Bible Commentaries

Genesis 2:9 — as symbolical, or metaphorical, making it a reference to some unexplained power of God and refusing to allow any efficacy from the eating of some physical tree. All of that may be partially true, but the appearance of the tree of life in Revelation 21—22, and the statement of God Himself in Genesis 3:22 compel us to see something more than mere symbolism. All of the machinery for immortality is in man's body already. The tree of life, whatever it was, had the power to activate and continue

Genesis 26:1-5 — passed since Abraham had solved a similar problem by going into Egypt, it appears that Isaac decided to do the same thing, but God intervened in a special appearance to Isaac, in which the Abrahamic covenant was repeated and reaffirmed to Isaac. Genesis 26:1, here, announced that Isaac went unto Abimelech, but that was not "on the way" to Egypt from Beersheba, and so we must understand Genesis 26:2-5 as a parenthesis explaining why Isaac went to Abimelech (Genesis 26:1) and dwelt in Gerar (Genesis 26:5).

Exodus 11:9-10 — included. The fact that one author names some gods and other authors cite different gods is due to the fact that each wonder confronted and discredited multiple pagan deities. This is Geisler's summary: a.    Bloody water (Exodus 7:12), against the god Nilus, the sacred river god. b.    Frogs (Exodus 8:6), against Hekt, the goddess of reproduction. c.    Lice (gnats) (Exodus 8:17), against Seb, god of the earth. d.    Flies

Exodus 35:1-35 — incense, and onyx stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate. "And let every wise-heartedBetter, "skilled" (Harry M. Orlinsky, Notes on the New Translation of the Torah; Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1969, p. 200). man among you come, and make all that Jehovah hath commanded: the tabernacle, its tent and its covering, its clasps, and its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets; the ark, and the staves thereof, the mercy-seat, and the veil of the screen;

1 Kings 6:1 — Christians. The interest that focuses on this first verse, however, is acute and sustained because of its bearing upon the date of the Exodus. The Encyclopaedia Britannica gives the date of Solomon's enthronement as 974 B. C.;Encyclopdeia Britannica, Vol. 20, p. 952. and thus the fourth year of his reign would have been in the year 970 B.C. Adding 480 years prior to that would therefore place the Exodus in the year 1450 B.C., a date which corresponds almost exactly with the date of 1446 B.C. (which this

Job 2:7-10 — sore boils" "Modern medical opinion is not unanimous in the diagnosis of Job's disease."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 463. Driver and Gray, like many others, identified the disease as Elephantiasis,International Critical Commentary, Job, p. 23. basing their conclusion upon many symptoms of the disease mentioned subsequently in the Book of Job, such as, his fetid breath (Job 19:17), maggots breeding in the sores (Job 7:5), the falling off of the skin (Job 30:30), feelings of terror (Job 3:25;

Psalms 18:18-24 — David, in any sense whatever, was here claiming to be absolutely perfect and sinless in the sight of God, but that he had been forgiven of all sins he had committed and that, at the moment of his deliverance, he was "clean" in "God's eyesight" (Psalms 18:24). Of course, all forgiveness during the dispensation of the Mosaic Covenant was dependent, in the final analysis, upon the ultimate sacrifice of the Christ upon Calvary. However, in the practical sense, "God passed over the sins done aforetime" (Romans

Leviticus 12:1-5 — shall be unclean two weeks, as in her impurity; and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and six days." The appearance here of the "forty" and "double forty" time periods is interesting. To each of the Numbers 33 days (Leviticus 12:4) and 66 days (Leviticus 12:5), one must add the seven days of Leviticus 12:2 and the fourteen days of Leviticus 12:5, making totals of 40 and 80. When a male child was circumcised on the "eighth day," that day was reckoned with the 33. The highly

Leviticus 3:6-11 — this regulation were applied to an American sheep, it would be very surprising, but the mystery disappears when we learn that in the species of sheep common in the Biblical times and places, the tail was very large, reaching a weight equivalent to 15-20% of the weight of the whole sheep, and that it was held to be particularly delicious and desirable as food.Robert Jamieson, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary on the Whole Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1957), p. 436. Also J.

Isaiah 53:4-6 — noted in scripture. The parents of the man born blind, asked, "Who sinned this man, or his parents, that he should have been born blind?" (John 9); and the citizens of Malta attributed Paul's snakebite to the supposed criminality of the apostle (Acts 28:4). This indicates that the terrible and unlawful punishments, even death, that befell Jesus were considered by the people as being the natural result of the sins of Jesus. How wrong and misguided were the people! "Chastisement" Little did Pilate know,

Isaiah 55:1-3 — mercies of David." "Everyone that thirsteth" "It is not improbable that Jesus had his eye on this very passage when he pronounced the blessing upon those who hunger and thirst after righteousness (Matthew 5:6)."Albert Barnes' Commentary, Vol. II, p. 297. The great misunderstanding here is simply that of supposing that the wonderful blessings of the grace and mercy of God are unconditional! Another error is that of limiting the conditions to conform to human theories of salvation, as did Archer: "The

Deuteronomy 17:14-17 — prophecy was most circumstantially fulfilled in the days of Samuel. "The monarchy must be viewed as permitted only, not ordained, by God."Peter E. Cousins, The New Layman's Bible Commentary, Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), p. 299. We reject as absolutely irresponsible, the assertion, "That these verses were written in criticism of a known monarch. He would multiply horses, wives, or money (Deuteronomy 17:16-17). This is a reference to Solomon's activity."G. Ernest Wright,

Deuteronomy 30:1-5 — Babylon."Robert Jamieson, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary, Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House), p. 139. The reasons why the Jews take this position are: (1)    not all of them returned after Babylonian exile; (2)    they had not, at that time, been scattered among all nations; (3)    they were not multiplied above their fathers (Deuteronomy 30:5); (4)    their hearts were not circumcised to love the

Philippians 3:8-9 — (1885), the RSV and most of the so-called modern translations pervert the meaning of this passage by rendering "faith in Christ" instead of "faith of Christ"; and for a justification of the rendition followed here, see under Galatians 2:16, and in the extended note 3 at the end of Galatians 3. And be found in him … The great Pauline expression "in Christ," or as here "in him," which is found more than one hundred fifty times in his letters, identifies the

Hebrews 13:17 — if used as a title. Paul referred to himself and to others as "stewards of the mysteries of God," making such persons a class of men and declaring that "It is required of stewards, that a man be found faithful" (1 Corinthians 4:1-2). Moreover, he said of an "elder," called "bishop" in this verse, that "the bishop must be blameless as God's steward" (Titus 1:7); and the apostle Peter extended the terms to include, at least in some sense, all Christians,

Judges 9:7-21 — between a fable and a parable is that a parable teaches a lesson by mentioning occurrences that actually happened, or at least, could have happened, whereas, the "dramatis personnae" in a fable are animals, trees, etc. This fable and the brief one in 2 Kings 14:9 are the only two fables in the Old Testament. There are tremendous lessons in this fable. The general worthlessness of kings appears in this. "This contempt for the monarchy reflects a very early date for Judges. In this fable, the briar,

Revelation 13:12 — that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose death-stroke was healed. And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight … "This is the head of the beast wounded and restored." William Barclay, op. cit., p. 92. The wounded head was the beast in his sixth worldwide manifestation; namely, the Roman empire. Therefore, this beast is a successor to the sea-beast, being a worldwide dominion over the whole world, "every tribe and people and tongue and nation."

Revelation 16:19 — knew Jesus' prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem; but when Revelation was written, the concern of the Christians regarded Rome, not Jerusalem. Incidentally, this is almost certain proof of the writing of Revelation before Jerusalem was destroyed. 2.    "And the cities of the nations fell …" This explains what was meant by the dividing of the city into three parts; it also illuminates the same figure of "a tenth of the city fell" in Revelation 11:13,

Ruth 2:1-7 — morning until now, save that she tarried a little in the house." "A mighty man of wealth… Boaz" "The Hebrew words from which this is translated are rendered a `mighty man of valour' Judges 11:1"The Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Vol. 7, p. 269. and may be considered as true both ways. The meaning assigned to the name Boaz is, `in him is strength,'Arthur S. Peake Commentary, p. 271. or `strength or fleetness.'All the Men of the Bible, Lockyer, p. 79. His name was assigned to the left pillar

1 Samuel 24:1-7 — Lord's anointed, to put forth my hand against him, seeing he is the Lords anointed." So David persuaded his men with these words, and Saul rose up and left the cave, and went upon his way." A sampling of the critical comment here is that, "1 Samuel 24 and 1 Samuel 26 give two versions of the same story";Arthur S. Peake's Commentary, p. 284. "We have two versions of the same story":International Critical Commentary, Samuel, p. 216. etc. (See my chapter introduction, above, for my response to this