Bible Commentaries

Job 40 overview — GOD CONCLUDES HIS SPEECH TO JOB (Job 40-41) "This concluding speech of God to Job falls into three parts: (1) Job is (ironically) invited to assume the throne of the universe (Job 40:7-14). (2) There is the description of Behemoth (Job 40:15-24), and (3) the description of Leviathan (Job 41:1-34)."New Century Bible Commentary, p. 234. In the Genesis account of Jacob's wrestling with `a man' until the breaking of day, some respected

Psalms 141 overview — nothing in the psalm which casts any doubt upon this, we accept it as accurate and dispense with the usual discussions regarding authorship. The last two verses here have exactly the same sentiment as that expressed in Psalms 140:8-10. Psalms 141:5-7 are admitted by all scholars to be most difficult to translate, there being no consensus whatever upon what is meant. This writer claims no ability for solving the mysteries of passages which could very well have been obscured by textual damage during

Jeremiah 43 overview — long after their liberation from it. With great suffering they had been delivered from their bondage in Egypt, only to return nearly nine hundred years later a defeated, hopeless remnant!"Charles Lee Feinberg in Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press), p. 637. There is probably nowhere to be found a better comment upon the incredible blindness of human politicians than the one afforded by this chapter. The chapter divisions are: (1) Judah's leaders reject God's word (Jeremiah 43:1-4); (2) Jeremiah and Baruch

Daniel 2 overview — failure of all the wise men (Daniel 2:10-11); (4) the king's decree that they should all be put to death (Daniel 2:12-13); (5) Daniel's request for a delay (Daniel 2:14-16); (6) the dream and its interpretation revealed to Daniel (Daniel 2:19-23); (7) Daniel refers all glory to God for the revelation (Daniel 2:24-30); (8) Daniel relates the dream and its interpretation to the king (Daniel 2:31-45); (9) Nebuchadnezzar's response to the revelation (Daniel 2:46-49).

Zephaniah 1 overview — terrors of that day? Certainly not! Passing from the general to the specific, a device which Dummelow described as being in harmony with the "genius of the Semitic mind,"J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 593. Zephaniah detailed the effect of the judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem (Zephaniah 1:4-7) and pointed out that it would fall heavily upon sinners of every rank (Zephaniah 1:8-13). The terrible day of the Lord will burst suddenly upon the whole

Zechariah 5:8 — had idolatry in mind, it is easy to explain why he represents it as a woman. In so doing, he simply follows the practice of the older prophets, who repeatedly denounce this offence under the figure of prostitution.Hinckley G. Mitchell, op. cit., p. 173. The very title, "Wickedness" was also applied to the wicked queen who corrupted Judah with idolatry (2 Chronicles 24:7).

Matthew 10:12-13 — behalf of every member of the home into which they came. No curse or malediction was to be uttered, ever. Retributions belong to God alone. Not even the Twelve were to pronounce judgments or exact or assign penalties. See more on this under Matthew 7:1.

Matthew 25:33-34 — the unjust were ordered to take the road downward and to the left. The kingdom which God has allotted to the righteous was designed before the human race was created, "which God foreordained before the worlds unto our glory" (1 Corinthians 2:7). The disaster in Eden did not thwart, nor will it even delay, the ultimate achievement of God's eternal purpose.

Matthew 26:36 — saith unto his disciples, Sit ye here, while I go yonder and pray. IN THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE What irony! Whereas the disciples were so sure they would not fail, even the Christ approached the cross with "strong cryings and tears" (Hebrews 5:7). It was the humanity of Christ that was in ascendancy from that hour and until death came upon him. As a man (and he was perfect man), he shrank from the ordeal of Calvary; and the common view that Christ wept only for the sins or sorrows of others

Luke 10:9 — And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. There was no admonition to the seventy to "raise the dead," as in the case of sending forth the Twelve (Matthew 10:7); and this is proof of the inferior nature of the mission upon which the seventy were sent forth. Allegations that the sacred gospels are merely giving confused accounts of the same mission are inaccurate and unreasonable. The kingdom of God is come

John 8:7 — But when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. Jesus, as ever, found the answer in the Scriptures. Deuteronomy 17:7 says, "The hand of the witness shall be the first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people." Thus Jesus demanded that the witness, nowhere visible in this interview — that the witness should reveal himself

1 Corinthians 13:4 — Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Patient endurance and active good are qualities of love. Paul enumerated fifteen qualities of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7; but this is far from being a methodical dissertation on love as an abstract subject. The qualities cited here have the utility of contrasting with the extraordinary gifts so coveted at Corinth; and they are presented here as exactly opposed to the

1 Corinthians 8:8 — we the better. In a sense, it was absolutely immaterial where the meat came from, whether sacrificed to idols or not; because salvation is simply not a matter of diet at all. Christ took away all prohibitions, "making all meats clean" (Mark 7:19); and Paul himself wrote that "every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, etc." (1 Timothy 4:4); but for a Christian who had not learned such vital truth, and who considered it sinful to eat certain things, it was definitely

2 Corinthians 4 overview — of this chapter, as follows: The hidden and the open (2 Corinthians 4:1-2). The blinded and the enlightened (2 Corinthians 4:3). Slaves and Master (2 Corinthians 4:5). Darkness and Light (2 Corinthians 4:6). The frail and the mighty (2 Corinthians 4:7). Trials and triumph (2 Corinthians 4:8-10). Death and life (2 Corinthians 4:11-12). The written and the spoken (2 Corinthians 4:13). The past and the future (2 Corinthians 4:14). Grace and thanksgiving (2 Corinthians 4:15). The outer and inner man

Philippians 4 overview — This chapter is a fitting conclusion for the whole epistle. I. There are three final exhortations: (a) to unity (Philippians 4:1-3); (b) to joy (Philippians 4:4-7); and (c) to conformity with all that is good after the apostle's model (Philippians 4:8-9). II. Finally comes thanks for the Philippian offerings: (a) the admission that he could not claim their gift as a necessity (Philippians 4:10-13); (b) a rehearsal

Philemon 1:23 — Epaphras, my fellow-prisoner in Christ Jesus, saluteth thee; Epaphrus, my fellow-prisoner … As Nielson suggested, "The reference may be to a physical imprisonment or it may mean captured by Christ." John B. Nielson, op. cit., p. 708. There is no way of knowing certainly just what was meant. Macknight offers the following opinion regarding this fellow-worker of Paul's: This person is called the "faithful minister of Christ" (Colossians 1:7) … of whom the Colossians

Hebrews 1:9 — Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity; Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. This is a continuation of the quotation from Psalms 45:6-7; and it cites the reasons for Christ's exaltation as being founded upon his love of righteousness and corresponding hatred of evil. Can one imagine an application of this Psalm to Solomon? (See under above verse.) The anointing seems not to refer to

1 John 2:4 — blunt, powerful, and incapable of being misunderstood. It reminds one of Jesus' saying, "Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). All talk of knowing God, loving God, or even of "believing" or "having faith" is meaningless in the mouths of people who dishonor the commandments of the Lord through disobedience and failure to do the "work of faith."

Revelation 13:9 — If any man hath an ear, let him hear. The contemporary equivalent of this is, Now hear this! It occurs in each of the seven letters (Revelation 2:7; Revelation 2:11; Revelation 2:17; Revelation 3:6; Revelation 3:13; Revelation 3:22) and recalls the familiar expression of Jesus, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear" (Matthew 11:15; Mark 4:9). It alerts the reader to the importance of

1 Samuel 11:11 — was of God Himself, as Saul freely admitted, and it was this victory that constituted the third and final phase of Saul's rise to the throne. The deployment of the forces of Israel in three companies was very similar to the actions of Gideon in Judges 7:16 f, as was also their attack in the third watch of the night, i.e., between two o'clock and six o'clock in the morning.