Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 19:9-14 — harmonized with the statement in 1 Kings 19:13 that, "Elijah went out and stood in the entrance to the cave"! Williams located the cave of Elijah, which is a real cave, not far from the summit of JABAL AL LAWZ in Arabia.Larry Williams, op. cit., p. 162 (map). "A still small voice" "God wanted Elijah to know that while force and spectacular demonstrations are sometimes necessary, God's real work is accomplished by the `still small voice' calling men to do God's will."George DeHoff's Commentary, Vol.

1 Kings 21:1-4 — forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to thee" "Naboth was not actuated by any feelings of disloyalty or disrespect for King Ahab, but from a conscientious regard for Divine law."Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary, p. 228. Leviticus 25:23 forbade the selling of one's inheritance, "The land shall not be sold in perpetuity." "No inheritance of the children of Israel shall move from tribe to tribe… Everyone shall cleave to the inheritance of his fathers" (Numbers

1 Kings 22:5-7 — king… gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men" This writer rejects the common opinion among scholars that these were prophets of JEHOVAH. (1)    They are not introduced as prophets of Jehovah, but as "the prophets." (2)    Their message was not given in the name of Jehovah, but in that of [~'Adonay], a term that in that culture applied as well to Baal as to the covenant God of the Hebrews. (3)    Besides that, their message

2 Kings 20:1-21 — Divine verdict on his illness, because three years later, during the extension of his life, Manasseh was born to him, and that ruler was the very worst of all the kings of Judah! The report in this chapter of the letter and present from Berodach-baladan (2 Kings 20:12) to Hezekiah is more fully reported in Isaiah 39, where the name of the same Babylonian ruler is spelled Merodach-balladan. (See my comment there, Vol. 1 (Isaiah), pp. 355-361.) The mention of this Babylonian king gives no help in determining

Nehemiah 2:9-16 — the nobles, nor to the rest that did the work." "And I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king's letters" This must indeed have been a shock to Sanballat and Tobiah. The mention of "captains of the army, and horsemen," (Nehemiah 2:9) indicates a very considerable military escort; and they were strengthened by the full authority, permission and credentials of the king of Persia. This was particularly bad news to Sanballat, who, "According to the Elephantine Papyrus, was governor

Nehemiah 5:14-19 — all sorts of wine; yet for all this, I demanded not the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people. Remember unto me, O God, for good, all that I have done for this people." "That is, twelve years" "These years were 444 to 432 B.C."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 439. This verse is clearly retrospective, and from this the usual understanding is that this chapter was written some twelve years after the building of the wall. Shortly before this first term of Nehemiah

Job 19:25 — visualizes his vindication as coming in the "last day," he believed in the resurrection of the dead. The critical canard that the resurrection is "a late Jewish doctrine" is not true. Even Abraham believed in the resurrection of the dead (Hebrews 11:19). (2) The doctrine of the Incarnation is also inherent in the revelation that, "The Redeemer," that "someone," that heavenly Person shall "Stand"! upon the earth. (3) God's interest in his human creation is yet another. "There is a Redeemer provided for

Job 30:1-9 — scrub and gathered among the nettles. Base men, children of fools, having dishonored humanity, they had been whipped out of the land. Even these abhorred Job, mocking him in song and byword, even spitting in his face."The Expositor's Bible, Vol. 14, p. 325. Blair pointed out that, "These people refused to work, and were too proud to beg."Blair, p. 256. This left them the option of stealing and/or scrounging for whatever they might find in the wilderness. In neither the Old Testament nor the New Testament,

Psalms 146:5-10 — (Israel) and Zion."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 544. "Who keepeth truth forever" Barnes pointed out that two reasons are here given for trusting God: (1) He is the one and only true God, the Creator, able indeed to help those whom he loves. (2) He is faithful and may always be relied upon.Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition), op. cit., p. 326. "Turneth the way of the wicked upside down" Dummelow explained this as meaning that,

Psalms 45:8-9 — as incense."Ibid., p. 357. In all probability, this was also used in the burial of Jesus, because, "It was one of the perfumes used at funerals."International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (Chicago, Illinois: The Howard-Severance Company, 1915), p. 582. "All thy garments" The words `smell of' do not belong in this passage. Translators thought they were clarifying the meaning by their addition, but they misunderstood what the text says. What is stated is that these spices were "all thy garments,"H.

Psalms 88:13-18 — despair. "Looking backward at the past, he sees nothing but ill health and ill fortune (Psalms 88:15). Looking unto God he is terrified (Psalms 88:15 b-17). Looking for human comfort, he can see no one at all (Psalms 88:18)."Derek Kidner, Vol. II, p. 218. "Lover and friend hast thou put far from me" This is another line that would be extremely difficult to apply to the nation of Israel; but it seems appropriate enough if referred to the desertion of a leper by his family and friends. "And mine acquaintance

Psalms 89:5-18 — imaginative, having a single design, namely, that of extolling the Majesty and Power of God. "The assembly of the holy ones" "This is a frequent term in the Old Testament as a reference to Israel as God's Old Testament church."Derek Kidner, p. Vol. II, p. 621. "Among the sons of the mighty" This refers to the mighty men of earth, its kings, rulers and dictators. "The mighty" in this passage cannot refer to angels, because angels do not reproduce themselves and therefore have no `sons.' "The council of the

Isaiah 11:11-16 — but from one nation, not from any scattering or dispersion, but from a concentration in one place, namely, the land of Goshen. This passage speaks of a second gathering from a widespread dispersion: (1) the first following the Assyrian captivity, and (2) the second being the Roman dispersion in A.D. 70. As Hailey put it, "The first time that God set his hand to recover the remnant involved the Jews under Zerubbabel; and now this passage states that in the days of the Branch (the days of Christ) God

Jeremiah 13:3-5 — no matter which view of the meaning of [~Phrath] is accepted. And what is that meaning? The meaning is that the apostate nation, symbolized by the dirty, unwashed loincloth will be "hidden," that is, in captivity in Babylon on the Euphrates River. (2)    Another interpretation suggested by Dummelow is also plausible, perhaps even more so, than No. 1, cited above. "Jeremiah appears to have been absent from Jerusalem during a major part of Jehoiachin's brief three-year reign; and

Jeremiah 18:21-23 — were doing; and there is a strong conviction here that they deserved exactly the same kind of prayer Jeremiah prayed against them. Feinberg pointed out that: (1) these were not merely Jeremiah's personal enemies but enemies of God and of his truth; (2) Jeremiah prayed merely that those evil men would reap the reward of their own deeds, "delivering them judicially to the consequences of the course they had deliberately chosen for themselves";Charles Lee Feinberg in Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press),

Joshua 1:12-18 — for example, has this: "The writer of this passage was one who lived west of the Jordan River.J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 143. Such a judgment is in error. "The use of the phrase in Joshua 12:1; Joshua 12:7 and elsewhere for each side of the river alternately shows that it gives no evidence for the geographical location of the writer."Hugh J. Blair, The New Bible Commentary, Revised, Joshua (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,

Judges 15:4-8 — them! To begin with, Keil explained that, "The Hebrew word here is [~shu`alim], which means `jackals,' an animal that resembles foxes and is classed among the foxes even by Arabs of the present day."C. F. Keil in the Keil-Delitzsch Commentaries, Vol. 2-A, p. 413. "In the Egyptian dialect, the classical name of the fox is given exclusively as jackal."The International Critical Commentary, Judges, p. 341. Whichever animal it was, a man like Samson would have caught three hundred of them, exactly as

1 Samuel 17:31-40 — as tall as the king himself. It is amazing to this writer how few commentators even notice this fact. "The fact that David tried on the armor of Saul indicates that he approximated the height of Saul."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, op. cit., p. 287. If David had worn the armor of Saul, the king could have claimed a vital share of the glory of the victory; but the essential common sense of David frustrated that maneuver on Saul's part. Note that the armor of the king included a sword; but David

1 Samuel 20:4-11 — plan to ascertain the real situation between himself and Saul. "Tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to sit at the table with the king" The Jews, and many other ancient peoples, celebrated a feast of the new moon. Numbers 10:10 and Numbers 28:11-15 give the Mosaic instructions regarding that festival. Apparently, Saul used the occasion for a meeting of important members of his government. David was obligated to be there. "If there is guilt in me, slay me yourself" David's word here meant

1 Samuel 30:21-25 — from that day forward he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day." "All the wicked and base fellows who had gone with David" We believe this to have been a small minority of David's men; and, "Possibly David's question in 1 Samuel 30:24 implies this, `Who (i. e., of the rest of the men who continued) would listen to you in this matter'? The proposal that the two hundred depart apparently meant that they would no longer be allowed to be David's soldiers."John T. Willis, p. 273. Thus