Bible Commentaries

Genesis 30:1-42 — The last paragraph of the preceding chapter and most of this one relate the birth of the Twelve Patriarchs. The last section of this chapter (Genesis 30:24-43) relates Jacob's preparations to leave Laban and return to Canaan. As the birth of the antediluvian patriarchs was discussed earlier and presented by means of a chart, the Twelve Patriarchs of Israel will now be presented in much the same manner.

Ezra 1:1 — men. Isaiah had prophesied the end of Israel's captivity, even foretelling the very name of the key instrument of God in the accomplishment of it, declaring emphatically that Cyrus would accomplish the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple (Isaiah 44:28-45:7). Only those who are blinded by the false axiom of radical critics who deny the possibility of predictive prophecy can accept their unfounded, passionate, and vehement denials of this passage in Isaiah. There it stands! And here in Ezra, as

Jeremiah 33:14 — and made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." (Revelation 1:5,6, KJV). KINGS AND PRIESTS UNTO GOD These are Christians, called by the apostle Peter "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9), and of whom the prophecy declares that "They live and reign with Jesus Christ a thousand years!" (Revelation 20:6). And just who are these? They are those who participated in the "first resurrection." They are those who experienced the new

Ezekiel 16:1 — catching the point of Ezekiel's many prophecies concerning the worthlessness and reprobacy of the "Once Chosen" people. That is the background of this chapter. Ezekiel seized upon the metaphor of the marriage covenant, so dramatically depicted in Hosea 2:2-14, expanded and elaborated it, and made it the startling "Allegory of the Unfaithful Wife," fully meriting the brutal and sadistic punishment of adulteresses in ancient times. This whole chapter was summarized by Halley. "It is a graphic, vivid

Ezekiel 26:1 — AGAINST TYRE It is of interest that, "In the Hebrew Bible, there is a marginal note at the beginning of this chapter, which reads, `half of the book.'"[1] Regarding the date of this chapter, Keil identified it as "the year in which Jerusalem fell."[2] Alexander gave that date as 587-586 B.C.[3] Ezekiel gave more space to God's prophecies against Tyre than did any other sacred writer. The prophecy which begins in this chapter is concluded in Ezekiel 28:19. This may have been due to the importance

Hosea 3:1 — written, intricately coordinated, and as dogmatically confirmed by the history of nearly three millenniums, as any sacred text ever treasured by the human race. The reason why some cannot understand Hosea 3 is that they missed the point in Hosea 2, which was the divorce, depicting God's repudiation of Israel as "the chosen people." No, that was not the end of God's relationship with Israel, that being depicted in the events of this chapter as the status, not of a wife, but as that of a slave

Micah 4:1 — As a matter of fact, they were the "outs" and were the most profoundly blind and deceived scholars that the world had ever known up to that time. "Since Micah was a prophet of doom," none of this happy material in Micah 4 could have come from him![2] This hoary-headed and decrepit objection has been discredited and disproved so often that it is astounding any of the "best scholars" would dare to make it; but as noted above, those who deny this passage are pressed beyond limits. As a matter of

Matthew 1:22-23 — 7:14) fully understood this as applying to the virgin birth of Christ is irrelevant. God’s great prophets did not always know the true meaning of the words God gave them. Peter did not know the full meaning of what he prophesied on Pentecost (Acts 2:38,39); and a miracle was required later (Acts 10) to convince Peter that the Gentiles should be permitted entry into the church. See 1 Peter 1:11,12. In this verse, Matthew uses for the first time an expression found ten times in his gospel and nowhere

Matthew 5:3 — necessary and desirable blessing. The poor in spirit are the opposite of the proud, conceited, arrogant and disdainful. Only the poor in spirit can enter God’s kingdom. Others will never feel their need nor know their poverty until too late. (2) Another conception of the poor in spirit is seen in the account of this beatitude by Luke (Luke 6:20), "Blessed are ye poor." Dummelow expressed it thus, "A Christian, whether rich or poor, must have the spirit of poverty, i.e., he must

Matthew 7:1 — is composed of miscellaneous exhortations and is not easily conformable to any formal outline. Judge not that ye be not judged. The word "judge" in this place is translated from a Greek word, [@krino], also found in such passages as John 12:48; Acts 17:31; and 2 Timothy 4:1, indicating that the type of judging forbidden in this place is that of presuming to determine salvation, or the lack of it, in others. Not even Christ did this while on earth. "I came not to judge the world but

Deuteronomy 12:1 — Here we come to a major division in our study of Deuteronomy. Wright stated that Deuteronomy 12:1 "is the title of this section (Deuteronomy 12:12-28), and we do not encounter another major title until we come to Deuteronomy 29:1."[1] This strongly indicates that Moses considered this rather long section as a unit. Any orderly progression of

Deuteronomy 31:1 — Nothing has frustrated critics any more than this. As Nicholson said, "The most perplexing difficulty in attempting to analyze the literary growth of Deuteronomy is the remarkable homogeneity in language, style, and ideology which pervades the book."[2] To us, such a remark is laughable. What else should the critics have expected of a portion of that larger work called the Pentateuch, which for thousands of years has been universally understood as the writing of Moses? What Nicholson wrote is solid

Deuteronomy 7:1 — This chapter, following the pattern we have already observed, is devoted to a further exposition and comment on the 2nd and 3commandments of the Decalogue. Here Moses extensively warned the Israelites against the idolatry of the land of Canaan into which they were about to enter. In the very first verse of this chapter, we have, "When Jehovah thy God shall bring

Mark 10:35 — in this incident. This was not to "spare the Twelve" as the Markan theorists allege; for Matthew did not spare the Twelve at all, even relating the indignation of the group against "the brethren," not against their mother (Matthew 20:24). Of course, this request was childish in that they supposed Jesus would agree to their request even before they had stated it. The request itself, stated immediately afterward, had all kinds of things wrong with it: (1) It showed a lack of faith

Mark 6:14 — thus spanned the life and public ministry of Jesus: From a family characterized by intrigue and violence, "he appears as a sensual, cunning, capricious, cruel, weak, unscrupulous, superstitious, despotic prince (Matthew 14:9; Luke 3:19; 13:31,32)."<footnote>A. Elwood Sanner, Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1964), p. 320. </footnote> It may well be doubted that this Herod believed in the resurrection of the dead; but a guilty conscience is a strong persuader,

Mark 6:29 — indicated that the murder of John entered into Jesus’ decision to withdraw east of Galilee (Matthew 14:13); and we cannot agree with Cranfield who thought "Matthew misunderstood Mark,"<footnote>C. E. B. Cranfield, op. cit., p. 213. </footnote> as if there had to be only one reason why Jesus withdrew. The reasons for Christ’s withdrawal were complex: (1) He and his disciples needed rest. (2) Jesus needed an opportunity to instruct the Twelve privately. (3) Herod

Romans 11:1 — dominates the entire epistle, especially in its relation to the master theme of God's rectitude; but, beginning with Romans 9, Paul began to lay the ground for the revelation of the mystery concerning Israel which was finally stated formally in Romans 11:25. The key facts which Paul had already established regarding Israel are: (1) they are not all Israel who are of Israel (Romans 9:6), making it clear that there are, and always have been, TWO Israels: (a) the external Israel, the state, the nation,

Romans 4:11 — Christ. There can be neither Jew nor Greek, there can be neither bond nor free, there can be no male and female; for ye are all one man in Christ Jesus. And if ye are Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:27-29). The father of all them that believe ... shows that all of the saved are children of Abraham, both Jews and Gentiles called here circumcision and uncircumcision. We have now dwelt at length upon the great deduction which Paul himself made from

Ephesians 2:2 — walking after this manner regards not the will of God but only the passions, appetites and ambitions of egocentric self. The prince of the powers of the air ... The character in view here is most assuredly Satan, who is called the "god of this world" in 2 Corinthians 4:4, and who was called the "prince of this world" (John 14:30; 16:11) by none other than the Christ himself. Only those who consciously reject the teaching of the New Testament can deny the existence of the personal ruler of this

1 Peter 2:6 — also they were appointed. Behold I lay in Zion ... Zion is the poetic name for Jerusalem; and "The laying of this precious cornerstone in Zion for a foundation signifies that the Christian church, the new temple of God, was to begin in Jerusalem."[21] A chief corner stone ... The type of stone meant here is not the kind usually called by that name today. "It was the stone at the extremity of the angle which controls the design of the edifice and is visible."[22] In the church, Christ is both