Bible Commentaries

Exodus 12:4-6 — of the Son of God, the Christ. "A male a year old" Here too the Christ is typified. It was specifically foretold that the Seed of Woman should crush the serpent's head, but it was equally true that the Messiah would be a man, "a He-Man," (Revelation 12:13), his masculinity being specifically stressed by the sacred writers. A male (lamb) a year old would be in the prime of life, at the zenith of its strength, just as Christ was crucified at about age 33, the very pinnacle of earthly strength and maturity.

Exodus 9:1-7 — as one of the cattle of the Israelites dead, But the heart of Pharaoh was stubborn, and he did not let the people go." "Let my people go" This great imperative thunders again and again throughout Exodus like a mighty refrain. See Exodus 5:1; Exodus 7:2; Exodus 7:7; Exodus 7:16; Exodus 8:1; Exodus 8:20. The entire episode of the Plagues was designed to demonstrate to Pharaoh that the Israelites were not his people at all, despite the fact of his abusing and enslaving them. They belonged to a greater

Leviticus 25 overview — extensions of it are also honored. The old Israel was condemned for not observing the sabbath years, and God sent the whole nation into captivity for a period of 70 years to make up for the period of 490 years in which they had failed to observe them (2 Chronicles 36:20-21). Thus, keeping the sabbath days meant nothing unless the sabbath years were also observed. The very name "Jubilee" is of great interest. It has come to be the name of all great celebrations such as Golden Weddings, etc.; and Queen

Leviticus 9:22-24 — appeared unto all the people. And there came forth fire from before Jehovah, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat; and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces." "Aaron… blessed them" (Leviticus 9:22). Most commentators mention the famous Aaronic blessing of Numbers 6:22 ff in connection with this, and such a proposition seems reasonable enough, despite the fact of the blessing's not being given in detail just here. Certainly, the passage in the

Jeremiah 6 overview — extensive research; and we shall depart from our usual procedure by giving our own paraphrase of this tragic prophecy. True to the pattern throughout Jeremiah, the three subjects treated here, namely, (1) a description of the tragic fate of the city, (2) the character and identification of the instrument (the destroyer) God would use in the execution of his judgment against the city, and (3) a summary of the reasons why God judged Jerusalem and Judah to be worthy of the penalty about to fall upon them,

Numbers 12:1-3 — thesis that, "She was a Sudanese or Ethiopian";W. Gunther Plaut, Torah, A Modern Commentary (Philadelphia: The Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1979), p. 116. "She was the queen of Ethiopia";John Joseph Owens, Broadman Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, Numbers (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970), p. 119. "She was an Asiatic, rather than an African Cushite."Elmer Smick, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Old Testament, Vol. 1 (Chicago: Moody Press, 1962), p. 129. Midianite and Cushite are related terms,J. A.

Deuteronomy 11:1-7 — swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel: but your eyes have seen all the great work of Jehovah which he did." Critics are quick to find an anachronism in Deuteronomy 11:2, noting that it was with a PREVIOUS generation that the covenant at Horeb was made, but ALL of the people whom Moses addressed here between the ages of forty and sixty years were present at Sinai where the mountain burned with fire and God spoke to

Deuteronomy 28:15-19 — body, and the fruit of thy ground, the increase of thy cattle, and the young of thy flock. Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out." It is obvious that these five verses are the exact reverse of Deuteronomy 28:3-6. Entry into Canaan would in no sense EXEMPT Israel from the obligations of the covenant. Can it be otherwise in the kingdom of God? There is a powerful parallelism between what happened to Israel and what can and frequently does happen to members

Deuteronomy 7:6-11 — which I command thee this day to do them." "To be a people for his own possession" The Septuagint (LXX) renders this, "to be a peculiar people above all the nations that are upon the face of the earth." This is translated exactly the same way in 1 Peter 2:9. "Because the Lord loved you" (Deuteronomy 7:8). Alexander's comment on this is: "Instead of saying, he hath chosen you out of love to your fathers, as in Deuteronomy 4:37, Moses brings out in this place love to the people of Israel as the Divine

Romans 1:4 — to; but the alternative translation in the English Revised Version (1885) margin is undoubtedly correct. This difficult passage was translated "after the resurrection from the dead" by Luther, Erasmus, and others. Charles Hodge, op. cit., p. 20. Barrett translates it "after his resurrection from the dead." C. K. Barrett, op. cit., p. 20. Greathouse, however, protested such translations, writing: Literally the phrase means "resurrection of those who are dead." Paul says

Romans 10:14-15 — without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except they be sent? even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things! Two of the big words Paul had just used were "no distinction" (Romans 10:12) and "whosoever" (Romans 10:13), and these amply supported his position of extending the gospel to all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, on the same terms. We noted that this great leveling of all people before God and considering them as one

Romans 3:28 — law of faith was excluded in the previous verse. Phillips and the New English Bible both reject the RSV rendition, Phillips even going so far as to capitalize Law, thus referring it exclusively to Moses' law. Greathouse noted that: Here (in Romans 3:28) is the basis for the Protestant doctrine of sola fide, "by faith alone." William M. Greathouse, op. cit., p. 95. This great Protestant heresy came about from a stubborn failure to heed a number of surpassingly important considerations. (1)    Both

1 Corinthians 15 overview — RESURRECTION, BOTH CHRIST'S AND OURS Practically all of this chapter is devoted to teaching concerning the resurrection, Barnes giving the following outline of it: Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1949), p. 280. Numerous changes were made in this outline. I.    The dead will be raised (1 Corinthians 15:1-34). A.    The resurrection of Christ proves it (1 Corinthians 15:1-11). 1.    The Scriptures

Joshua 14:6-9 — Caleb presented his appeal, the vivid recall of events which at that time were forty-five years in the past, the appeal to Joshua as a witness of Moses' sworn word, according to Woudstra, "reflect an eye-witness account."M. H. Woudstra, op. cit., p. 228. We are here dealing with events which, of all the people on earth, only Joshua and Caleb had firsthand knowledge and recall of the things mentioned, and the only fair deduction is that in those two men alone we are compelled to find the source of

Joshua 17:14-18 — prove it by driving out the Canaanites!" In this arrogant presumption of the Josephites, "Again we have a sign of that deep undercurrent of consistency which underlies our history, and is a guarantee of its authenticity."Alfred Plummer, op. cit., p. 262. As Dummelow said, "This throws light on the character of the children of Joseph. It shows the spirit of self-aggrandizement and self-importance."J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 152. Furthermore,

Joshua 6:15-21 — PRETEND not even to see this pronoun. Adam Clarke pointed out that the very fact of Israel's being able to compass Jericho seven times in a single day, "is proof that the city was not very extensive."Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Vol. 2, Joshua (New York: T. Mason and G. Lane, 1837), p. 26. According to the size of the city given above, as 600 meters in circumference, we would have in a sevenfold encompassing of the city a total of 4,200 meters, a distance considerably less than three

Joshua 7:2-5 — who are much concerned about such things, we include here an analysis of the problem and proposed solutions as summarized by Blair.Hugh J. Blair, The New Bible Commentary, Revised, Joshua (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), pp. 240, 241. We have abbreviated and paraphrased this material from Blair: The problem is that the place scholars have chosen as the location of Ai was, according to the findings of archeologists, utterly destroyed not later than 2,500 B.C., long before

Hebrews 9:16-17 — seizing upon the alternate meaning of the word, which is "testament," he made an independent argument for the absolute necessity of Christ's death within the framework of the alternate meaning. Since Christ is the heir of all things (Hebrews 1:2), people may inherit, therefore, only if Christ died; but he did die. And think of the benefits that accrue to people in this. Lenski has a perceptive paragraph on this subject, as follows: It becomes still clearer here why Christ is called the mediator

1 Peter 3:18 — "three stands of Peter's thought about the atonement." Stephen W. Paine, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, New Testament (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 977. It is compared to the paschal lamb (1 Peter 1:19), the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 (1 Peter 1:24), and to the scapegoat (1 Peter 1:24). Suffered for sins once … "Once" is the great New Testament word from the Greek [@hapax], meaning "once for all." W. E. Vine, op. cit., p. 137 (vol. iii). It is used of: (1) Christ's

Revelation 22:17 — And he that heareth, let him say, Come. And he that is athirst, let him come: he that will, let him take the water of life freely. The Spirit and the bride say, Come … "The Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and the bride is the church (Revelation 21:2; Revelation 21:9). It is the testimony of the church empowered by the Holy Spirit." Robert H. Mounce, op. cit., p. 395. Note that there are four invitations in this verse, yet there is only one. "It is not as though the Spirit says, Come;