Bible Commentaries

Exodus 11:1-3 — pluperfect tense, and is consequently obliged to make up for the grammatical deficiency by using the simple preterite in a pluperfect sense."George Rawlinson, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 1, Exodus (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 245. It is precisely this perception that requires the understanding of these three verses as a parenthesis. Besides that, Exodus 11:4 ff are clearly a "response to Pharaoh's threat (Exodus 10:29)."J. Coert Rylaarsdarn, Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 1, Exodus

Psalms 19:4-6 — in which the earth is set. "Far from worshipping the sun, as many ancients did, the psalmist regards it as an agent of God, who has set up a tent in the vast heavens for the sun's continual use."Leslie McCaw in The New Bible Commentary, Revised p.462. This, of course, harmonizes with Genesis where it is revealed that the design of the starry host was not that of controlling men's destiny, or of receiving human worship, but of serving mankind by providing light at night for human use. The status

Psalms 72 overview — those particulars. However, as Halley stated it, "The general tenor of the Psalm and some of the specific statements in it can allude only to that One Greater than Solomon."Henry H. Halley's Bible Handbook (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House), p. 243. THE JEWISH CONCEPTION OF MESSIAH When God called Abraham, He prophesied that in him and in his seed (singular) all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). That it would be some glorious Individual through whom such blessings would

Leviticus 16:1-5 — There was also another distinction: "When the high priest went into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement, he had to wear a simple linen garment without seams, a garment of the type Jesus wore when he went to the Cross as our sacrifice (John 19:23-24)."Michael Esses, Jesus in Exodus (Plainfield, New Jersey: Logos International, 1977), p. 195. Another analogy appears in the requirement that two he-goats were to constitute the single sin-offering for the people. No single animal could have typified

Leviticus 23:9-14 — God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings." Lofthouse and other critics, ever anxious to attack the unity of Biblical passages, assert: "That the chapter is not a unity is shown by the new beginnings in Leviticus 23:9."W. F. Lofthouse, Peake's Commentary on the Bible, Leviticus (London: T. C. and E. C. Jack, Ltd.), p. 210. Such expressions as that found in Leviticus 23:9 are found literally dozens of times in the O.T., and the use of it again here is no evidence

Ecclesiastes 7:15-18 — it. The friends of Job who held the false view that there were no exceptions to the general rule of God's rewarding the righteous and punishing the wicked were rebuked by God Himself for teaching, with reference to God, "Things that were not right" (Job 42:8); but it is an equally false affirmation that God does not reward the righteous nor punish the wicked. This truth is freely admitted in the words that the wicked "die before their time" (generally) (Ecclesiastes 7:17) and in the tremendous affirmation

Isaiah 44:24-28 — man so long before he was born is not, by any means, a unique thing. "Three centuries before Josiah was born, God prophesied his birth, the name he would bear, and the fact that Josiah would burn the bones of men upon the altar at Bethel (1 Kings 13:2)."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 10b, p. 158. Not only so, did not the angel of God announce the name of Jesus before he was born; and to Almighty God is that anything different from announcing Cyrus a hundred fifty years before he was born? As Barnes

Isaiah 65:1-7 — incense upon the mountains, and blasphemer me upon the hills: therefore will I first measure their work into their bosom." Kidner understood the first two verses here as, "An answer to the complaint of Isaiah 63:19."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 624. This, of course does not deny the application of the passage to the call of the Gentiles (Romans 10:20). There is also an answer to the complaint of Isaiah 64:9 that God has "hidden his face," making himself hard to find. As McGuiggan noted, "Why,

Jeremiah 20:1-6 — hast prophesied falsely." "Pashhur, the son of Immer... chief officer" Many scholars including Dummelow and Barnes believed that Pashhur was the father of Gedaliah (Jeremiah 38:1).J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 468. There was another Pashhur (Jeremiah 21:1), but he belonged to the fifth course (shift) of priests belonging to the sons of Melchiah; this Pashhur belonged to the sixteenth course and was the son of Immer. Both of these families were strongly represented in the returnees from Babylon (Ezra

Jeremiah 32:36-44 — the Book of Micah, the priesthood promptly corrupted the worship in the second temple, provoking even the cancellation of the covenant of Levi; and God even cursed their blessings and expressed the desire that the temple would be closed (See Malachi 2:1-9). Furthermore, as time went on, in those long centuries before Christ was born, the whole Jewish nation fell into apostasy again, resulting in their judicial hardening, along with the hardened nations of the Gentiles; and, according to Paul, the

Ezekiel 34:20-24 — prophesied are to be found in the Church of Jesus Christ alone, and nowhere else. All Christians are "kings and priests unto God" (Revelation 1:6, KJV). The twelve apostles are upon twelve thrones reigning with Christ throughout the dispensation (Matthew 19:28); and the elders of God's church actually have received that glorious designation, "Shepherds." The word `shepherd,' pastor in the Greek, is one of the New Testament terms for elder; thus all elders are "kings" in the sense of ruling under "The Chief

Daniel 2:36-42 — Medo-Persian Empire, represented by the silver. The World-Wide Kingdom of Alexander, represented the brass. The Roman Empire, represented by the iron mingled with clay. Owens admitted that this understanding of the passage dates back to the book of 2 Esdras in the apocryphal Old Testament, although we were unable to find it from the reference he gave (2 Esdras 12:12).Ibid., p. 292. No one can deny that the understanding of the fourth kingdom as that of the Romans is actually older than Christianity.

Hosea 13:6 — knows a thousand examples of the same thing. Here, we take the liberty of quoting at some length from Butler's wonderful perception of the sin in view here: "Their trouble was pride. They did exactly what Moses warned them not to do (Deuteronomy 8:11-20). When they become affluent, they did like so many other nations have done, and like America is doing today, they lifted up their hearts in pride and said, "My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth." Pride, whether it is military

Zechariah 4:13-14 — mandatory to find the articulation between them, for it can hardly be questioned that the olive trees in Revelation are the same as those in Zechariah. It will be helpful at this point to read a full discussion of these in my commentary on Revelation, pp. 239-242. The tendency of many scholars to identify the witnesses in Revelation as Joshua and Zerubbabel requires a conclusion that they will prophesy during the present dispensation for "a thousand two hundred and three score days" (a code expression

Deuteronomy 29:1-9 — "These are the words of the covenant which Jehovah commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab besides the covenant which he made with them in Horeb." PRE-HISTORY (Deuteronomy 29:2-9) "And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that Jehovah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh, and unto all his servants, and unto all his land; the great trials which thine eyes saw, the signs, and

Luke 11:2-4 — he taught it";Norval Geldenhuys, op. cit., p. 319. but the more accurate exegesis is that "Christ did not design that we should be tied up to these very words, for then there would have been no variation"Matthew Henry, op. cit., p. 692. from the account given in Matthew. Father … Harrison commented that: (Here) Jesus uses a child's word for Father, which appears also in Romans 8:15. It is used by modern Hebrews within the family circle, and implies familiarity based on love.Everett

Luke 4:1-2 — the wilderness" is a reference to the fact that God intended the temptation to take place just as it was recounted here. Led in the Spirit … exactly the same meaning as Mark's "the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness" (Mark 1:12). See fuller comment on this in my Commentary on Mark. Being tempted of the devil … One should not fail to see in the placement of this phrase the subtle hand of critical scholarship. The placement here seems to indicate that the temptation was

John 3:5 — ANCIENTS (capitals mine, J.B.C.) have construed this text, as our church doth, of outward baptism.John Boys, An Exposition of the Dominical Epistles and Gospels (London, 1938); quoted from Handbook on Baptism (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1950), p. 322. It cannot be denied, therefore, that all interpretations that would edit any reference to baptism out of this text are too late by centuries, to have any weight at all with people who wish to know what the word of the Lord teaches. The warping and

1 Samuel 1:1-8 — Furthermore, as Keil pointed out, the very name "Elkanah" identifies him as a Levite. "All of the Elkanahs mentioned in the O.T. (with a single exception) can be proved to have been Levites."C. F. Keil, Keil and Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries, Vol. 2-b, p. 18. R. Payne Smith stressed the fact that, "`Elkanah' was a name commonly used among the Kohathites, to which division of the sons of Levi Samuel belonged."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 4-b, p. 1. The fact of Elkanah's being called in this passage

1 Samuel 6:4-9 — is he who has done all this great harm; but if not, then we shall know that it is not his hand that struck us; it happened to us by chance." "Five golden mice" "The abrupt mention of mice here constitutes a difficulty."The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 2, p. 905. To us there appears no difficulty whatever. Allegations that there must have been two plagues, one of the tumors, and the other of the mice (or rats) that have been confused and mixed up by some editor or redactor are in fact ridiculous. There