Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 1:1-4 — acceptable medical prescription even down to the Middle Ages."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 309. "It was prescribed by a Jewish physician for Frederick Barbarossa; and it is a practice still followed in the East."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 5a, p. 2. "The Shunammite" "Abishag was from a place called Shunem (modern Solem) on the western slope of the hill of Moreh, northwest of Jezreel, in the territory of Issachar (Joshua 19:18)."Broadman Bible Commentary, p. 157. "The king knew her not" This means

2 Kings 16:7-9 — their common Assyrian overlord. Ahaz called for help from Assyria, buying it with great treasure, and was saved from his immediate enemies. Damascus was captured, its people deported, and their king Rezin killed."The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 3, p. 273. "This was the end of Syrian Damascus as a power.International Critical Commentary, op. cit., p. 459. This destruction of Damascus had been prophesied by Amos (Amos 1:3-5). "The word translated `present' in 2 Kings 16:8 is the same word also rendered

2 Kings 21:7-9 — he placed that lust-exciting emblem of Astarte, which was a most horrible profanation of all true religion, in the very Holy of Holies itself, turning the truth and grace of God into lasciviousness (Judges 1:4)."The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 422. Keil pointed out that the placement of that image, "Is here mentioned as the very worst,"C. F. Keil, Keil and Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries, Vol. 3b, p. 47.0. of the sins of Manasseh. "Manasseh seduced them to do… evil more than did

2 Kings 4:38-41 — not eat thereof, But he said, Then bring meal. And he cast it into the pot; and he said, Pour out for the people, that they may eat. And there was no harm in the pot." "There was a dearth in the land" "This may well be the same drought mentioned in 2 Kings 8:1."The Interpreter's Bible, op. cit., p. 209. Stigers identified these wild gourds as, "Wild cucumbers, egg-shaped gourds having a bitter taste, and producing violent diarrhea when eaten, or even death."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p.

2 Kings 6:8-13 — saying, Behold, he is in Dothan." The war mentioned here was not an all-out operation, but a kind of guerilla attack carried out by bands of soldiers making sudden forays into Israel, striking first in one place and then in another. This is evident from 2 Kings 6:23. "He saved himself there, not once, nor twice" These words indicate that there were multiple occasions (a half dozen or more), upon which the band of Syrians had laid a careful ambush against Israel, only to have it completely frustrated

2 Kings 8:20-24 — reign of Jehoshaphat, but this revolt against Joram resulted in their independence. "They remained from henceforth a separate and independent nation; and the kings of Edom are often mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions."Albert Barnes, op. cit., p. 249. "The text of 2 Kings 8:21 here is confused";The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 460. but what seems to be reported here is a disastrous route of Joram's army and his being surrounded by the Edomite troops. "Jehoram with his chariots was able to

2 Chronicles 1:14-17 — recent times. There were many of these `chariot cities'; and, "At Megiddo, southeast of Mount Carmel, has been excavated the ruins of a single extensive stone stable capable of housing about four hundred horses."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 392. "This passage (2 Chronicles 1:14-17) is very nearly identical with 1 Kings 10:26-29."Albert Barnes, op. cit., p. 371.

2 Chronicles 17:1-6 — places and the Asherim out of Judah." So far, so good. Jehoshaphat, like some others of the kings of Judah, began very well, receiving as their reward the blessing of the Lord and the prosperity of the people; but his alliance with Ahab (described in 2 Chronicles 18) would cast a dark shadow over what is written here. "(He) walked not after the doings of Israel" The contempt in which the author of Chronicles held the Northern Israel appears in a clause like this. The outstanding feature of Chronicles

2 Chronicles 2:17-18 — hewers in the mountains, and three thousand and six hundred overseers to set the people at work." "After the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them" This means that Solomon's numbering was sinful exactly as was David's (1 Chronicles 21:1-17). There is no device by which this paragraph could be construed as the Chronicler's compliment to king Solomon. In fact, right here we have the clue to what was wrong with David's `numbering Israel' (1 Chronicles 22:2 f). Both he and Solomon were

2 Chronicles 29:31-36 — be, "A reflection of the Chronicler's personal bias,"International Critical Commentary, op. cit., p. 469. is unacceptable. The truth of what he said had already been demonstrated before all Israel in the subservience of the priest Urijah to king Ahaz (2 Kings 16:16). "For the thing was done suddenly" "This change from apostasy to loyalty to Jehovah took place almost immediately upon Hezekiah's accession to the throne. It was the result of a common impulse both of the king and of the people, apparently

2 Chronicles 9:1-8 — God: because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore made he thee king over them, to do justice and righteousness." (We have thoroughly discussed this visit of the queen of Sheba to Solomon in our Commentary on First Kings, pp. 129-137; and there is little that we wish to add here.) To summarize: (1) Sheba was most likely that Ethiopia over which Haile Selassie was the ruler during this century. (2) Solomon evidently was Haile Selassie's ancestor through this Ethiopian queen.

Ezra 6:16-18 — the more formal term children of Israel, was not only appropriate, it was required. As Hamrick noted, "This story indicates that there was a conscious attempt to imitate the ceremony associated with the dedication of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 8, and 2 Chronicles 5-7)."Ibid. However, the relative poverty of the people made it impossible to duplicate it. "Solomon offered over two hundred times as many oxen and sheep at the dedication of his temple as were offered on this occasion (1 Kings 8:63)."Wycliffe

Nehemiah 7:2 — are named. However, Bowman, in The Interpreter's Bible, wrote that, "Hanani and Hananiah are identical names, the former an abbreviation of the latter; and, obviously, the and joining the two names is explicative."The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 3, p. 724. Nehemiah's use of the singular pronoun he in the final clause of the verse supports Bowman's view. Despite this, we are unwilling to set aside the plain statements in the ASV and the RSV denoting two persons, not merely one. "He put his brother Hanani,

Job 10:1-7 — of his complaints; but Job here affirmed his right to speak of his wretchedness. "I will say unto God, Do not condemn me" Job still trusted God to do the right thing, even as Abraham had said, "Shall not the God of all the earth do right" (Genesis 18:25)? "That thou inquirest after mine iniquity" In these lines Job tacitly admits his sin and iniquity, insisting only that he does not know what it is, and pleading with God to, "Show me wherefore thou contendest with me" (Job 10:2). There was a marvelous

Job 7:11-16 — me with dreams, And terrifiest me through visions: So that my soul chooseth strangling, And death rather than these my bones. I loathe my life; I would not live alway: Let me alone, for my days are vanity." The recurrence of the word `thou' (Job 7:12; Job 7:14) indicates that we have a prayer here in which Job pours out the bitterness of his complaint to God Himself. The terrible dreams and nightmares that came to Job are thought by some to have been characteristic of the disease of Elephantiasis.

1 Samuel 20:12-17 — from the face of the earth." Jonathan exacted from David a solemn oath that, "after Jonathan's death," and after David's coming to the throne, that David would remember the house of Jonathan with kindness. David honored his promise here as revealed in 2 Samuel 21:17. "If I am still alive, show me the loyal love of the Lord, that I may not die" In these words it is clear that Jonathan recognized the grave danger to himself when God would take vengeance upon all of David's enemies. Jonathan, through

1 Samuel 9:15-17 — exactly how he did so is not revealed. As DeHoff said, "In view of the fact that men have almost unlimited means of communication, it is a little ridiculous for critics to argue about how God communicated with Samuel."George DeHoff's Commentary, Vol. 2, p. 136. "The Lord revealed to Samuel" "The Hebrew words from which this statement comes is literally, had uncovered his ear, a figure of speech said to be derived from the practice of one's pushing aside another's hair or the corner of his turban to

2 Samuel 13:34-36 — wept very bitterly." Amnon, the heir apparent to David's throne, had been shamefully murdered by one of David's own sons; and the words of Nathan must have once more rung in David's ears, "Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house" (2 Samuel 12:10). Furthermore, David could not have missed the similarity between Absalom's murder of Amnon and his own murder of Uriah. Both David and Absalom procured the help of others to bring about the murder. The great difference was that Uriah did

2 Samuel 17:24-26 — a man named Ithra the Ishmaelite who had married Abigal the daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah, Joab's mother" "Both Abigal and Zeruriah were David's sisters, daughters of Jesse; and the only probable way of reconciling this with 1 Chronicles 2:16-17 is to suppose that Nahash was Jesse's wife. If Zeruiah and Abigal were David's sisters only by the mother, then Nahash might be the name of her first husband."Albert Barnes, op. cit., p. 108. There are many problems of this nature in the O.T.

2 Samuel 2:29-32 — cit., p. 40. "Through the Arabah" "This is the name given to the broad floor of the great valley through which there flows the Jordan river. The valley lies generally some three thousand feet below the mountains of Israel."The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 2, p. 1054.