Bible Commentaries

Psalms 63:5-6 — "My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; And my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips. When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches." The soul of David in Psalms 63:1 "thirsted" for God, but here the metaphor of physical hunger is employed to describe the soul's overwhelming desire for God and his healing fellowship. Jesus himself adopted both of these metaphors in the Sermon on the Mount. "Blessed are they that

Proverbs 15:16 — with the fear of Jehovah, Than great treasures and trouble therewith." "The trouble mentioned in the second clause is a reference to the anxieties and perplexities attending wealth held by worldlings."Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary, p. 396. Deane agreed that the trouble here is, "The anxiety attending the pursuit and preservation of wealth."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 9, p. 193. Christ warned us that it is difficult indeed for a rich man to be saved (Matthew 19:23); and an apostle tells

Proverbs 15:25 — But he will establish the border of the widow." "The house of the proud Jave rooteth out, and he establisheth the landmark of the widow."C. F. Keil, Keil-Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), Vol. 6, p. 329. The background of this is the partition of the promised land among the various tribes as their perpetual inheritance. The magnificent palaces of the proud, which are, in fact, monuments to their pride and arrogance are eventually destroyed.

Isaiah 28:7-8 — priest and the prophet reel with strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they stagger with strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so there is no place clean." If Isaiah 28:5-6 are considered as a parenthesis, which they manifestly are, then these words are a continued description of the debaucheries of Ephraim. Some have tried to explain the drunkenness of Ephraim as A "spiritual" error; but the description of reeling, staggering,

Jeremiah 4:23-26 — I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful field was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of Jehovah, and before his fierce anger." The terminology here clearly points to the final judgment. See Zephaniah 1:1-4; Revelation 6:12-17, etc. The lesson would appear to be that the judgment of God repeatedly executed throughout history upon rebellious cities and nations are all typical of the ultimate Judgment of the Final Day.

Ezekiel 10:1-4 — Complete Homiletic Commentary (Funk and Wagnalls), p. 111. "And he spake" The speaker here is the person enthroned, namely, God. The fire spoken of in this passage is far different from the fire of the altar. "That fire spoke of God's grace (Leviticus 6:12-13); here it speaks of the destruction of the wicked."Charles Lee Feinberg in Ezekiel (Moody Press), p. 59. Pearson noted that in Ezekiel 10:2 a singular noun is used to describe the whole complex of whirling wheels, etc., supporting the sapphire

Ezekiel 6:11-14 — emotions.E. H. Plumptre in the Pulpit Commentary, pp. 102,103. "Every high hill… every green tree… every thick oak" "This verse refers to the fertility goddess of Hosea 4:13."Anton T. Pearson in Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1962), p. 716. This is exactly what Jeremiah was speaking of in Jeremiah 2:20; Jeremiah 3:6; Jeremiah 3:13. Ezekiel 6:14 carries God's prophecy of destruction for the total land of the Chosen People. "Diblah" This place is unknown, and scholars have attempted

Daniel 2 overview — occasion for the dream (Daniel 2:1); (2) the king's demand (Daniel 2:2-9), (3) the 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

Zephaniah 1:3 — the divine judgement of the great flood would be included in the final destruction. By such an emphasis as this, Zephaniah shows that, "The approaching judgment will be general over all the earth, and as terrible as the judgment of the flood (Genesis 6:7)."C. F. Keil, Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. 10, Zephaniah (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 127. "I will cut off man from the face of the ground, saith Jehovah" (See Eakin's comment on this sentence given under Zephaniah

Haggai 1:12 — Jesus Christ, there likewise seems to be some important typical aspects of the life of this Joshua. Two visions of him are in the prophecy of Zechariah, that of the attack of Satan against Joshua (Zechariah 3:1-10), and that of the Crown (Zechariah 6:9-15). These will be discussed in the notes on Zechariah. "His father was among the captives at the fall of Jerusalem (586 B.C.), and also his grandfather Seraiah, who was put to death at Riblah (2 Kings 25:18 ff, 1 Chronicles 6:15)."David Francis Roberts,

Matthew 11:21 — own city" (Matthew 9:1). Chorazin is nowhere else mentioned in the New Testament. McGarvey wrote that "When the time came for evangelizing the Gentiles, Tyre and Sidon accepted the gospel, and verified the words of the text" (Acts 21:3-6; Acts 27:3).

Matthew 28:16 — incidental. This meeting, scheduled in advance, at a prearranged place, mentioned twice by Jesus and once by an angel — this meeting was the great appearance. It was attended by over five hundred disciples, as related by Paul (1 Corinthians 15:6), and even infidels have been impressed by Paul's affirmation of that stupendous fact. He mentioned it as an undeniable truth and appealed to the hundreds then living who were witnesses of it, conceding at the same time that some had "fallen asleep."

John 15:4 — "in him" until probation has ended. Jesus did not here elaborate the means by which one is brought into such a sacred relationship with himself; but the New Testament leaves no doubt of how this comes about. Men are baptized into Christ (Romans 6:3; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:27), nor is any other means of entry into Christ disclosed in the sacred Scriptures. See under John 14:20.

John 8:24 — I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. This was another of the "hard sayings" (John 6:60) of Jesus, especially so for the Pharisees. Here is a dogmatic affirmation that forgiveness of sins is possible only for them that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Refusal to believe in him is forfeiture of eternal life. Jesus is the unique source

1 Corinthians 15:28 — Son also himself be subjected to him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be all, in all. It is a gross error to see this passage as reducing in any manner the status of Jesus Christ and his "equality with God" (Philippians 2:6), the thing in view here being the end of Christ's mediatorial office. At the time of his kingdom being united with godhead in heaven, the need of those special devices which were necessary in human redemption shall have disappeared. This verse marks

2 Corinthians 4 overview — Broomall has an interesting outline 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

Philippians 2:14-15 — crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are seen as lights in the world. Murmurings … Here, as practically always in the Scripture, guilt is attached to the vice of murmuring. For a discussion of this sin, see my Commentary on Acts, Acts 6:1. Questionings … would seem to be just one form of murmuring. That ye may become … children of God … As Hendriksen said, "Some commentators fail to see how children of God can in any sense become children of God." William

Colossians 1:17 — Findlay was also impressed with the implications "he is" as used here. He said: In the mouth of a Hebraist like Paul, the coincidence of the doubly emphatic "he is" with the etymological sense of Jehovah, as interpreted in Exodus 3:6, can scarcely be accidental. G. G. Findlay, op. cit., p. 10. There is a glimpse here of the same thought of Hebrews 13:8, regarding him who is the same yesterday, today and forever.

James 1:15 — 53. When man permits his natural desires to dominate his life, he becomes less than a man and sinks to the level of the brute creation. The teaching of this verse is identical with that of Paul who wrote, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

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 what follows. Robert H. Mounce, op. cit., p. 256. Morris