Bible Commentaries

Genesis 25:19-24 — Genesis (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1942), p. 701. "Nothing is more natural than that the Hebrew author intended to intimate that Rebekah inquired of God through Abraham the prophet, her father-in-law, who still survived."J. R. Dummelow, op. cit., p. 32. If the latter opinion by such scholars as Dummelow and Kalish should be allowed, then his prophecy in Genesis 25:23 should also be allowed as the final recorded words of Abraham. The function of Abraham as a prophet was evident in his promise that

Genesis 6:18 — known covenant"Thomas Whitelaw, op. cit., p. 111. that God had made with man. Willis thought it was the rainbow covenant;John T. Willis, op. cit., p. 180. and Keil's total comment was that, "With Noah, God made a covenant!"C. F. Keil, op. cit., p. 143. The necessity for this covenant derived from the fact that the promise of deliverance God had made to Eve (Genesis 3:15) was apparently about to be abrogated and canceled through the death of all mankind, as God had just announced. What about the Seed

Genesis 9:8-13 — perpetual generations. No token was given of that covenant, but the rainbow was given as the token of this. "Covenant" This word "occurs some two hundred times in the O.T."J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 15. There was a series of covenants with Abraham; two were revealed to Noah, and many were made with Israel. There is no need, therefore, to attempt an identification of one particular covenant with another. "By the waters of a flood" This is

Psalms 45 overview — OF THE LAMB (Revelation 21:9) THE HOLY CHURCH IS THE NEW JERUSALEM (; Revelation 19:9) This psalm is called, "A Royal Wedding Song,"The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 479. "The Celebration of the Marriage of a King,"J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 347. "A Nuptial Song of a King,"Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House), p. 240. "An Ode for a Royal Marriage,"The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. IV, p. 234. "The Epithalamium of Jesus Christ and the Christian Church,"Adam

Psalms 98 overview — Law of Moses, although a provisional "forgiveness" was extended to the righteous, even so, "There was a remembrance of sins year by year," due to the fact of its being impossible that, "the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin" (Hebrews 10:3-4). At the World's Fair in New York City in 1964, the Moody Institute staged an exhibit showing the marvel of forgiveness. The nearest star to our earth is four light years distant, and this means that the light we see began its journey to our earth

Deuteronomy 26 overview — at a loss to account for the peculiar construction of this chapter. Scott referred to "The two beautiful rituals here" in what he called a "hortatory conclusion."D. R. Scott, Abingdon Bible Commentary, Deuteronomy (New York: Abingdon Press, 1929), p. 337. The two confessions commanded here evoked this comment from Blair: "They appear more ancient than the Book of Deuteronomy; they formed part of the ancient confessional liturgy of Israel, perhaps that of the Tabernacle, before the construction of

Romans 10:11 — more complex than taking him at his word. The "confession with the mouth" is not a different something added to faith; it is its issue, its manifestation. H. C. G. Moule, The Epistle to the Romans (London: Pickering and Inglis, Ltd.), p. 273. But, of course, "confession with the mouth" is something different from faith and is extravagantly more than enough to prevent its being dismissed, as Moule dismissed it, as a "disquieting surmise." Disquieting surmise indeed! If

Romans 14:4 — discussing. How could anyone beware of false prophets, unless we first judge them to be false prophets? (Matthew 7:15). And we must judge a man to be an evil worker, or we could not obey the command to "beware of evil workers" (Philippians 3:2). Neither could we obey Paul's injunction (Romans 16:17-18) without judging which men belong to the class he mentions. Robertson L. Whiteside, A New Commentary on the Epistle of Paul to Saints in Rome (Denton, Texas: Miss Inys Whiteside, 1945), p.

Romans 15:13 — stand at the foot of the cross, etc., and this is only another way of saying that one must accept and obey God's terms of justification, entering the body of Christ; for it is "in Christ" that all spiritual blessings are bestowed (Ephesians 1:3); and let none think to receive them by any other means than that of being found "in him." Tragically, this expression which occurs no less than 169 times in Paul's writings seems to have gone through many minds without having made any impression

2 Corinthians 2:5 — hath caused sorrow, he hath caused sorrow, not to me, but in part (that I press not too heavily) to you all. The traditional interpretation of this makes it a reference to the incestuous person of 1 Corinthians 5:1-8. McGarvey saw in 2 Corinthians 2:3-5 above a plain hint of the connection between the two passages, since, he said, "By referring to 1 Corinthians 4:21; 1 Corinthians 5:1, it will be seen that the threat of correction at his coming and the case of the incestuous person were twin

2 Corinthians 4:4 — the image of God, should not dawn upon them. In whom … Macknight translated this "by whom" and referred it to intellectual sinners in high places whom the devil uses as instruments in blinding yet others. James Macknight, op. cit., p. 350. SATAN, GOD OF THIS WORLD The god of this world … "Satan is not here called the god of the COSMOS, but god of THIS AGE." F. W. Farrar, op. cit., p. 89. Nevertheless, as Filson said, "Christ has broken the grip of Satan on mankind,

Joshua 11 overview — over-all view, the author of this book bases the conquest upon three, and only three great campaigns: (1)    the fall of Jericho and the destruction of Ai; (2)    the defeat of the coalition under Adonizedek; and (3)    the defeat of the coalition led by Jabin. Afterward, all of the opposition encountered by Israel was of a merely local nature. After the events of this chapter, the whole land of Palestine lay open to Israel, and there was no

Joshua 20 overview — THE CITIES OF REFUGE The cities of refuge have already been discussed in Numbers 35:9-33, in Deuteronomy 4:41-43, and in Deuteronomy 19. About the only information given in this chapter is that Joshua did as he was commanded and named the additional cities west of Jordan, enumerating the names of those and repeating the names given

Colossians 4:10-11 — fellow-prisoner." He is mentioned again in Philemon 1:24. Mark, the cousin of Barnabas … For a somewhat extensive discussion of this character, author of the gospel that bears his name, and a principal in the dispute between Paul and Barnabas (Acts 15:37 ff) due to his having deserted the missionaries in Perga of Pamphylia (Acts 13:3), please see (in this series of commentaries) the introduction to the Gospel of Mark. Touching whom ye received commandments … This, according to Dummelow, refers

2 Peter 2:1 — outstanding teachings in the Petrine writings is the correspondence between the Old and the New Israel, an analogy that he had surely learned from the Lord himself. Jesus himself had flatly predicted the same thing Peter prophesied here (Matthew 7:15-23). A number of Old Testament references to the false prophets of the Old Israel were cited by Barclay, thus: William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 314. The false prophets said, Peace, Peace, when

2 Peter 3:2 — Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), p. 125. Only the advocates of a bankrupt cause would resort to an argument like that, especially in view of the facts that Luke mentioned "the holy prophets" (Luke 1:70), as did Peter also (Acts 3:21). The commandment of the Lord and Saviour … This is very significant as showing that Peter had no reference whatever to some single promise of the Lord, such as the Second Advent, but to the "commandment," a comprehensive term here

1 John 2:16 — to allow that any correspondence of this passage with the temptations of Eve and of Christ is intended; but David Smith did not hesitate to affirm that, "Here is a summary of all possible sins, as exemplified in the temptations of Eve (Genesis 3:1-6), and of our Lord (Matthew 4:1-11)."David Smith, op. cit., p. 178. Lust of the flesh … All temptations which have their roots in appetites and needs of the body are included in this; but the appetites of the body are not in themselves

Revelation 15 overview — pointed out the remarkable resemblances between the seals, trumpets, and bowls. All are judgments of God; the areas affected by them are similar, especially in the trumpets and bowls sequences. Thus, in the trumpet series: (1) the earth; (2) the sea; (3) the rivers; (4) the sun; (5) the abyss, or throne of the beast; (6) the Euphrates; and (7) the final judgment are exactly the same as the things mentioned in the bowl sequence, and in the same order. Hendriksen thoroughly developed these parallels.

Revelation 22:18-19 — prophecy" (Revelation 22:19) means the entire Bible. There is the additional fact that the prohibition against adding to or taking from, is here identical with the warning in the Old Testament to the same effect (Deuteronomy 4:2; Deuteronomy 12:32). John was not conscious merely of writing Scripture, but of writing the final Scripture. The solemn prohibitions here are not directed solely against copyists, but against all perverters of sacred truth. Isbon T. Beckwith, op. cit., p. 779. We view

Revelation 3:5 — garments; and I will in no wise blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. Shall be arrayed with me in white … This, of course, is to be taken in close connection with Revelation 3:4. Rather than finding some reference in this to customs of pagan worshippers, it is better to understand the figurative meaning of it as similar to that mentioned by Adam Clarke: The great council of Israel sat and judged the priests. If in a priest