Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 7:1-8 — course, was not done for Solomon's house! The simple fact remains that Solomon spent nearly twice as much time building his own house as he did the Temple, and presumably twice as much money! Remember the thirteen year's labor of that battalion of 150,000 slaves! Scholars do not agree as to the nature of this construction, whether it was all in one big complex compound, or if some of the buildings were separated. It is not known why one wife out of the 700 Solomon married should have been singled

Psalms 21:5-6 — blessed forever: Thou makest him glad with joy in thy presence." These verses abundantly confirm the interpretation of "eternal life" which we understand to be the meaning of Psalms 21:4, above. "Honor and majesty dost thou lay upon him" (Psalms 21:5). What is indicated here according to Dahood (in The Anchor Bible) is, "A characteristic attribute of the (pagan) gods, consisting of a dazzling aureole or nimbus which surrounds divinity."Ibid., p. 132. This connotation of the terminology here fully

Leviticus 18:1-5 — God" This preamble also closes the section (Leviticus 18:30), indicating the covenant nature of the instructions. It occurs frequently in Leviticus and also in Numbers and Deuteronomy. Almost exactly the same words occur in Exodus 20:2 and Deuteronomy 5:6. "After the doings of the land of Egypt… of the land of Canaan" The gross sexual wickedness of both Egypt and the land of Canaan were extensively documented, not only in the Bible, but also in non-Biblical literature. The usual retrospective

Leviticus 8:22-29 — Priest, he was not yet ready to make atonement for Israel. This typifies the fact that the great Captain of our Salvation was made perfect to perform the Great Atonement on Calvary by suffering. God would make Jesus to be sin upon our behalf (See Hebrews 5:8-9 and 2 Corinthians 5:21). To portray this, Aaron must be accounted as a leper, and touched all over by the cleansing blood before he can fulfill his office!

Isaiah 51:4-8 — and always, the persons of like faith and character of Abraham. Both Lowth and Adam Clarke who quoted him correctly rendered the word here "O my peoples." adding that, "The address here is not to Jews but to Gentiles."Robert Lowth's Commentary, p. 355. Two additional meanings of "righteousness" appear in Isaiah 51:4-5; it means "justice" in Isaiah 51:4, and "salvation" in Isaiah 51:5. "It means here the faithful completion of God's promise to deliver his people."Ibid., p. 355. See also Footnote

Isaiah 56:3-5 — my covenant: Unto them will I give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." Notice that the words "hold fast my covenant" in Isaiah 56:4 are the same as "keeping the sabbath days," thus a reference to their keeping the whole law of Moses. Why this special reference to "foreigners" and to "eunuchs"? Isaiah had already prophesied, "That a certain number of the seed of Hezekiah would

Amos 6:6 — abhorrence. It will be recalled that for a similar offence of drinking from the sacred vessels robbed from the temple in Jerusalem, Belshazzar was punished by a summary judgment from God; and the kingdom was torn away from him in the same night (Daniel 5:1-25). "And anoint themselves with the chief oils" Hammershaimb assures us that the word for chief oils (or first oils) could also "be taken with the meaning of firstfruits; their sin would then be that they have anointed themselves with the firstfruits

Malachi 4:6 — "And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers; lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." All except the last clause of this verse was discussed in the notes on the preceding Malachi 4:5. "Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse" This verse could not have been written by any Jew who ever lived, except by the true prophet of God, Malachi. That no pious scribe, editor, or interpolator wrote it is inherent in the fact that Jews have

Matthew 10:2-4 — Thomas, and Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. There are four listings of the Twelve in the New Testament, always occurring in groups of four, with positions 1, 5, and 9 always listing Peter, Philip, and James the son of Alphaeus in that order. See Mark 3:13; Luke 6:12; Acts 1:13. From this, it is conjectured that Peter, Philip, and James the son of Alphaeus were the respective leaders in each of their groups

John 11:43 — with the raising of Lazarus. It is written that there will be a mighty "shout" at the final resurrection (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Come forth … The final resurrection will be accomplished upon the pronouncement of this very command (John 5:20). The fact of Jesus so long previous to this sign having given the very words that he would use in doing such a wonder is very significant. This was Jesus' greatest wonder, aside from his own resurrection. Lazarus … Why this use of Lazarus'

John 18:31 — state … They only applied to Pilate to persuade him that they were proceeding against Christ as an enemy of the state, and not as a transgressor of their own laws. Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Holy Bible (London: Mason and Lane, 1837), Vol. 5, p. 645. Clarke was surely wrong in this opinion. See John 19:7.

Acts 16:7-8 — passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. Mysia … was at the northern border between Asia and Bithynia; but when Paul would have passed through Asia into Bithynia, he was again forbidden by the Spirit of God. For more on Troas, see under Acts 20:5. Spirit of Jesus … The Spirit of Jesus is here recognized as exactly the same as the Spirit of God, indicating forcefully that the full deity and godhead of Jesus Christ was fully accepted and received by the Christians at that mid-point of the

Romans 10:5 — For Moses writeth that the man that doeth the righteousness which is of the law shall live thereby. This quotation from Leviticus 18:5 is further indication that the "righteousness" in view here regards keeping God's commandments. The person who kept that ancient law was indeed righteous, a fact which is modified by the truth that none save Jesus Christ ever kept it perfectly.

Romans 3:13 — Their throat is an open sepulchre; With their tongues they have used deceit: The poison of asps is under their lips. This progression to sins against fellow creatures was introduced by the last clause of Romans 3:12, quoted from Psalms 53:2. Paul did not invent this charge of wickedness, but only read it out of the Old Testament, the indictment being further detailed and stated in Psalms 5:9; Psalms 140:3. The figure of speech here shows how utterly repugnant to God was their unprincipled

Romans 5:18 — righteous act (of sending Christ), came the justification of life. Of course, Christ is indeed God's free gift; but not the freedom of that gift, but its righteousness, is what Paul stated here. This is the great proposition Paul began to state at Romans 5:12. Just as a single act of Adam resulted in universal death to all mankind (as applied to natural death only), so God's one righteous act of giving his only begotten Son, the second Adam, brought life to all people, physical life to all since he came,

Romans 6:21 — What fruit then had ye at that time in the things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. Here is another inducement for the disciples to proceed in the development of holy lives (a growing process; see under Romans 6:5). Think of sin objectively, what good is it anyway? What fruit comes of impiety and licentiousness, except death? The so-called "pleasures" of sin; what are they except the fever of passion-torn souls? The prior behavior of the Christians

Colossians 3:16 — admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God. Let the word of Christ dwell in you … The significance of this has already been noted under Colossians 1:27, above and under Galatians 5:23. Briefly, the word of Christ dwelling in a person is equivalent in every way to the Spirit of God dwelling in him. If it be objected that the Spirit is a living Person, then let it be remembered also that the word of God is spoken of as "living

1 Timothy 6:12 — make it and live. 2.    It is the good confession because God himself made it three times, speaking out of heaven in broad open daylight, namely, (1) at the baptism of Christ (Matthew 3:17), (2) at the transfiguration (Matthew 17:5), and (3) when the Greeks came to see Jesus (John 12:28). 3.    It is the good confession because all men, evil and righteous alike, shall at last make the good confession (Philippians 2:11). Since all must make it EVENTUALLY, why

Hebrews 12:3 — sinners" is no mere reminder of such things as the Lord experienced, but a warning for Christians to be on guard against the same kind of opposition today. The victory which the Lord promised his followers over "gainsayers" (Luke 21:15) derives from the knowledge of the scriptures (Titus 1:9) and was listed as one of the qualifications of an elder. Gainsaying is a verbal attack upon a believer for the purpose of destroying his faith, and it means "to oppose, contradict, deny,

2 Samuel 2:8-11 — very well have been true; however, we believe Clarke's explanation is the better one. "The time that David was king in Hebron… seven years and six months" "The length of David's reign in Hebron as given here coincides with the data in 2 Samuel 5:5, and we have no reason to doubt its correctness."International Critical Commentary, op. cit., p. 269. We have noted that the original name of Ishbosheth was Eshbaal. Young notes that, "Hebrew names were often compounded with `Baal,' that of the old