Bible Commentaries

Genesis 26:1-5 — 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). God forbade him to go to Egypt and also promised to be with him and protect him in Canaan. "I will establish the oath" This is an exceedingly important

Genesis 33:3-7 — he came near his brother."Thomas Whitelaw, op. cit., p. 399. Willis summarizes the steps that each brother took in the reconciliation: JACOB: (1) he bowed before him seven times (Genesis 33:3); (2) he called himself Esau's servant twice (Genesis 33:5; Genesis 33:14); (3) referred to Esau as his "lord" four times (Genesis 33:8; Genesis 33:13-14); (4) dispatched ahead of time a most impressive present; (5) insisted that Esau keep it (Genesis 33:8-11); and (6) declared that seeing Esau's face was like

Psalms 62:1-4 — tottering fence? They only consult to thrust him down from his dignity; They delight in lies; They bless with their month, but they curse inwardly. (Selah)" The recurrence of the word "only" is of interest in this psalm (Psalms 62:1-2; Psalms 62:4; Psalms 5:6; Psalms 5:9). This word also distinguishes Psalms 39, where it occurs four times, stressing the similarity of these psalms, which Delitzsch designated "twins." Jones has this to say about the use of "only" here. "Only with God does the soul find rest

Leviticus 12:1-5 — 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 symbolical meaning of the number

Isaiah 45:20-25 — Jehovah shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." The Old Israel is hardly in this passage at all, for it is addressed "unto them that escaped of the nations," i.e., to all of the redeemed of the whole earth, as indicated in Isaiah 45:22. Note also that the last two verses here have the expressions "Only in Jehovah," and "In Jehovah shall all the seed of Israel be blessed," these being the exact parallels of the great Pauline conception of salvation "in the Lord," "in Christ," "in

Isaiah 53 overview — glance at these cannot fail to impress any thoughtful student. NAMES AND TITLES: Isaiah prophetically referred to Jesus as Immanuel (Isaiah 7:13); Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6); God's Servant (Isaiah 52:13). Moses referred to him as The Seed of Woman (Genesis 3:15); The Seed (singular) of Abraham (Genesis 28:14, and Galatians 3:16); Shiloh (Genesis 49:10); The Star out of Jacob, The Scepter out of Israel (Numbers 24:17); That Prophet Like Unto Moses

Hosea 10:3 — "Surely now shall they say, We have no king; for we fear not Jehovah; and the king, what can he do for us?" "These verses have caused much discussion,"John Mauchline, The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. VI (New York: Abingdon, 1957), p. 670. as Mauchline said; and the meaning is somewhat ambiguous. "They describe the state of perplexity and resourcelessness which prevailed just before the judgment took place."Ibid. "Surely now shall they say" would appear to be more accurately

Amos 2 overview — The prophecies against eight nations reach their climax in this chapter where the judgments are pronounced against Moab (Amos 2:1-3), against Judah (Amos 2:4-5), and against Israel (Amos 1:6-15), in which the principal thrust of Amos' great prophecy reaches its primary object. It will appear in this chapter that Amos' words were directed against the gross social sins of that era, but also against the sins

Numbers 15:1-10 — wonders why these specifics concerning meal, oil and wine were here spelled out in such detail, it is because "no fixed amounts were prescribed" at the time the laws were given.John Marsh, Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 2, Numbers (New York: Abingdon Press, 1955), p. 215. "The laws here are addressed to the new generation,"T. Carson, New Layman's Bible Commentary, Numbers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), p. 259. the condemned generation apparently being ignored altogether, as indicated by

Matthew 13:40 — As therefore the tares are gathered up and burned with fire; so shall it be in the end of the world. The fire into which the tares will be cast is hell, the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20; Revelation 21:8; Mark 9:44; Matthew 25:41 ff). The ultimate fate of the wicked is a doom so intolerable and overwhelming that Christ came down from heaven and endured the pangs of suffering and death to deliver men from such a fate. Only a fool could set aside such warnings, delivered at

Matthew 2:1 — Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the King, behold, Wisemen came from the east to Jerusalem, saying, (Matthew 2:1) Bethlehem of Judaea distinguishes between the two Bethlehems in Israel. One of them was in Zebulun (Joshua 19:15-16) and the other in Judaea. Micah had firmly foretold the birth of the Messiah in the Judean Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). The word BETHLEHEM means "place of bread"; and it seems quite appropriate that "The Bread of Life" should have been

Matthew 26:58 — might have endured without denying his Lord (John 18:13). Other preconditions that led to Peter's fall are seen in that he: (1) contradicted Jesus' word, (2) relied on his own strength, (3) turned to carnal weapons, (4) sustained the Lord's rebuke, (5) followed afar off, (6) accepted a place in the company of Christ's enemies, and (7) warmed himself at their fire.

Mark 3:28-31 — white and white as black, of making wickedness righteous and righteousness wicked. "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter" (Isaiah 5:20). John Milton expressed it as the soul's deliberate choice, "Evil, be thou my good."John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book IV, i, 110. (b)    Can such a sin be committed today? There is every reason to believe that it can

Mark 5:35 — dead; why bother (with) him any further?" Whether or not this was exactly what they had in mind, that was certainly the attitude of their class. It is as though they had said, "We are already proceeding with the funeral," which from Mark 5:38 it is plain they were actually doing!

Luke 16:20 — sign" recorded by John. In his first open break with the Pharisees, after healing the man at Bethesda, Jesus promised the Pharisees "that greater works than these" the Father would show, that the Pharisees "may marvel" (John 5:20). By such a promise, Jesus meant that he would raise the dead; for he immediately foretold a time when all the dead on earth would "hear the voice of the Son of God, and COME FORTH" (John 5:29), those last two words being exactly the ones

Luke 4:35 — out of him. And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst, he came out of him, having done him no hurt. Again from Ash: The threat of the brow of the hill (Luke 4:29) corresponds to the pinnacle of the temple; the expulsion of the demon (Luke 4:35 f) to the desire of Satan for Jesus' worship; and the catch of fishes (Luke 5:6) to the bread temptation.Anthony Lee Ash, op. cit., p. 83. This correspondence of these wonders to the sequence of temptations endured by Jesus is most beautiful and impressive.

Romans 3:31 — Do we then make the law of none effect through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish the law. This is another case of Paul's using the term "law" without the article, as a glance at the English Revised Version (1885) margin will reveal; nevertheless, the law of Moses would seem to be the principal one in view, though, as explained below, the principle is not limited to that law alone. Faith cannot void any law. The statement, like many in the word of God, is true

Romans 3:7-8 — of salvation by grace, which subject he had not even presented at this point in the epistle; but he is still defending the intrinsic righteousness of God. As Murray put it: What then is Paul's answer to the distortion he is dealing with in Romans 3:5-8? We might expect a lengthy argument after the pattern of Paul's rebuttal of the antinomian bias in Romans 6. This we do not find. We must bear in mind that the distortions in view in the respective passages are not identical, though they are similar.

Romans 8:1 — There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Seven times already in this letter, Paul had stressed the significance of being "in Christ." Faith (Romans 3:26), redemption (Romans 3:24), peace (Romans 5:1), rejoicing in God (Romans 5:11), abundance of grace and of the gifts of righteousness (Romans 5:17), being alive unto God (Romans 6:11), and eternal life (Romans 6:22), were all mentioned by Paul as blessings available to man "in Christ"

Hebrews 11:7 — yet, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. By faith Noah, these words introduced the man who built the ark (Genesis 5 through Genesis 10). Noah was in the tenth generation from Adam, descending from Seth through his father Lamech. His name means "rest"; and the scriptures give a favorable account of his life, bearing witness that he was just and upright,