Bible Commentaries

Ezra 8:24-30 — Bible Commentary, op. cit., p. 119. "Ye are holy… the vessels are holy" Ezra here heeded the prophecy of Isaiah who had prophesied the return of Israel from captivity, saying, "Cleanse yourselves, ye that bear the vessels of Jehovah." (Isaiah 52:11). As Matthew Henry stated it, "We have here an account of the particular care which Ezra took,'"Matthew Henry's Commentary, Vol, 2, p. 1057. in the handling of the treasures entrusted to him. It is always of the greatest importance that God's servants

Esther 5:5-8 — prepare for them, and I will do tomorrow as the king hath said." Why was Esther so reluctant to make her request known? Matthew Henry suggested that it might have been due: (1) "To her prudence as she sought more time to ingratiate herself with the king; (2) or that her heart failed her as she did not find sufficient courage to make it known without further time for prayer; or (3) that it was due to God's overruling providence which would use the intervening time prior to that second banquet to make the

Job 17:3-5 — pointed out in Job 17:5. "He that denounceth his friends for a prey" It is not clear exactly what particular sin against Job is meant by this; but whatever it was, a severe penalty would overtake them, exactly the same penalty mentioned above in Job 17:2 (Deuteronomy 19:15 ff). "This verse (Job 17:5), as translated here, is a threat to Job's friends that their denunciations of him will be punished by the sufferings of their children."Arthur S. Peake, A Commentary on the Bible (London: T. C. and E. C.

Psalms 119:153-160 — STROPHE 20 HOPE IN GOD'S LAW SUPPORTS PRAYER FOR SALVATION FROM ENEMIES Resh "Consider mine affliction, and deliver me; Plead thou my cause, and redeem me: Quicken me according to thy word. Salvation is far from the wicked; For they seek not thy statutes. Great

Psalms 17:13-15 — deliver David out of his murderous hands. Ash has pointed out the difficulties of determining the exact meaning here. (1) One way of understanding it is that the wicked indeed have many precious blessings but not the ultimate blessing of Psalms 17:15. (2) Another interpretation refers God's "filling the belly of the wicked" with his treasures to God's punishing judgment upon the wicked.Anthony L. Ash, op. cit., p. 78. The context would seem to favor the latter view. Kidner paraphrased the more likely

Psalms 34:11-14 — best knowledge of all; it is better than knowing all of the sciences, all of the arts, and all of the secrets of making war. Today, many a learned man is simply an ignoramus unless he also knows the Lord. "What man is he that desireth life" (Psalms 34:12)? David's method of teaching here follows the classical pattern of throwing out a question and then providing the answer. "This method was a habit with David."F. Delitzsch, Vol. p. 411. We have already encountered it in Psalms 15, Psalms 24, and Psalms

Psalms 37:8-11 — mankind, which is concurrently extensive with the Christian dispensation is also but "a little time." The Lord has told us through the apostle John, that "The devil has great wrath (against mankind), knowing that he hath but a short time" (Revelation 12:12). "And he shall not be" The marginal reading is that, "It shall not be," meaning that the place of the wicked shall not be found. Without this change, the meaning is simply that, "He (the wicked) shall not be found in his place." "They shall inherit

Psalms 68:4-6 — deserts" This mighty one who rides through the deserts is God. "The Canaanite pagans called their deity Baal, `the rider of the clouds'; and the psalmist here may have borrowed the term and purged it to show that Yahweh and not Baal rules."Ibid., p. 224. "His name is Jehovah" As the marginal reading indicates, the word here is an abbreviated form of the name Jehovah, i.e., [~Yah]. It is repeated here in Psalms 68:18 and also occurs in Exodus 15:2 and Isaiah 26:4. "In his holy habitation" This expression

Song of Solomon 1:1 — "The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's." It is stated in 1 Kings 4:32 that Solomon wrote a thousand and five songs; yet only one of them is found in the Bible; and through the ages there have often been questions as to whether or not this one really belongs in the Canon. Most of the interpretations (especially the allegorical

Isaiah 10:15-19 — permission; and that all the while they were hastening to the day when they also would be severely punished by the Lord. The words here have the force of saying, "How can Assyria, being but an instrument of God, exalt himself against Jehovah?"Ibid., p. 423. "Like the burning of fire" This is thought by scholars to refer to a terrible sickness such as a very high fever. Peake called it a wasting disease;Arthur S. Peake, Peake's Commentary Series, p. 444. and Kidner identified the two metaphors here as,

Isaiah 64:10-12 — very sore?" "Thy holy cities" Only Jerusalem was ordinarily honored with the title of "Holy City"; but here the term is extended to include all the cities of Judah. This is not out of keeping with the rest of the Old Testament, because in Zechariah 2:12, the whole land of Judah is called the Holy Land. "Our beautiful house (the Temple) is burned with fire" As Hailey noted, believers in the multiple authorship of Isaiah, "Ascribe this portion of the book to the times after the exile,"Homer Hailey,

Jeremiah 10:12-16 — Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Jehovah of hosts is his name." "Who made… established… stretched out" The three things that entered into the Creator's preparing a home for his human creation are listed here: (1) he made the earth; (2) he prepared and fitted it to be a human dwelling place; and (3) he protected it from cosmic damage by such things as excessive radiation and falling meteorites, stretching out the heavens (the atmospheric shield) as a protection. "He maketh lightnings

Jeremiah 10:6-10 — "essentially nothing," unable either to harm or to benefit their worshippers. Although he missed the truth about Jeremiah 10:11, calling it "a gloss,"J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archeology (Grand Rapid, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972) p. 324. Thompson nevertheless made a significant contribution to the proper understanding of this passage. He wrote: "In view of many attempts to rearrange Jeremiah 10:1-25, we might ask if such is really the right procedure. It may be far better to

Jeremiah 23:23-27 — localized deity whom it is easy to avoid; he is inescapable, the immanent, transcendent, ubiquitous, omnipotent, omnipresent, and eternal God; and he has heard all the lies of the false prophets."Charles Lee Feinberg in Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press), p. 525. "That think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams" There are two things of importance here. Note that the false prophets are enemies of God and that they have a purpose, that of causing the people to forget even the name of God. There

Jeremiah 26:8-9 — took place again when the Jerusalem mob cried, "Crucify Him"! The cunning crooked priests and prophets placed in the mouth of the mob the essentials of two capital charges; (1) that Jeremiah had spoken "in the name of Jehovah" without authority, and (2) that he had prophesied the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple, both of which events they falsely claimed had been promised absolute and complete immunity from destruction by God Himself. The Law of Moses gave the death penalty as punishment

Jeremiah 41:16-18 — had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor over the land." "And they dwelt at Geruth Chimham" Little is known of this place except what is stated here, i.e., that it was near Bethlehem. The name Chimham, however, in 2 Samuel 19:37, is mentioned as the name of a man David the king rewarded for a favor done the king during the rebellion of Absalom. Chimham was the son of a very wealthy and powerful man, Barzillai, a friend of David the king. From this, it may be supposed

Ezekiel 10:1-4 — Complete Homiletic Commentary (Funk and Wagnalls), p. 111. "And he spake" The speaker here is the person enthroned, namely, God. The fire spoken of in this passage is far different from the fire of the altar. "That fire spoke of God's grace (Leviticus 6:12-13); here it speaks of the destruction of the wicked."Charles Lee Feinberg in Ezekiel (Moody Press), p. 59. Pearson noted that in Ezekiel 10:2 a singular noun is used to describe the whole complex of whirling wheels, etc., supporting the sapphire throne.Anton

Ezekiel 14:10-11 — had developed among the Israelites that God's righteousness would not allow him to destroy Jerusalem completely because of the few righteous people whom they supposed to be living there. Apparently, they had picked up this false idea from Genesis 18:32, where it is recorded that God would have spared Sodom if there could have been found as many as ten righteous people in it. Of course, Israel was wrong about this on several counts: (1) There were not any righteous people in Jerusalem. (2) Even if

Ezekiel 17:17-21 — toward Nebuchadnezzar was in reality perfidy toward Yahweh himself, whose name he had solemnly invoked when had taken the oath of allegiance to the king of Babylon."J. E. McFadyen, Peake's Commentary on the Bible (London: T.C. and E.C. Jack, Ltd., 1924),, p. 510. This certainly constituted the ultimate aggravation of Zedekiah's shameful guilt. "When Nebuchadnezzar formed that vassal treaty with Zedekiah, he was required to swear loyalty to him in the name of Jehovah. The oath may have been confirmed

Ezekiel 6:11-14 — God's punishment of Israel, but we prefer the view that they express grief, concern, and sorrow over the impending destruction. Plumptre notes that they appear to have been used to express both emotions.E. H. Plumptre in the Pulpit Commentary, pp. 102,103. "Every high hill… every green tree… every thick oak" "This verse refers to the fertility goddess of Hosea 4:13."Anton T. Pearson in Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1962), p. 716. This is exactly what Jeremiah was