Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 16:29-33 — crucial hour for the worship of Jehovah. The king and queen of Israel would have wiped it from the face of the earth if they had been able to do so; but Elijah was able, by the blessing of God to stem the evil tide."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 341. The name of Baal was connected with several kinds of paganism, but Gates tells that "The god of Jezebel was Melkarth the Baal of Tyre. He was the kind of god who required the burning of innocent little children at the oblations upon his altar. He

1 Kings 19:5-8 — drink, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights unto Horeb, the mount of God." "The emotional experiences through which the prophet had so recently passed had left their marks upon him."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 334. Not only that, the physical strain of that 17-mile run to Jezreel and the journey to his location in the wilderness had also exhausted the prophet's strength. "The angel of Jehovah came the second time" This character in the O.T. is equivalent in

2 Kings 12:4-8 — breaches of the house. And the priests consented that they should take no more money from the people, neither repair the breaches of the house." "In current money" "Three kinds of money are mentioned here: (1) the half-shekel required by the Law (Exodus 30:13); (2) the money paid by those who had devoted themselves or made vows, a variable sum depending on age, sex, and property (Leviticus 27:2-8); and (3) the money offered in the way of free-will offerings."Albert Barnes, Kings, p. 260. The narrative

2 Kings 23:1-3 — written in this book: and all the people stood to the covenant." "And the king stood by the pillar" "This refers to one of the two great pillars set up in front of the temple by Solomon, either the Jachin or the Boaz."Arthur S. Peake's Commentary, p. 312. "All the people stood to the covenant" This seems to be a reference to the ancient custom in the making or renewing of covenants, in which the parties to it passed between the portions of the sacrifice that accompanied such ceremonies, as in the

2 Kings 5:20-27 — same character. "To the shame of all, a few continue to exploit unsuspecting persons on the pretext of giving aid to needy religious causes. Religious charlatans of the twentieth century are little different from Gehazi."Broadman Bible Commentary, Vol. 3, p. 241. Gehazi was indeed a skillful liar. His trumped up story about those two impoverished sons of the prophets who arrived just after Naaman left must have sounded like the gospel truth to Naaman. "Is it a time to receive money… garments…

1 Chronicles 7:30-40 — list of these. Also, there was a mixing of the tribes, for examples, as when, "Becher's heiress married an Ephraimite which transferred his reckoning from the tribe of Benjamin to that of Ephraim."F. C. Cook, Barnes' Commentary Series, Chronicles, p. 331. We also have place-names such as Anathoth also used as the names of persons (1 Chronicles 7:8). Cundall noted that we even have two different genealogies; "Nor is it possible to explain why two should have been given."The New Bible Commentary, Revised,

2 Chronicles 13:4-12 — Judah could not claim a victory that was solely due to God's intervention. "When Jeroboam was young and tender-hearted" This was a falsehood, for the Chronicler tells us that Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign (2 Chronicles 12:13). The falsehood here was not that of the Chronicler but of Abijah. The Chronicler accurately reported the speech as it was recorded in the commentary of the prophet Iddo. There can be no doubt that whatever portion of Jeroboam's vast army was in hearing

Deuteronomy 25:17-19 — "The Amalekites lived in the Sinai peninsula and could not have failed to know of God's will with reference to Israel, yet they manifested hostility and provoked the sentence here pronounced against them which was executed at last by Saul (1 Samuel 15:3 ff)."F. C. Cook, op. cit., p. 318. Harrison called the Amalekites, "the most savage and inhuman of the Canaanite peoples."R. K. Harrison, op. cit., p. 324. As we have pointed out literally dozens of times in this series, this additional mention of the

Deuteronomy 28:27-37 — Israel against God. Kline and others pointed out the chiastic arrangement in this paragraph, i.e., a rhetorical sequence featuring a contrast by parallelism in reverse order. Thus, we have: (a)    incurable disease (Deuteronomy 28:37); (b)    madness (Deuteronomy 28:28); (c)    continual oppression (Deuteronomy 28:29); (d)    frustration (Deuteronomy 28:30-32); (c)    continual oppression (Deuteronomy

Joshua 18:2-7 — This is supposed to mean that the commission for surveying the land was composed of 21 men, with perhaps, as Clarke suggested, an armed escort for their protection.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Joshua (New York: T. Mason and G. Lane, 1837), p. 74. Josephus, however, stated that the number of men were 10, and that Joshua sent with them some geometricians who could not easily fail of knowing the truth on account of their skill.Flavius Josephus, Life and Works of, translated by William

Joshua 22:30-34 — to his superiors in Shiloh and that he thus properly fulfilled his mission as one sent on a task that was then accomplished. It was the plan of God outlined fully in the Pentateuch that three times in the year: (1) at Passover; (2) at Pentecost; and (3) at the feast of Tabernacles, all of Israel was to report at the one and only general sanctuary for the purpose of observing those special national feasts. This, of course, was designed to cultivate and preserve the unity of all Israel. The need for

Joshua 3:14-17 — knowledge of this came in advance from a direct revelation of God. Significantly, the place identified as Adam is the precise location of the tallest of those great mud cliffs that line the banks of the Jordan. There is additional information here in Joshua 3:17. At some point in the progress of Israel over Jordan, the priests moved into the very midst of Jordan, where they stood until the passage was completed. "The priests bearing the ark first took up their stand on the brink of the river, but as they

Joshua 3:2-3 — Levitical priests here was not, as some have supposed, to distinguish between the Levitical priests and other priests who were not Levites. "It was not until much later, in the times of Jeroboam, that non-Levites were made priests."A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 43. The most likely reason for the Levitical priests, and not the Kohathites, being commissioned here to carry the ark (contrary to the normal pattern which assigned the task to the Kohathites), appears to be, as Plummer said, "That it was to emphasize

Judges 14:5-9 — propounding of the riddle, etc. "`After a while' here can mean a relatively longer period of time."Ibid., p. 784. "A young lion roared against him" "These words designate a lion between the age of a cub and a full-grown lion."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 3-C, p. 149. "He rent him as he would have rent a kid" Josephus wrote that "Samson strangled the lion,"Josephus, Antiquities, p. 164. but the statements are not contradictory, for he probably did both." The explanation of such a super-human feat was simply

Judges 2:16-23 — through the Judges were not related in any manner whatever to any merit on Israel's part. Such things as God's character, His previous promises to the patriarchs, and His purpose of providing redemption for "all the families of the earth" (Genesis 12:3) - these alone were the grounds upon which God rescued His sinful people again and again and again. Christians call this the grace of God. "By them, I may prove Israel" There appears in this verse a very important factor that entered into God's decision

Judges 4:17-22 — seekest. And he came unto her; and behold Sisera lay dead, and the tent-pin was in his temples" "And she covered him with a rug" "This should be rendered, `with the coverlet,' such as was always at hand in the nomad tent."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 3-C, p. 39. "The tent-pin… and a hammer" It is said that the business of pitching and striking the tent was usually assigned to the women among the nomads, and Jael, therefore, would have been quite skilled in the use of this equipment. "So he

Ruth 3:1-5 — passage thus, because he translated the words, "uncover his waist." Whatever Ruth did, it was indeed a daring and dangerous maneuver on her part. "By lying down at Boaz' feet, Ruth symbolized her proposal of marriage which came a moment later in Ruth 3:9."Robert L. Hubbard, Jr., p. 204.

2 Samuel 12:7-9 — discussed in the next paragraph. "I anointed you king… and delivered you out of the hand of Saul" The order of these two statements, "Indicates that the reference to David's anointing is to that of his private anointing in Bethlehem (1 Samuel 16:13), rather than to either of the two subsequent anointings (2 Samuel 2:4; 2 Samuel 5:3)."Ibid., p. 352. Note also that God here says, "I anointed," whereas it was actually Samuel who did the anointing. "Thus Samuel functioned as God's representative;

2 Samuel 13:15-19 — fully explained psychologically, as frequently exemplified still in actual life. This is striking proof that lust is not love, but simply the gratification of animal passions."C. F. Keil, Keil and Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries, op. cit., p. 399. "This wrong in sending me away is greater than the other which you did to me" Why was this true? It was because he drove her away and had the door bolted after her with the inevitable implication that, in some shameful way, Tamar had dishonored Amnon,

2 Samuel 21:7-9 — first days of harvest, at the beginning of barley harvest." "The two sons of Rizpah" This was one of Saul's concubines, concerning whom the quarrel between Abner and Mephibosheth occurred, resulting in Abner's defection to the cause of David (2 Samuel 3:7-11). It is of interest that one of her sons was named Mephibosheth. Thus, Saul had two sons with the same name. "And the five sons of Merab the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to Adriel" The corrupt Hebrew text here has Michal instead of Merab, an