Bible Commentaries

Genesis 22:11-12 — hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." "The angel of Jehovah" "The angel of the Lord is the Lord himself, as the context shows (Genesis 22:11-12; Genesis 22:15-18; Genesis 18:2; Genesis 18:22; Genesis 19:1)."John T. Willis, op. cit., p. 293. Again and again, this glorious person appears throughout the Scriptures, as notably also in the visions of Zechariah. "Abraham, Abraham" marks great urgency, or is an indication of some unusually significant event: "Jacob, Jacob" (Genesis 46:2), "Moses,

Job 41 overview — CROCODILE) "Here we have the crowning description of a natural wonder, the leviathan (crocodile), with an elaboration to which there is no parallel in the rest of the Scriptures, forming a fitting climax to the gradually more and more elaborate descriptions in Job 39-41."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 7b, p. 654. Yes, "Leviathan is the name of a seven-headed sea-dragon in the old Canaanite myths current prior to the Israelite occupation; but that does not prove that Leviathan in the Book of Job is a mythological creature."Tyndale

Psalms 115 overview — Interpreter's Bible, Vol. IV, p. 606. According to Leupold, "The time of composition was shortly after the return from Babylon."H. C. Leupold, p. 797. Briggs identified the psalm, "With the Greek Period."International Critical Commentary, Vol. II, p. 393. McCaw rejected the later dates, declaring that, "It is altogether simpler to see here the congregation assembled for worship at one of the great festivals in monarchic days."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 524. The simple truth of the matter

Psalms 137:2-3 — willows indicates that they unwillingly complied with such demands, muttering to themselves, perhaps, the curses upon themselves and their terrible imprecations upon the enemy. The marginal readings here substitute "words of songs" for "songs" in Psalms 137:3 a and "tormentors" for "them that wasted us" in Psalms 137:3 b. Kidner stated that, "`Tormentors' here is as likely a meaning as most of the others that have been proposed or substituted for this expression, which is found only here in the Bible."Derek

Proverbs 10:30 — "The righteous shall never be removed; But the wicked shall not dwell in the land." The truth here is eternal in its scope. History affords many examples of the oppression of the righteous and the establishment of wicked populations in every land; but in the destiny of our sin-cursed earth, God has scheduled another chapter. "We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13).

Leviticus 19:32 — "Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man, and thou shalt fear thy God: I am Jehovah." a.    Respect for the old That society which does not honor the aged is headed for destruction (Isaiah 3:5). The fall of the Northern Israel began when Rehoboam rejected the counsel of the old men and acted upon that of the "young Turks" in his kingdom.

Jeremiah 17:12-13 — Commentary (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1898), p. 418. "They that depart… shall be written in the earth" "Unlike those graven in the rock forever (Job 19:24), the names written in the earth shall quickly disappear."Barnes' Notes, p. 193. This interpretation was given earlier by Payne Smith; but John Bright, quoting Dahood's work in 1959, suggests that, "Based upon Ugaritic evidence, `earth' indicates the underworld, with the meaning that, `those written in the earth are those listed

Habakkuk 2 overview — Habakkuk. How could the holy and righteous God use a wicked state like Babylon to punish Judea, which with all of their sins were yet better than the Babylonians? Habakkuk took up his watch to await God's answer; and Jehovah promptly answered (Habakkuk 2:1-3). Apparently, there was a terrible disappointment to Habakkuk in the revelation that the great new world power (Babylon) would be no better, in any sense, than was Assyria; and God's answer consisted of five terrible woes pronounced against the great

Malachi 4:1 — apostles, ever softened or reduced the intensity of this promise in any manner. John the Baptist, revealed later in the chapter as the forerunner of the Judge, used exactly the same figure: "But the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire" (Matthew 3:12). Christ himself spoke of, "The eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 12:42). Peter spelled it out at some length, "The heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against

Matthew 27:54 — were done, feared exceedingly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God. Practically all beings with anything to do with Christ confessed him in one way or another: (1) The angels confessed him (Luke 2:11). (2) The demons confessed him (Matthew 8:29). (3) Almighty God confessed him three times,, at his baptism, on the mount of transfiguration, and in a voice resembling thunder (John 12:28). (4) Simeon (Luke 2:30). (5) Anna (Luke 2:36). (6) Nicodemus (John 3:2). (7) Nathaniel (John 1:49). (8) John the

Luke 18:1 — THE UNJUST JUDGE And he spake a parable unto them to the end that they ought always to pray, and not to faint. Dummelow listed the lessons from this parable, thus: (1) The duty of continual prayer; (2) the answer to prayer, persisted in, is certain; (3) in the end, God will maintain the cause of his elect against their adversaries; and (4) a warning against the failure of faith in times of seeming abandonment by God.J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937),

Luke 24:27 — afforded time enough for mentioning a very large number of the glorious prophecies fulfilled in Jesus our Lord. Spence has suggested the following as having probably been included in the interpretations given by the Lord: The promise to Eve (Genesis 3:15) The promise to Abraham (Genesis 22:18) The Paschal lamb (Exodus 12) The scapegoat (Leviticus 16:1-34) The greater Prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15) The star and scepter (Numbers 24:17) Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14) "Unto us a child is born" (Isaiah

Luke 24:44 — be fulfilled, which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me. In this and verses following, Luke telescopes a number of events which took place during a period of some forty days. See Luke's own words in Acts 1:3. Summers very properly called this verse (and to the end of the chapter) "a summary of Jesus' teachings between his resurrection and his ascension."Ray Summers, op. cit., p. 333. Jesus accepted the Old Testament in its entirety as the word

Luke 9:23-24 — do, as a proper ground of salvation, that ground being in Christ and "in him" only. No mortal may be saved as John Doe, or Joe Bloke, or in any other human identity. If men are ever saved, they must be saved "in Christ" (Romans 6:3), and "as Christ" (Galatians 2:20). This self-renunciation is the same thing for all Christians that the cross was for Jesus, namely, the submission to God's will, not one's own will. For extensive discussion of this, see my Commentary on

John 11:57 — as attested by: (1) the events of the next chapter wherein a great company made a feast in Jesus' honor, and (2) the revelation that the Sanhedrin, for fear of public opposition, decided to delay killing Jesus until after the Passover (Matthew 26:1-3), and (3) their decision to assassinate Jesus privately rather than risk a public execution. In the latter two decisions they were providentially overruled. The most remarkable progression is evidenced throughout this Gospel. The event of the resurrection

Acts 14:8-10 — intent on establishing a theory that Luke invented certain incidents to force a parallel between the lives of Peter and Paul, like to point out similarities between this episode and the healing of the impotent man at the Gate Beautiful by Peter (Acts 3:3 ff); but there are monumental differences. Here the healed person had great faith; there the inference is that the impotent man had none at all. Here the man was listening to Paul's teaching; there the beggar was intent on alms alone. There Peter

Galatians 3:25 — But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a tutor. See under Galatians 3:24 for discussion of this. Note that "faith" is still being used in the sense of the historical arrival of the Christian religion, having no reference at all to subjective trust/faith of individuals. The total separation of Christianity from the Law is here dramatically stated with the comparison to a "pedagogue" no longer needed.

Judges 9 overview — official recognition of Baal as the covenant god. Three other measures of the importance of this chapter may also be noted: (1)    "Here is revealed the doctrine that wickedness is never allowed to go unpunished."D. K. Campbell, p. 93. (2)    There is no clearer lesson in the history of mankind exhibiting the consummate wickedness of polygamy and concubinage than is to be found in this extended story of the posterity of Gideon. Hervey stated that, "It was polygamy

2 John 1:6 — And this is love, that we should walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, even as ye heard from the beginning, that ye should walk in it. In the writings of John, keeping God's commandments is the only proof, either of faith or of love. It is in such passages as these that the common authorship of all these epistles is so evident. See in 1 John 3:23 for further comment.

1 Samuel 25 overview — DRASTIC CHANGES IN DAVID'S SITUATION The changes referred to in our title of this chapter include (1) the death of the prophet Samuel, David's truest friend and ally; (2) the increasing difficulty of providing supplies for his growing band of followers; (3) the renewal of Saul's efforts to hunt him down and kill him; (4) his withdrawal to the wilderness of Paran; and (5) his acquisition of Nabal's estate through marriage to Abigail.