away." He did not pray that his enemies would be killed but that they would fall into the net in a pit they had prepared for him. "The destruction" (Psalms 35:8) is not a reference to the destruction of his enemies, but to the destruction of their purpose of killing David. Note that it is the destruction `with,' not `of' them. There is no prayer here for the slaughter of his foes, but for God to "stop the

Psalms 4:1-2 — after falsehood? (Selah)" Regarding the inscription, Matthew Henry observed that in the Old Testament, "All of the singing was done by the choristers, not by the people; but the New Testament appoints all Christians to sing (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16)."Matthew Henry, On the Old Testament (Fleming H. Revell Company), p. 251. We also should point out that the use of instruments of music by the Jews constitutes no authority whatever for Christian use of them in the worship of God. "God of my righteousness."

Proverbs 1:20-33 — me shall dwell securely, And shall be quiet without fear of evil." "I will pour out my spirit upon you" Jamieson suggested that there is a reference here to the spirit of Christ, that is, the Holy Spirit;Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary, p. 391 and there are a number of considerations that support this view. (1) Paul has told us that Christ is indeed "our wisdom" (1 Corinthians 1:30); and (2) the Hebrew word here indicating the personification of Wisdom is "a plural noun,"Barnes' Notes on

Proverbs 5:9-14 — well-nigh in all evil In the midst of the assembly and congregation." "The evil results of relations with the strange woman fall into three divisions. (1) Loss of wealth and position (Proverbs 5:9 f), (2) physical deterioration (Proverbs 5:11), and (3) certain legal penalties."Arthur S. Peake, A Commentary on the Bible (London: T. C. and E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1924), p. 400. The thrust of the whole passage is that unlawful and promiscuous sex destroys the participant socially, financially, morally, and

Isaiah 18:7 — from pagan sources; but the opposite is always true. Besides that, in all probability, what is prophesied here is the conversion of many Ethiopians in the Messianic era, as frequently prophesied, not only here, but throughout the Bible. See Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 60-62; Psalms 68:31; Psalms 87:4, and Romans 15:16. GOD'S PROOF OF HIS PROPHECIES In this chapter we have another example of how God's prophecies are "proved" by their very presentation, a phenomenon this writer first noticed in

Isaiah 46:3-4 — temptation to join up with the victors, idolatry and all. Kelley was correct in seeing the last clause of Isaiah 46:4 as a promise that, "doubtless refers to their delivery from exile."Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1971), p. 321. It should be noted here that the Jews would never have received with any confidence a promise like this from some "Unknown Isaiah." Such a person could have had no influence whatever. On the other hand, Isaiah, known to all of them, being a relative

Isaiah 48:16 — his Spirit'? in which, as the passage is ambiguous, is it the Father and the Holy Spirit who hath sent Jesus; or the Father who hath sent both Christ and the Holy Spirit? The latter is the true interpretation."Robert T. Lowth, Isaiah with Notes, p. 346. The Father sent Jesus when he was born in Bethlehem; and the Father sent the Holy Spirit upon the occasion of the baptism of Christ (Matthew 3:16). Thus, as Kidner put it, "This is a glimpse from afar of the Trinity."The New Bible Commentary, Revised,

Isaiah 57:14-18 — self-righteousness of the Jews were the stumbling-blocks in the way of their acknowledging Christ."Ibid. "I will not contend forever" Such words as these carry a sense of terrible finality and doom. These are almost the same words as those in Genesis 6:3, "My Spirit will not always contend with man." The meaning is that, since God has given man the freedom of choice, God will not force him to be obedient. The words in Genesis preceded the Great Deluge; and the words here preceded the awful captivity

Isaiah 57:5-8 — follow. "Among the smooth stones of the valley" "Smooth stones, rounded by water-action were among the objects worshipped by many Semitic peoples; and they were worshipped with libations of wine and oil from their worshippers."Pulpit Commentary, Vol. II, p. 356. Some believe that the statues of the idol Molech were constructed of such smooth stones, that being the reason for the proximity of "slaying the children" (by which Molech was worshipped) and the "smooth stones of the valley" in adjacent Isaiah 57:5-6,

Isaiah 60:19-22 — generation. One thing stands out starkly enough, "Only the righteous, i.e., only those who are the shoot of God's planting, and the work of his hands will participate in Zion's glorious future."Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1971), p. 361. Isaiah 60:21 emphasizes this truth. It is clear enough that Revelation 21 is based upon the promises of this chapter; and there also we read the identity of the Zion mentioned here. It is the New Jerusalem; it is The Bride, the Lamb's Wife; it is

Jeremiah 11:14-17 — no further intercessory prayer. Our minds should be at one with God in all that he is doing, even in the rejection of the reprobate."Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary, p. 518. That this is really true appears in God's command to Moses (Exodus 32:10), also in God's forbidding Samuel to grieve any longer for Saul (1 Samuel 16:1). This is now the second time that God has forbidden Jeremiah to pray any more for the apostate nation (Jeremiah 7:16); and this admonition is still applicable to God's

Jeremiah 19:3-5 — sons in the fire as burnt-offerings to Baal"; and that identifies the particular Baal here as the horrible Molech. Keil enumerated the sins of Israel here as follows: "(1) their public practice of idolatry; (2) judicial murder of the innocents; and (3) burning their own children as sacrifices to Molech."C. F. Keil, Keil-Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 308. "Hear ye… O kings of Judah" "The message was not merely to the reigning king,

Jeremiah 2:4-8 — us that the word "worthlessness," through a play on words (paronomasia) is a reference to Baal. He also stated that, in those Near Eastern international treaties, `To go after' (or walk after) meant to serve as a vassal."R. K. Harrison, Jeremiah, p. 53. In Israel's pursuit of worthlessness in their going after Baal, they had themselves become worthless, because men invariably become like what they love and worship. This immortal truth was allegorized by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his Legend of the Great

Jeremiah 24:1-3 — figs set before the temple" The great lesson here, which is missed by many of the commentators, has nothing whatever to do with "first-fruits"C. F. Keil, Keil-Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 368. The lesson that thunders from the parable is that "proximity to the temple" is no sign whatever of the holiness or acceptability of the people living in the vicinity of the Jewish temple. The people in Jerusalem were close to the temple, all right,

Jeremiah 34:8-10 — SLAVES FREED AND PROMPTLY ENSLAVED AGAIN (Jeremiah 34:8-22) "The word that came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people that were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them; that every man should let his man-servant, and every man his maid-servant,