Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 19:1-4 — pagan priests and Elijah, and how it had been terminated in their execution, if she had been anything else except a dedicated enemy of God Himself, she would have renounced paganism and have accepted the true faith in God. "There are eyes so blinded (2 Corinthians 4:4) and hearts so steeled against the truth that no evidence can reach them; and this fierce murderer of the prophets had long been given over to a reprobate mind. She listened to Ahab's account, but her one thought centered on how she

Proverbs 9:1-6 — discovered in recent years, had seven pillars."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 558. "She hath killed her beasts… mingled her wine… furnished her table" The RSV has mixed instead of mingled. "The parable of the Great Supper (Matthew 22; Luke 14) may perhaps be modeled on this passage."Arthur S. Peake, A Commentary on the Bible (London: T. C. and E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1924), p. 402. "There is an evident connection between them."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 559. What is meant

Isaiah 1:3-9 — unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, we should have been like unto Gomorrah." One of the interesting things in this passage is the number of different words used to describe the sins of Israel. They are called rebellion (Isaiah 1:2), ignorance, lack of consideration (Isaiah 1:3), sin, iniquity, evil-doing, corruption, forsaking God, estrangement from God, backsliding (Isaiah 1:4), revolt, transgression, disobedience, sickness, (Isaiah 1:5) and unsoundness (Isaiah 1:6). The wounds

Jeremiah 12:5-6 — what is going to happen to you when you have to pass through the "pride of the Jordan?" You have hardly seen anything at all yet. Buckle your seat belt, the worst is yet to come! This might not be all that God said to Jeremiah, because, in Jeremiah 12:4, it appears that God also might have mentioned the "latter end" of the wicked. Certainly, in the Old Testament, this was the inspired answer to the problem Jeremiah was having with the prosperity of the wicked. The Psalmist was tempted to stumble

Jeremiah 34:1-5 — and Zedekiah's capture was assured, but he was still in a position to procure good terms; and the prophet here laid before him the alternative; but Zedekiah with all the obstinacy of a weak man chose to continue the war, and lost: (1) the kingdom; (2) his eyesight; and (3) his liberty.Barnes' Notes (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House), p. 232. This view, in effect, denies that the prophecy here was fulfilled, due to Zedekiah's violation of the condition implied in the prophecy itself. Ash, Dummelow,

Jeremiah 9:12-16 — known; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them." These verses "are often referred to as the work of Deuteronomic editors";J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archeology (Grand Rapid, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972) p. 312. but this critical fembu is unworthy of any attention. All of the redactors and editors of the radical critics are shadowy creatures of imagination, for whom there exists no dependable evidence whatever. They are the self-made crutches upon

Ezekiel 26:1-6 — trade-routes of the world, able to impose taxes upon all who passed through her borders. The cruel selfishness of those old slave-traders in Tyre led them to look with greedy delight upon any disaster that befell Jerusalem. The word "gate" (Ezekiel 26:2) is often translated "gates"; and Keil believed that, "The plural was used to indicate the folding doors which formed `the gate.'"Carl Friedrich Keil, Keil-Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p.

Daniel 3:24-27 — their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their breeches changed, nor had the smell of fire passed upon them." GOD PRESERVED THEM IN THE FIERY FURNACE This was indeed a miracle fulfilling exactly the Divine promise of Isaiah 43:2. It ranks on a parity with the great plagues by which God accomplished the delivery of Israel from bondage in Egypt. REGARDING MIRACLES A miracle is not merely an astounding wonder. It is a supernatural occurrence designed as a witness of God's redemptive

Joel 2:31 — happened to be in the full."Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VIII, Report of Pontius Pilate to Tiberius Caesar (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1951), p. 463. Similar words are likewise used to describe the final judgment day in Revelation 6:12-17; and therefore, the events connected with the Passion of Christ are most likely symbols of even more terrifying wonders that shall mark the arrival of the Final Assize itself. That those events, foretold by Joel, and mentioned as having already occurred

Amos 2:4-5 — err, after which their fathers did walk. But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. This is that famous "oracle" against the southern kingdom. (See additional comments on this in the Introduction and under Amos 2.) The frantic efforts of critics to get this out of the Bible is based altogether upon a prior bias to the effect that Amos was not all concerned about violations of the Pentateuch (the law of Jehovah), but that he was a prophet like the modern liberals

Jonah 3:3 — worshippers of idols; and Smith may be correct in his remark that, "He obeyed, but with his prejudice as strong as though it had never been humbled, nor met by Gentile nobleness."George Adam Smith, Twelve Prophets, Vol II (New York: Jennings and Graham), p. 529. "Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city" "The past tense shows that the writing belongs to a period after the destruction of Nineveh in 612 B.C."James D. Smart, Interpreter's Bible, Vol. III (New York: Abingdon Press, 1956), p. 888. We consider it

Nahum 2:3 — frequent… tetrameters are common; while a few pentameters appear. Uniformity can be attained only by taking unwarranted liberties with the text!J. M. Powis Smith, International Critical Commentary, Nahum (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1911), p. 327. We have stressed this because some are tempted to receive such man-made poems imposed upon the sacred text as "translations." Nevertheless, some of the poems are valuable as commentary; and herewith we present this passage (Nahum 2:3-10) as it appears

Habakkuk 1:5-6 — among the nations" There was nothing upon the historical horizon that indicated any possibility of a power about to rise up and destroy the Southern Israel, which had already survived the onslaught of the Assyrians which had carried away Samaria in 722 B.C. Something like an entire generation had passed since that disaster, and the southern nation of Israel had, in a sense, accommodated to the world-dominance of Assyria, expecting no trouble from them. Furthermore, Babylon, at the time of Habakkuk,

Matthew 16:18 — letters of gold four feet high inside the massive dome of the Basilica of St. Peters; and it is feared that many have been deceived by this false claim. It is true, of course, that the word [@Petros] (Greek for Peter) means "stone" (John 1:42); but the Greek text itself dispels any possibility of Peter's having been the rock upon which Jesus built the church. In appealing to the Greek, this author does not defer to the opinions of learned men, nor, for that matter, profess any knowledge

Matthew 21:19 — 11:13). This objection disappears in the light of the fact that, of the variety of tree indicated here, the fruit always appeared before the leaves; and that, in view of the leaves, Christ had every reason to expect fruit also.Ibid., pp. 479-480. (2) A second objection is that Christ pretended to look for fruit when he knew there was none. That too is false, because Christ, seeing the tree decked out in full foliage, recognized it instantly as a perfect example of the Jewish religious economy,

Mark 6:3 — word "technician" comes from the same root; thus the villagers' slur unintentionally glorified Jesus as the Master Workman. Chrysostom said that our Lord made plows and yokes, and certainly Jesus referred to both in his teachings (Luke 9:62; Matthew 11:29). As Barclay said, "They despised Jesus because he was a working man."Ibid. In this attitude, the citizens of Nazareth were guilty; but they were not any more guilty than the scholars who suppose that Matthew tried to cover

Acts 2:38 — doctrine, through the change of the context in which the churches have set baptism, DO NOT ARISE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT (italics mine, JBC). They should not be permitted to affect our interpretation of its evidence. G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., pp. 278, 279. Glimpses of the truth appearing in such comments are a vast improvement over many of the wild allegations of the nineteenth century; and it is devoutly hoped that men will come to accept what is so patently stated in the text before us, namely,

Romans 4:23-25 — the similarity of it to what Christians believe. Abraham believed in God's power to raise the dead, a faith which was manifested in the offering of Isaac; Christians believe in the resurrection of the dead: (1) that God raised Christ from the dead; (2) that all shall at last be raised from the dead by Christ (John 5:28-29), and, in the spiritual sense; (3) that all who hear Christ's voice and obey him shall be raised from the deadness of trespasses and sins (John 5:25). In Romans 4:17 Paul specifically

Ephesians 2:11-12 — no part in Israel's national or religious life, and spiritually they had no knowledge of the true God." George E. Harper, A New Testament Commentary, Ephesians (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 463. Also in Ephesians 2:12 (beginning after the words "made by hands") "there is a fivefold negative description with a cumulative effect, the situation becoming graver and more terrible; and the last clause is the climax." W. G. Blaikie, op. cit., p. 63. Wherefore

2 Samuel 13:7-14 — The Interpreter's Bible is totally in error. He alleged that, "Tamar here appealed to usage as the standard of morality. Where no written code of law exists, the one standard of conduct is whether or not a thing is done."The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 2, p. 113. Such a gross error is founded on the critical canard that the Pentateuch did not exist in the times of King David; but Tamar's quotation from Genesis 34:7, just mentioned, is proof enough that it did exist. "Do not force me" "The Hebrew words