Bible Commentaries

Genesis 3:20 — "And the man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living." We observed the obvious reason for the inclusion of this verse in the discussion of Genesis 3:15, above. This verse also has the utility of emphasizing that Adam and Eve were the first humans on earth, and that all subsequent generations of the human family descended from them, a fact also inherent in the apostolic injunction that God "made of one," all the families of men to dwell on the earth (Acts 17:26).

Exodus 8 overview — appear: (1)    in the recognition by Pharaoh of Moses and Aaron as God's spokesmen, not as the malcontent slaves that he at first took them to be, (2)    in Pharaoh's growing acquaintance with Jehovah whom he at first professed not to know, and (3)    in the first of a series of compromises in which Pharaoh sought to avoid the inevitable.

2 Kings 18:1-8 — him not. He smote the Philistines unto Gaza and the borders thereof from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city." "His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah" "Thirty O.T. characters bore the name Zechariah."Everyone in the Bible, p. 362. "He removed the high places" Whitcomb gives us a summary of the reforms of Hezekiah: "(1) He opened the temple doors which Ahaz had closed (2 Chronicles 28:24; 2 Chronicles 29:3); (2) He ordered the cleansing of the temple (2 Chronicles 29:4-19);

Ezra 3:1-5 — were consecrated, and of every one that offered a freewill-offering unto Jehovah." "And when the seventh month was come" "This was the month Tishri, corresponding to our September-October."H. Porter in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p. 532. "This was the first day of the month (Ezra 3:6), The Feast of Trumpets (Numbers 29:1-6), a foreshadowing of Israel's final regathering. Assuming a two-year delay in the beginning of the journey from Babylon after Cyrus' decree, this would have been

Job 17 overview — broken, and he passes suddenly from one thing to another, as is usual with men in trouble. He pictures himself as a despised man, a man of sorrows, full of misery, abandoned by his friends, and crying to God for mercy."George DeHoff's Commentary, Vol. 3, p. 41. Rowley noted that the triple formation in verse 1 indicates that, "Job was speaking in great emotional strain."New Century Bible Commentary, Job, p. 122.

Proverbs 10:19 — (TOY), and "The wise man guardeth his tongue." (FRANK).The Cross-Reference Bible (New York: The Cross-Reference Bible Company, 1910), p.1128. The New Testament elaborates this warning. "If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man" (James 3:1-13).

Amos 5:3 — that which went forth a hundred shall have ten left, to the house of Israel." Military defeat and the near-total destruction of Israel's reservoir of fighting men are sternly indicated by this. This portion of Amos' lament continues in the stylized 3 + 2 metre; and, "Some scholars have imagined that Amos actually put on the garb of a professional mourner and sang this song in Samaria and Bethel."Ralph L. Smith, op. cit., p. 108.

Matthew 25:14 — unto each one of his disciples certain talents and abilities, along with responsibility for the due exercise of them. The proper ownership of all things is the Lord's, since both the servants and the goods they received were his. A glance at John 14:1-3 and Hebrews 9:23-28 will show that Christ has gone into "another country."

Luke 8:31 — And they entreated him that he would not command them to depart into the abyss. As Ash observed: The demons recognized that when Jesus commanded they must obey, and that the abyss was the fate for which they were destined (cf. Revelation 9:1-11; Revelation 11:7; Revelation 17:8; and Revelation 20:1-3). The ABYSS symbolized the chaos in opposition to which the world was fashioned (Genesis 1:2).Anthony Lee Ash, The Gospel according to Luke (Austin, Texas: Sweet Publishing Company, 1972), p. 145.

John 14:20 — In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. Here is the whole prospectus of God's kingdom in embryo, making this verse rank with Genesis 3:15 as a statement of the whole plan of salvation. Here is the achievement of God's righteousness, the secret of justification, and the basis of the redeemed's avoidance of judgment — the whole works; it's all here! Ye in me … God's way

Acts 1:2 — received up … This statement makes the ascension of Jesus Christ to have been something God did for Jesus, and not something that Jesus did himself. This corresponds with Daniel's prophecy that "they brought him near before him" (Daniel 7:13), and also with the mandatory deduction from Luke's parable of the pounds to the effect that Jesus did not "set up" a kingdom, but he "received" one as a gift from the Father. It is often alleged that only Luke and Mark mention the

Romans 3:7-8 — Christians did not so judge Paul. Lenski's view that "from verse I onward, Paul addresses the Roman Christians" R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans (Minneapolis, Minnesota: Augsburg Publishing House, 1963), p. 219. cannot be true, for there is no way to put the charge of falsehood against Paul in the mouths of any kind of Christians, much less those whom Paul had never met, as a body, and who are addressed in this epistle. The misunderstanding of some

Romans 9:8 — which, namely, Isaac, was his true seed, all the others being rejected. Just so it is today, Paul was saying, not merely the fleshly children of Abraham are his seed, but the children of the promise, this reference to the promise pointing to Genesis 12:3, where not Jews only, but "all the families of the earth" were to be blessed. Children of promise … has in view the fact that Isaac was not born in the due course of nature, but in respect of God's promise, which was providentially

1 Corinthians 11:7-9 — reasons assigned to support his words. In these verses, the big thing in view is the eternal propriety of woman's submission to her husband, a subject already in Paul's mind, from the reference to "man as the head of woman" (1 Corinthians 11:3). The facts of creation reveal that: (1) woman was taken out of man, (2) she was given to man, (3) she was created for man, and (4) she was intended to be the glory of man. The scandalous behavior of the Corinthian women had contravened God's purpose

1 Corinthians 9 overview — This whole chapter is devoted to the discussion of the rights of an apostle, and by extension, the rights of ministers of the gospel to support by their congregations, seven distinct and convincing arguments being given (1 Corinthians 9:1-14), with the remaining part of the chapter being taken up by Paul's explanation of why, in his own case, he did not compel the honoring of such right by the Corinthians. It begins with a pointed proof of his being a genuine apostle (1 Corinthians 9:1-3).

Colossians 1 overview — important chapters in the Holy Writ, because of the Christology which reaches a climax of surpassing importance in Colossians 1:28. It begins with the usual Pauline greetings (Colossians 1:1-2) and occasions of thanksgiving for the Colossians (Colossians 1:3-8); next comes a profound paragraph on the preeminence of the Son of God (Colossians 1:9-23), and then the superb mention of the mystery and the secret of human perfection to be achieved "in Christ" (Colossians 1:24-29).

1 Timothy 6 overview — This final chapter has a pungent paragraph on the reciprocal duties of slaves and masters (1 Timothy 6:1-2), stern warnings against senseless disputations and covetousness (1 Timothy 6:3-10), a beautiful admonition for the man of God to live a life worthy of the good confession (1 Timothy 6:11-12), a great Christological doxology (1 Timothy 6:13-16), instructions for the rich Christians in Ephesus (1 Timothy 6:17-19), and the final

1 Timothy 6:12 — agreed that "this seems to point clearly to his baptism," adding that "The good confession in view here is that of Christ himself confessing himself the Son of God (Mark 14:62), which is analogous to the baptismal confession of Acts 8:37 (KJV and ASV margin)." A. C. Hervey, op. cit., p. 122. THE GOOD CONFESSION Why is this called the good confession twice in a single short paragraph? 1.    It is the good confession because Christ made it, under oath (Mark 14:62),

Judges 2 overview — ISRAEL GETS THE BAD NEWS AT BOCHIM This chapter and through Judges 3:6 are a continuation of the preface of Judges, and as Keil observed, all of this material may be considered as an absolute unity with the rest of the Book of Judges. There is no Deuteronomic introduction interpolated here into the main text! "The arguments

Judges 5:31 — "So let all thine enemies perish, O Jehovah: But let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years" These verses state the great spiritual lesson of the Song. "The enemies of the Lord will perish like the host of Sisera; but all that love our Lord Jesus Christ shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father (Matthew 13:43; Daniel 12:3)."Albert Barnes, Notes on Bible Books, op. cit., p. 430.