Bible Commentaries

Jeremiah 36:11-19 — by Baruch. The sympathy of these mighty princes toward Baruch and Jeremiah is evident in a number of incidentals: (1) they invited him to "sit," thus assuming the position of a teacher; (2) they questioned him about the manner of the dictation; and (3) they warned him to hide both himself and Jeremiah from the wrath of the king, which they had every right to anticipate. The implication in this is that, they would not have rushed their appearance before Jehoiachim, but would, in all probability, have

Jeremiah 38:24-28 — imprisonment, and not at the end of the third. One may only marvel at the genius of Zedekiah who arranged this skillful deception of the crooked princes who were his bitterest enemies. Keil and many other commentators have pointed out that Jeremiah 38:28 here actually belongs to Jeremiah 39, and "forms the introductory sentence of the passage ending in Jeremiah 39:3."C. F. Keil, Keil-Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 116.

Ezekiel 16:44-48 — very little thing, thou wast more corrupt than they in all thy ways. As I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters." "Hittite… Amorite" See under Ezekiel 16:3, above, for discussion of this. The designation of these as the parents of Israel must be understood spiritually. As Matthew Henry explained it, "The Jews were as much like the Canaanites as if they had been the literal children of them."Matthew Henry

Ezekiel 22:1-5 — strictest sense, is the "judge" of all men. "The bloody city" "This epithet applied here to Jerusalem equates the capital of the Once Chosen People with Nineveh, that infamous whore, the savage lion's den, and corrupt center of heathen abominations,"WE, p. 308. which God also designated with this same eloquent word of shameful guilt (Nahum 3:1), "the bloody city." Note that Jerusalem has already forfeited all of her glorious names, such as "faithful city, and beloved city." "That her time may come" "This

Ezekiel 24:1-5 — Peter 1:21)." Feinberg accurately observed that, "One purpose for this attention to the exact date, was in order for the nations to have written, tangible proof of the accuracy of Ezekiel's prophecies."Charles Lee Feinberg in Ezekiel (Moody Press), p. 137. Analogies clearly visible in this parable: the caldron is the city; the flesh in it is the people; the immense fire under it is the fire of war; the setting of the caldron on the fire is the beginning of the siege; the rust in the pot (introduced

Ezekiel 24:25-27 — the very beginning of Ezekiel's ministry, God had, except in the matter of specific prophecies which he was commanded to deliver, forbidden Ezekiel to speak freely to the people; but all of that would be changed at the end of the siege. (See Ezekiel 3:22-27). "The fall of Jerusalem would release Ezekiel from all restrictions."International Critical Commentary, p. 2172. Howie seemed to believe that the removal of such restrictions should have led immediately to his prophecies of hope and restoration;

Daniel 10:4-9 — pre-incarnate appearance of the Eternal Son."Edward J. Young, The New Bible Commentary, Revised, Daniel (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 700. As Keil said, "This understanding is placed beyond doubt by a Comparison with Revelation 1:13, where John saw the glorified Christ, who is there described by a name definitely referring to Daniel 7:13."C. F. Keil, Commentary on the Old Testament by Keil and Delitzsch (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 410. As for the reason

Hosea 14:3 — Christian religion of any name or creed ever sanctioned idolatry; and even the consecration of sacred images has vanished from the earth wherever true Christianity abounds. The lapses of the Medieval Church in this particular do not deny the general truth. (3)    The mercy to the fatherless as a hallmark of the New Covenant has been fulfilled in two ways. Never before in the world's history has so much time, money, and thoughtful care been expended upon behalf of orphan children as by

Hosea 5:1 — illegitimate, not belonging to the tribe of Levi, from which alone it was lawful for God's priests to be ordained; (2) imported from Sidon by Jezebel, enemies of God by definition, and devoted utterly to the old Bull-god of the Sidonians and Canaanites; and (3) constantly engaged in the promulgation of the licentious rites deeply rooted in their inherent paganism. "The snare… and the net" Not much is known of Mizpah and Tabor, except that both were wooded mountain tops, and therefore, in all probability

Hosea 7:7 — usage of the oven metaphor, as follows: (1) They are like the banked fire ready to flare up at the slightest chance, Hosea 7:4. (2) They were an oven fire, waiting while preparations are being completed, using the occasion to plan new evil, Hosea 7:6. (3) They "are hot as an oven"; their evil passions are a vicious, burning lust. Commenting on this multiple use of such a figure of speech, McKeating wrote: "Hosea's exploitation of metaphor is masterful, though the Hebrew technique of using the same metaphor,

Joel 1:13-14 — This interpretation of great natural calamities and disasters is not superstitious, at all, but Biblical. God is still concerned with the behavior of his human creation; and, beginning with the primeval curse upon the ground for Adam's sake (Genesis 3:17-19), the Lord has continually ordered the affairs of his world in such a manner as to prevent man's becoming too complacent and comfortable in his earthly environment. It is this basic fact which underlies this appeal to the priests to stir up the

Zephaniah 1:18 — conducted upon the basis or what any man has, but upon the basis of what he is, and whether or not he loves and serves God. "Whole land shall be devoured by fire" The apostle Peter elaborated this description of the earth's destruction by fire in 2 Peter 3:10-13, a thing that the apostle most surely would not have done without the certain knowledge that what he wrote was in full harmony with the will and teachings of the Saviour of all men. "End… of all them that dwell in the land" Our version

Malachi 3:16 — course. God does not need a literal book, or anyone to write in it. The thought here is quite similar to that in passages which mention the "book of Life." The thought of God's keeping his records in a book occurs in several Old Testament passages (Exodus 32:32-33; Psalms 69:28; Psalms 86:6; and Daniel 12:1). "But only Malachi calls it a book of remembrance."Joyce G. Baldwin, op. cit., p. 249. Keil thought the metaphor here is founded, "On the custom of the Persians, of having the names of those who deserved

Matthew 15:5-6 — plausibility, riding the crest of some unusual occasion, some exceptional circumstance, or emergency. (2)    It is repeated and moves into a place of acceptance as something allowed, occasionally at first, invariably afterwards. (3)    It becomes appreciated as an "aid" to the worship, something helpful. (4)    Eventually, it is stressed and emphasized to the detriment of what it is supposed to "aid." (5)    It

Matthew 26:17 — passover? Just what day of the week this was could never be known with positive certainty unless the exact year of the crucifixion could be determined. The first day of unleavened bread was the day before the preparation for the passover, namely the 13th of Nisan; and whether the Lord ate his last meal with the disciples on Wednesday or Thursday does not really matter. We do know that, in any case, the day on which he was crucified corresponded to the day the paschal lambs were slain, Christ thus

Matthew 3:7 — alms to be seen of men (Matthew 6:5); (2) The Wait-a-Little Pharisee who always suggested something else to do first. Of this type was the man who when asked to follow Christ said, "Suffer me first to go and bury my father" (Luke 9:59-60); (3) The Bruised Pharisee who was too pious to look upon a woman and who shut his eyes when one approached, which caused him to stumble into a wall and be bruised or cut; (4) The Pestle and Mortar Pharisee who walked with his head down in mock humility,

Mark 1:9-11 — am well pleased. Mark's account of the baptism of Jesus gives far less detail than Matthew, omitting the reluctance of John to baptize him and Jesus' statement of his purpose in it. Jesus was about thirty years of age when this event occurred (Luke 3:23). In the Jordan … The baptism administered by John, and later that by the apostles, required that it be done "in" water, not merely "with" water, showing that immersion was the action called baptism. And straightway coming

Mark 10:45 — it and actually demanding it, this verse is secure against all efforts to make a gloss out of it, malignant skepticism having assailed it repeatedly, its authenticity having "been denied on various grounds."C. E. B. Cranfield, op. cit., p. 343. See Cranfield for a thorough and most convincing refutation of skeptical fulminations against this text. We need not concern ourselves with denials regarding this verse, since they are not founded upon logical premises nor supported by any true

Mark 4:30-32 — all seeds … That certain seeds may be smaller than a mustard seed is no problem. Hyperbolic language was frequently employed then, as throughout history, in order to stress a point. Matthew's "all Judaea" is hyperbole. Compare Matthew 3:5 and Luke 7:30. Greater than all herbs … Many commentators stress the great size of the mature mustard tree, which in some parts of the world reaches to a height of more than twenty feet. Bickersteth reported such large specimens "on the

Mark 5:2 — proper. CONCERNING DEMON POSSESSION Trench called this miracle "the most important, and, in many respects, the most perplexing of all the cures of demoniacs"; Richard C. Trench, Notes on the Miracles (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1943), p. 162. and this is an appropriate place to give attention to this phenomenon which is mentioned in all the gospels. Demon possession may not be identified merely as mental disorders, or various kinds of sickness, because a differentiation between