Bible Commentaries

Psalms 31:1-8 — plot laid against him by Saul was the equivalent of just such a device. "Into thy hands I commend my spirit" (Psalms 31:5). Our Lord himself made these the last of his seven words from the Cross, adding only the word "Father," at the beginning (Luke 23:46). However, quite unlike the verse quoted from Psalms 22 on that same occasion, we cannot believe that Jesus' use of these words identified this psalm as a prophecy of himself. In fact, Jesus appears to have used these words in the same understanding

Psalms 40:6-8 — commentators have softened what is said here by saying that, "Even in the Old Testament more was required than all forms of worship";J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, 345. "This means that, apart from a spirit of obedience,"The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 312. such sacrifices are not required. No! This is not what our text says, nor is such a thing what is meant. What is said here is that no kind of animal sacrifices whatever will characterize the worship of Messiah. "Mine ears hast thou opened" In the New

Psalms 46:4-7 — place; but the actual meaning might be, "The river of God's presence and favor,"Ibid. The tabernacles of the Most High typically represent, "God's favor, like a river, is distributed to all the Church."Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary, p. 362. "It was the river of God's life-giving presence."The Layman's Bible Commentary, Vol. 9, p. 80. "This river is the perennial fountain of God's grace."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 358. Yes indeed, these views are acceptable; but there seems also

Psalms 50:1-6 — writing of the Book of Moses (called the Pentateuch), in which different names of God are alleged to indicate different writers. Can anyone believe that "three different writers composed Psalms 50:1?" or that "five different authors" wrote Genesis 49:24-25? This combination of names for God is also found in Joshua 22:22. The evidence is overwhelming that the Jews customarily used multiple names for God, very frequently using them as synonyms, with no indication whatever that they indicated multiple

Psalms 90:1-6 — `God' of this passage is `The Lord,' the covenant God of the Hebrews; and "None can ignore those generations of faithful believers in the developing nation from the days of Abraham, all of whom made the Lord their dwelling place."H. C. Leupold, p. 642. It is true in another sense. From the beginning of Adam's race, God has been the only security of the human family. The discerning souls of all generations found their only hope in God, the only exceptions being the "fools" who said in their hearts

Proverbs 3:11-20 — material prosperity. Happiness, peace, pleasantness, honor, length of days - these are the things more profitable than silver or gold. "These are truly `the good things' of life, the blessings which all men are seeking."R. B. Sweet Publishing Company, No. 210 "Despise not the chastening of Jehovah" This understanding of the utility of sufferings and misfortunes borne by the righteous, "Is the same solution to that problem that was proposed by both Eliphaz (Job 5:17 f) and Elihu."Arthur S. Peake, A Commentary

Ecclesiastes 7:1-4 — a death is not better than the day of his birth. However, the death of Christ was better than the day of his birth; because his Church celebrates his death, not his birth. Paul declared that, "It is better to depart and be with Christ (Philippians 1:21-23), Also; "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints" (Psalms 116:15). In spite of these scriptures, we find it very hard to believe that Solomon had anything like that in mind. His viewpoint here seems to be like that of a tribe

Isaiah 10:5-11 — graven images did excel them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; shall I not, as I have done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?" Rawlinson, in his outline of Isaiah, made this the beginning of the division reaching through Isaiah 23, but, following Robinson (See Introduction), we believe the close connection with the fate of Judah and Jerusalem indicate rather that it belongs with the first division, Isaiah 1-12. "Ho Assyrian" This paragraph prophecies the destruction of Assyria,

Isaiah 23:1-5 — forth, neither have I nourished young men, nor brought up virgins. When the report cometh to Egypt, they shall be sorely pained at the report of Tyre." TYRE This city was one of the first great cities on earth. Herodotus gave the date of its founding as 2300 B.C.Ibid. It stood for many centuries as the prime example of commercialism; and Hailey believed that it was in its capacity as a center of commerce that it received God's prophetic condemnation here. Having already proclaimed the doom of great political

Isaiah 53:1-3 — their face he was despised; and we esteemed him not." As Cheyne pointed out, there is a peculiarity in these three verses that one word in each of the three verses is quoted in the second half of each verse. "Thus: in (1), the word is `who,' `whom'; in (2) the word is `he'; and in (3) the word is `despised.'"T. K. Cheyne's Commentary, Vol. II, p. 42. In this paragraph, the surpassing glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is hidden behind obscurity, poverty, humiliation, misery, and shame; and this is the great

Isaiah 62:10-12 — of Jehovah" This, alas is what God planned for His people after the exile; but it never took place, due to their wickedness. As Paul stated, the name of God was blasphemed all over the Gentile world, because of the wickedness of the Jews (Revelation 2:24). The Jews simply forgot to read Jeremiah 18:7-10, or at least forgot to heed it. Rawlinson pointed out that the universal love and appreciation of the racial Israel has never taken place, and suggested that, "Perhaps the prophecy may be considered

Ezekiel 1:1-3 — year of Manasseh's evil reign; it is the thirtieth year of Artaxerxes III."Anton T. Pearson in Wycliffe Bible Commentary, p. 707. By far the most acceptable understanding of what is meant by this "thirtieth year" goes back to the times of Origen (185-254 A.D.) who considered it a reference to the thirtieth year of Ezekiel's life, that being the age when Jewish priests began their ministry (Numbers 4:3-4).Ibid. "I was among the captives by the river Chebar" The Chebar was the name given to the great

Ezekiel 33:23-29 — in Judea afford one more instance of the boundless capacity of the Jewish race for religious self-delusion, and their no less remarkable insensibility to that in which the essence of religion lay."John Skinner in the Expositor's Bible Commentary, p. 292. The delusion of the fragment of Israel left in Palestine after the fall of the city of Jerusalem was due to their misunderstanding of the Mosaic covenant. If they had ever read the Book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 28) Moses had told them categorically

Daniel 3:2-7 — Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), p. 910. "It is argued that these words were used anachronously; but this does not follow, since Daniel published his book in the Persian period."Robert D. Culver, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Daniel (Chicago: Moody Press, 1962), p. 782. It would be an absurdity to suppose that some forger during the Greek period would have inserted all of these old Babylonian words. As Leupold stated, "These Persian names make it impossible to assume that this was written during the times

Amos 7:10-11 — worship of the Israelites. These two verses (Amos 7:10-11) are the first of a three-fold division of this last section of the chapter, and relates to Amaziah's report to the king. The other two are: Amaziah's taking matters into his own hands (Amos 7:12-13), and Amos' answer to Amaziah (Amos 7:14-17). The whole passage is one of remarkable strength and effectiveness. Smith's quotation from George Adam Smith is appropriate: "It `is one of the great scenes of history.' It reports the conflict between

Amos 7:17 — away captive out of his land." This terrible prophecy against Amaziah was doubtless fulfilled exactly, as were all the other prophecies, the evident truth and divine origin of them being the primary reason that the prophecy of Amos has survived some 27 centuries of human history. It is a perpetual memorial to the grand truth that what God prophesies through his prophets will surely come to pass. "Thy wife will be a harlot" Such a result as this would have been an inevitable consequence of the great

Zechariah 4:6 — in my commentary on Hebrews, pp. 181-183.) Watts thought that this candlestick represents "The Lord's presence and blessing in the holy offices of the Temple."John D. W. Watts, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 7 (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1972), p. 323 However, this vision does not show the candlestick as being in any kind of building or enclosure whatever. Besides that, God's presence never pertained to the second temple at all, and only typically in the first. Gill properly discerned the

Matthew 12:40 — the conviction that the expression is a Hebrew idiom referring to any part of three days and nights which included an entire day, the two nights on either side of it, and portions of the other two days. The present custom of accepting a month to be 28, 30, or 31 days is held to be similar to the Hebrew custom of so loosely determining "three days and three nights." The traditional view that Christ was crucified on Friday and raised on Sunday draws its principal support from Matthew's word

Mark 7:14-16 — and corollaries of such regulations. In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ abolished the commandment which says, "Thou shalt not kill," substituting another in its place; and making anger in the heart to be the equivalent of murder (Matthew 5:21-22). In this exceedingly significant passage, Jesus abolished the laws of diet and ceremonial uncleanness, for the simple reason that these were only external to begin with, designed for teaching spiritual realities, and having been made even more

Mark 8:31 — again. THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE PASSION, THE RESURRECTION, AND THE SECOND COMING This paragraph beginning with Mark 8:31 and continuing through Mark 9:1 is characteristic of Mark in that several unrelated things are gathered together in it, as in Mark 5:21-25. Scholars have a custom of formalizing three definite announcements of Jesus' approaching death, resurrection, and second coming; and despite the fact of Matthew's detailing three distinct occasions when such prophecies were given (Matthew 16:21;