Bible Commentaries

Genesis 47 overview — We shall consider this chapter as embracing ten paragraphs, as follows: (1)    Joseph presents five of his brothers before Pharaoh (Genesis 47:1-4). (2)    Pharaoh confirms the settlement of Israel in Goshen. (3)    Jacob himself had an audience with Pharaoh (Genesis 47:7-10). (4)    Israel's settlement in Goshen was accomplished

Proverbs 9:13-18 — grave. And every man makes his choice of which he shall patronize. Keil noted that, "Folly is here the incarnation of worldly lust."C. F. Keil, Keil-Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), Vol. 6, p. 172. The description of this evil woman stresses her ignorance, noisiness, aggressiveness and persuasiveness. She diligently advocates the sin which she covets. "She knoweth nothing" The text here is a little uncertain, and the RSV reads it, "The woman

Isaiah 60:10-14 — could not possibly be construed as literal, because with gates that never closed night or day, walls would be useless. What is meant is that in the Lord's Kingdom of Messiah, "God openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and none openeth" (Revelation 3:7). People represented here as bowing down to the soles of the feet of the Old Israel is fulfilled in the person of the Ideal Israel, who is Jesus Christ. Since Christ is the New Israel, all of his followers being "in him" and part of him, all who worship

Jeremiah 22:1-9 — Then they shall answer, Because they forsook the covenant of Jehovah their God and worshipped other gods, and served them." "If ye will do this thing indeed" Thompson translated this clause, "If you scrupulously carry out this commission."Ibid., p. 472. "They shall cut down thy choice cedars" "In keeping with the figure of a forest, the destruction of Jerusalem is represented as the hewing down of the choice cedars. The destroyed city will become a monument to God's wrath against the transgressors

Numbers 4:21-28 — the sacred furniture or the sanctuary itself. The words from which "even for a moment" are rendered have the meaning of "even as long as it takes to swallow."John Joseph Owens, Broadman Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, Numbers (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970), p. 96. Orlinsky gave the meaning here as, "They shall not witness the dismantling of the sanctuary."Harry M. Orlinsky, op. cit., p. 226. The duties of the Gershonites included their bearing the curtains and the tent of meeting, the covering of the

Zephaniah 1:5 — worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as practiced by the Assyrians and Babylonians, became common among Jewish idolaters (2 Kings 23:11; Jer. 19:13,32,29; Ezekiel 8:16). As Stephen said, "God turned and gave them up to serve the host of heaven" (Acts 7:42). "And swear by Jehovah and swear by Malcam" Worshipping God and any other god, or anything else, adds up to apostasy. The Jews did in fact mention the true God, but in the same breath they honored and served Baal, Malcam, and other pagan deities.

Luke 11:40 — "fools" include an impressive list of the "respectable." This Pharisee was doubtless hailed by his peers as wise; the arrogant fool of Psalms 14:1 was probably considered unconventional and daring; the man who built on the sand (Matthew 7:26) was probably a respected contractor; the rich farmer who mistook his body for his soul (Luke 12:20) probably had a high social status; and the foolish virgins of the parable (Matthew 25:1 f) were without doubt the cream of their society. This gives

Luke 17:11 — and final of the three references in this long section of Luke, in which it is mentioned that they were on the way to Jerusalem. The three references to the fact that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem are Luke 9:51, Luke 13:22, and this verse Luke 17:11. Ash's comment that "Jesus is always on the way but is no closer to Jerusalem at the last than at the first"Anthony Lee Ash, op. cit., p. 7. discloses an amazing failure to integrate this portion of Luke with the Gospel of John. Robertson

Luke 23:54 — meal would be observed, the following twenty-four hours being, by God's special commandment, also called "a holy convocation" upon which "no servile work" could be done, and having full status as a holy sabbath. See Leviticus 23:7-8; Numbers 28:18; Numbers 28:25, and Exodus 12:16. Since this sabbath was tied to the 15th of Nisan, it could fall on any day of the week; and, in the year 30 A.D., it fell upon Friday, which by Jewish reckoning began at sunset (about the time Jesus

Luke 8:19-21 — God, and do it. HIS MOTHER AND HIS BRETHREN There is no need to suppose that this visit to Jesus by his mother and brethren was due to any sinister purpose on their part. It is true that, at first, Jesus' brothers did not fully believe in Christ (John 7:3); but, as Summers noted. "There is nothing else in the Gospels to indicate her (Mary's) opposition to what he was doing."Ibid., p. 95. Nor is there anything to the contrary here. As Hobbs put it, "In all likelihood they merely came

John 13:33 — the Lord. This tender address and the circumstances under which it was used endeared the words to John who made them a permanent part of his vocabulary (1 John 2:1; 1 John 2:12; 1 John 2:18; 1 John 2:28 etc.). As I said unto the Jews … See John 7:34 and John 8:21-22. In those instances, Jesus referred to the eternal impossibility of wicked men having fellowship with himself; but here he referred to the temporary separation of the Lord from the disciples by reason of his approaching death and

Acts 1:6 — of Israel, or at any other time, contained in the purpose of God for Israel. Even the kingdom of Saul, David, and Solomon, which God permitted but never approved, was from its inception a rejection of God's government of the chosen people (1 Samuel 8:7). Israel's desire for the restoration of THAT kingdom blinded their eyes to the Christ; and here it is evident that even the sacred Twelve themselves were contaminated with the earthly kingdom virus! McGarvey's deduction from this passage is significant.

Acts 16:5 — that day by their efforts to subvert Christianity by mixing elements of Judaism with it; and the issue would not be effectively removed until the armies of Vespasian and Titus removed the Jewish state, the daily sacrifices, and the temple itself in 70 A.D., a full twenty years later. The books of Hebrews and Romans were addressed, in part, to this very issue; and Galatians, written about this time (50 A.D.), is full of it. How strange it is that the Judaizers have never disappeared. Even now, nearly

Acts 26:32 — persecuted Paul or denied him justice: Ananias "the whited wall" was out of office in two years, and murdered by his own people within a decade. Felix was recalled within two years; and he and his family perished in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Drusilla perished with her husband Felix and her son in the same eruption. Bernice fell into public disgrace in Rome. Festus died within two years of denying Paul justice. The Sanhedrin was destroyed forever by the Jewish War ending with the sack

2 Corinthians 2:7-8 — notion of some, going all the way back to Tertullian, that the man's sin was in any sense unforgivable is founded on a lack of perceiving the fact that the blood of Jesus Christ is more than sufficient to the cleansing of "all sin" (1 John 1:7), even of Christians. As a matter of truth, the incestuous person was hardly any greater sinner than many of the other Corinthians (1 Corinthians 6:8-11). The failure to believe Paul was here speaking of the incestuous person also stems from the failure

Galatians 1:2-3 — on the contrary, as Wesley put it, "This phrase must be regarded as belonging exclusively to the greeting, and not to the exhortations which follow it. John Wesley, One Volume New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1972), in loco. It is pointless to speculate on the identity of these "brethren." We simply do not know. Churches of Galatia… It is remarkable that Paul did not address them as churches "of God" or "of Christ," possibly

Philippians 3:3 — … Christians, not those fleshly descendants of Abraham, are the true Israel of God. This is a theme which Paul developed extensively in Romans; and for a further discussion of this subject see my Commentary on Romans, Romans 2:25 ff and Romans 9:7 ff. MacKnight's paraphrase of this is: The Judaizers, being destitute of the qualities signified by circumcision, have no title to the name and should be shunned. But we are the true circumcision, who worship God in Spirit and in truth, and boast in

Joshua 7:22-26 — commanded the execution here carried out. Unger's comment is: "Did Achan's family share in his death? Apparently, but Deuteronomy 24:16 clearly prohibits innocent people from being put to death for a relative's crime. The plural pronoun `them" in Joshua 7:25 may refer grammatically only to Achan's possessions, and Joshua 22:20 may refer to the thirty-six men who perished because of Achan's sin. Korah's relatives were spared (Numbers 16)."Merrill F. Unger, op. cit., p. 293. Rea stressed the fact that

Colossians 3:13 — "Christ" in mind here; but the tenderness of some translators to the implications of this doubtless influenced some of them. The Jews believed, and the Pharisees stated it bluntly to Jesus, that "Who can forgive sins but one, even God?" (Mark 2:7), receiving no contradiction at all from the Christ. Thus Paul's statement here to the effect that Christ forgave us is fully equivalent to an affirmation of his deity. Roy F. Osborne stated in a sermon that there are only three possible reasons for

Hebrews 11:7 — and buttressed by the powerful collateral motives of hope and fear. Man's concept of love can never be more than fragmentary, anyway; and his love of God should be expanded to include the vision of a God who is angry with the wicked every day (Psalms 7:11), whose wrath is revealed from heaven "against all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men" (Romans 1:18), and who will "by no means clear the guilty"! (Exodus 34:7). Noah prepared an ark … This shows that Noah was not saved