Bible Commentaries

Psalms 116:10-11 — amazement, Every man is a liar.(Apparently, this is the version Paul referred to when he wrote, "But having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, "I believed, and therefore did I speak"; we also believe, and therefore also we speak, 2 Corinthians 4:13). One must admit that the exact meaning of the passage fails to appear in any of the above versions. We shall offer two explanations, one by Professor Cheyne, and the other by Kidner. CHEYNE: He rendered the passage: "I was confident

Psalms 117:1-2 — "O praise Jehovah, all ye nations; Laud him all, ye peoples. For his lovingkindness is great toward us; And the truth of Jehovah endureth forever. Praise ye Jehovah (Hallelujah)." Psalms 117:1-2 in the King James Version "O praise the Lord, all ye nations, praise him all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us; and the truth of the Lord endureth forever. Praise ye the Lord." This is by far the superior rendition and is the

Psalms 82:2-7 — Nevertheless, ye shall die like men, And fall like one of the princes." "How long will ye judge unjustly" "These judges are not evil angels, who in later Judaism were regarded as guardians of the nations."International Critical Commentary, Vol. II, p. 215. Who were they? They were the ones to whom God gave the Law of Moses, i.e. the Israelites (See John 10:34 ff), particularly the wicked judges upon whom this chapter is focused. "Judge the poor… fatherless… afflicted… destitute,

Psalms 96:7-9 — not the same as the bloody sacrifices of the Old Covenant. In the New Covenant, God's family of worshippers are called by the apostle Peter, "A spiritual house… to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:5). "Through him (Christ) let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips which make confession to his name" (Hebrews 13:15). Also, in the quotation from Malachi 1:11, it is a "pure" offering that is to be required,

Proverbs 1:20-33 — here to the spirit of Christ, that is, the Holy Spirit;Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary, p. 391 and there are a number of considerations that support this view. (1) Paul has told us that Christ is indeed "our wisdom" (1 Corinthians 1:30); and (2) the Hebrew word here indicating the personification of Wisdom is "a plural noun,"Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1987 reprint of the 1878 Edition), op. cit., p. 17 suggesting the doctrine of the Trinity. The fact

Proverbs 4:20-27 — the beginning of another discourse. Such an address could have come in the middle of an exhortation as the attention of the listener diminished and needed to be stimulated. "Let them not depart from thine eyes" This is exactly the same as Proverbs 3:21, another example of the constant repetition in Proverbs. "The repeated message is that, `it is not enough to hear wise instruction; it must be assimilated, pondered and kept at the center of man's being.'"The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 555. "Keep

Proverbs 5:9-14 — inclined mine ear to them that instructed me! I was well-nigh in all evil In the midst of the assembly and congregation." "The evil results of relations with the strange woman fall into three divisions. (1) Loss of wealth and position (Proverbs 5:9 f), (2) physical deterioration (Proverbs 5:11), and (3) certain legal penalties."Arthur S. Peake, A Commentary on the Bible (London: T. C. and E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1924), p. 400. The thrust of the whole passage is that unlawful and promiscuous sex destroys the

Ecclesiastes 9:13-15 — have been gross miscarriages of human justice and even intelligence. Why? The status of our human race is the only explanation that is needed. Our race, which is in rebellion against God, is divinely condemned to death. "Thou shalt surely die" (Genesis 2:17). If one leaves God and his merciful provision for man's redemption out of consideration, our wretched race, wallowing in the miseries, disease and violence which are the fruit of its own wickedness, is indeed `vanity of vanities.' Solomon's analysis

Song of Solomon 2:3-6 — This is clearly a reference to some public eating place. In the light of these considerations, we find full agreement with Balchin who wrote that these verses recall, "A meeting the maiden had with her lover."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 582. We include here a sample of the allegorical speculations with regard to the meaning of this chapter: "This is a poetical, allegorical representation of what takes place in the Church and in the experience of believers individually. Examples of this

Song of Solomon 7:1-9 — rejected it. As plainly evident in what he said, he looked upon her, as he looked upon every woman, as something to be eaten or consumed, simply a means of satisfying his appetite (lust). He saw her body as a goblet of mixed wine (Song of Solomon 7:2), her breasts as clusters of dates in the palm tree (Song of Solomon 7:7), like clusters of grapes (Song of Solomon 7:7). Her breath smelled like apples (Song of Solomon 7:7), and her kisses were like wine. All of this says in tones of thunder: "You

Isaiah 16:1-5 — throne shall be established in lovingkindness; and one shall sit thereon in truth, in the tent of David, judging, and seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness." This 16th chapter was divided as follows by Hailey: (1) Moab's hope (Isaiah 16:1-5); (2) Moab's rejection of this hope (Isaiah 16:6-12); (3) the appointed time for the execution of God's judgment upon Moab (Isaiah 16:13-14).Footnote is not available As regards these first five verses, there is much uncertainty and disagreement. Who is

Isaiah 43:8-13 — Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 613. What a poor witness fleshly Israel proved to be! As Kelley wrote, "One of the amazing things that emerges from this passage is that a task so momentous should have been entrusted to a people as unfit as Israel (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:7)."Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1971), p. 311.

Isaiah 48:16 — interpretations. Calvin and many other scholars have seen it as a prophecy of the sending of Isaiah. Barnes agreed with this, stating that, "The scope of the passage demands, it seems to me, that it should be referred to the prophet Isaiah."Ibid., p. 192. However, we believe that Hailey is correct in his declaration that, "The coming of Jesus is the theme of this prophecy; the entire Old Testament looks forward to Christ's coming to carry forward the purpose of Jehovah; and the Holy Spirit would accompany

Jeremiah 11:1-5 — in the temple that had lost it! That there was, indeed, at this time, throughout Israel, a residual knowledge of the whole Law of Moses is evident. "The righteous remnant" would indeed have preserved countless portions of it. The proof of this is in 2 Chronicles 34, which reveals that, "The centralization of worship in Jerusalem preceded the discovery of the Book of the Covenant in the temple by Hilkiah."Ibid. In the light of all these things, how can we understand a remark like that of Cheyne, who

Jeremiah 11:14-17 — further intercessory prayer. Our minds should be at one with God in all that he is doing, even in the rejection of the reprobate."Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary, p. 518. That this is really true appears in God's command to Moses (Exodus 32:10), also in God's forbidding Samuel to grieve any longer for Saul (1 Samuel 16:1). This is now the second time that God has forbidden Jeremiah to pray any more for the apostate nation (Jeremiah 7:16); and this admonition is still applicable to God's

Jeremiah 12:7-9 — have followed his lead. Thompson attempted to justify the interpretation by pointing out that "it is parallel to `my heritage' in the next clause";J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archeology (Grand Rapid, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972) p. 357. and while it is true enough that adjacent clauses are indeed often parallel in the Bible, they are not always so. "Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields" (Jeremiah 51:11) is one of many examples; and we believe the parallelism here is another.

Jeremiah 21:11-14 — And I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, saith Jehovah; and I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it shall destroy all that is round about her." Some of the scholars affirm that the end of the message to Zedekiah came in Jeremiah 21:10 and that this is a prophecy regarding the House of David, being a part of a number of similar prophecies in this sub-group of four chapters (Jeremiah 21-24). We do not deny this; but we also believe that the words here were also quite appropriate

Jeremiah 24:1-3 — the skilled artisans and craftsmen and presumably all of the people with special skills. The meaning of "smiths" is uncertain; but the general import of the verse is plain enough. Both Ezekiel and Daniel were also in that first group of captives. See 2 Kings 24:10-17 of the Biblical record of who went to Babylon. The teaching of the parable is that the people left in Judah were inferior to the captives who went to Babylon. Barnes stated that, "Those left behind were not worth taking."Barnes' Notes

Jeremiah 4:3-4 — within. Morality is deteriorating. Someone needs to say something about it. We are still preaching, but we are sowing the seed among the thorns.J. V. McGee, Thru the Bible with J. Vernon McGee, Vol. III (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982), p. 366. "Circumcise yourselves to Jehovah… take away the foreskins of your heart" The second clause here explains the first. Circumcision was observed for all Jewish males; but the kind of circumcision they needed was not physical but spiritual.

Jeremiah 7:21-26 — God here was declaring that the commanded sacrifices were not necessary, or that it was God's will to be worshipped with genuine purity of life instead of through offering any kind of sacrifices. What God truly desires is both (1) purity of life and (2) the offering of the sacrifices which he commanded. The effort to eliminate either originates with Satan. "The idea here is that there is no sanctity in offerings brought by unrepentant men."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 665. "This thing I commanded