Bible Commentaries

Exodus 3:4-5 — said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." "God called to him" This makes it necessary to view the Angel of Jehovah (Exodus 3:2) as none other than God Himself. "Moses, Moses" Such double use of a man's name always implied very unusual urgency and importance. It was the case with Samuel (1 Samuel 3:10), and with Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:4). "Put off thy shoes" The holiness of

Psalms 16:1-4 — who is truly righteous includes the following: (1)    God is the object of his trust; he takes refuge in Him (Psalms 16:1). (2)    Yahweh is his sovereign lord, beyond whom there is no good thing (Psalms 16:2). (3)    He acknowledges the value and fellowship of the saints (Psalms 16:3). (4)    He shuns all false worship (Psalms 16:4).Leslie S. McCaw, The New Bible Commentary, Revised (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,

Ecclesiastes 9:7-10 — Epicureanism. "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die." This philosophy is absolutely worthless, unless death is the end of everything. As Paul stated it, "If the dead are not raised up, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" (1 Corinthians 15:32). Solomon has repeatedly advocated this doctrine, not only here, but in Ecclesiastes 1:9; Ecclesiastes 1:15; Ecclesiastes 3:1-9; and in Ecclesiastes 3:14-15. This was evidently the position that he accepted during the days of his apostasy. One question

Isaiah 24:1-3 — consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea… and I will cut off man from the face of the ground, saith Jehovah" (Zephaniah 1:2-3). The last clause here is equivalent to: "I will wipe this Adamic race off the face of the earth." What Isaiah prophesies here might indeed be the prelude to the ultimate destruction promised. As Cheyne said, "The mysteriousness of the language ought

Isaiah 45:4-7 — part was apparently motivated by three considerations: (1) that Cyrus, the most powerful monarch on earth, might acknowledge the true God; (2) that Israel might be benefited and continued as a separate nation by the termination of their captivity; and (3) that the attention of all the world might be attracted, and that the unity of God might be manifested to all the earth.The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 1Ob, p. 173. These objectives were fully realized. Cyrus did indeed acknowledge God. "The hand of Jehovah

Ezekiel 6:11-14 — from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations; and they shall know that I am Jehovah." "Smite with thy hand" This refers to what is called "clapping the hands." Cook states that it was a well known method of expressing grief.B, p. 319. Some understand the hand clapping and stamping here as expressions of Joy on the part of the prophet for God's punishment of Israel, but we prefer the view that they express grief, concern, and sorrow over the impending destruction. Plumptre notes

Ezekiel 7:5-9 — will bring upon thee according to thy ways; and all thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I, Jehovah, do smite." TROUBLE UPON TOP OF TROUBLE FOR SINNERS Ezekiel 7:8-9 here are almost a verbatim repetition of Ezekiel 7:3-4. "An evil, an only evil" "This means an evil without precedent or parallel."Matthew Henry Commentary (Westwood, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell), p. 785. "It waketh for thee" The judgment against Israel is here personified, "as long slumbering, but

Habakkuk 1:13 — supposed that this spoke of the relative righteousness of Judah as a whole and that of the Babylonians, and this certainly may be true, for it was a fact. The forthcoming invaders would be worse than "the evening wolves" who were Judah's judges (Zephaniah 3:3); but despite this, it is very likely that "the righteous remnant" constituting the true Israel of God in all ages was the group referred to here. Deane, Keil, and Delitzsch believed that, "The persons intended are the godly portion of Israel." W.

Zephaniah 3:14-15 — Israel" (John 1:48). Dummelow and others missed the significance here in their complaint that, "Not the Messiah, but Jehovah himself is the promised King and Deliverer."J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 595. But why should this be hailed as something different? Is not Jesus Christ himself God come in the flesh? Of course, he is; and John's gospel is totally dedicated to proving that very point; and Nathaniel's great confession hailing Christ

Zechariah 11:2-3 — ones are destroyed: wail, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest is come down. A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! for their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! for the pride of the Jordan is laid waste." Zechariah 11:3 "explains Zechariah 11:2. The cedars, firs, and oaks are the false shepherds of Israel, "the goodly ones" who possessed the wealth and glory of Israel and whom Jesus himself spoke of in the parable as "rich, clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring

Matthew 17:20-21 — seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. The reasons for the apostles' failure were (1) their lack of faith, (2) the double difficulty of the case at hand, and (3) their failure to exercise the privilege of prayer and fasting. At this place in Matthew, some very ancient authorities include Matthew 17:21 which reads, "But this kind goeth not out save by prayer and fasting." Mark 9:29 reads, "This

Matthew 28:16 — located, nor, for that matter, why Christ should have selected any location in Galilee. Christ made an appointment to meet his disciples in Galilee, and that appointment HE KEPT. He kept it in spite of: (1) his sleeping disciples, (2) his betrayal, (3) their forsaking him, (4) his death, (5)his burial, (6) Peter's denial, (7) the big lie, and (8) the unbelief of many. The only persons who did not meet Christ on that mount in Galilee are those who did not go there to keep their appointment. In like

Mark 1:2-3 — kind does to some critics, all of whom are dramatically reminded by such a passage that the sacred authors were untroubled by many of the punctilious rules so much respected and slavishly followed by themselves. The passage from Isaiah is Isaiah 40:3, a great prophecy which included in its many implications the prophecy in Malachi 3:1. As Bickersteth said: The oracle of Malachi is, in fact, contained in the oracle of Isaiah; for what Malachi predicted, the same had Isaiah more clearly and concisely

Luke 23:36-37 — him vinegar, and saying, If thou art the King of the Jews, save thyself. Spence observed that there were three instances of vinegar being offered to Jesus, as follows: (1) There was a draught prepared with narcotics and stupefying drugs (Matthew 27:34), which Jesus refused. (2) The one here mentioned in Luke…was one of the tortures of the crucifixion, (the soldiers) lifting sour wine to his lips and then whisking it rapidly away. (3) The third was when the Lord was almost exhausted (John

John 11:2 — house of Simon the Pharisee is rejected. There were at least two anointings of Jesus, possibly three; and the Roman Catholic interpretation of melding all three into one is without doubt incorrect. John here identified this Mary with the one in Mark 14:3-9, the event recorded there taking place in the home of Simon the leper; and there is no basis for supposing that he was the same as Simon the Pharisee.

John 3:33 — Jesus that "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased"; and John here asserted his unwavering confidence in God's witness of Christ. He that receiveth his witness … contrasts with "no man receiveth his witness" in John 3:32, leading to the conclusion that John the Baptist here spoke of himself. Those who see something here that is "certainly beyond the scope of John's ministry or message"H. R. Reynolds, op. cit., p. 134. would appear to have been reading

Acts 1:10 — Anyone appearing to leave the earth's surface must appear to spectators to be ascending. Ibid., p. 41. Two men … in white … These were angels, so identified from their dazzling apparel, as frequently spoken of in Scripture (Matthew 28:3; John 20:12).

Acts 14:2 — "believing" in such passages as anything other than a short form for believing and rendering obedience to the gospel. The apostle John said, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life" (John 3:36).

1 Corinthians 3:17 — church. In context, this was a terrible warning to the Corinthians, but it applies to all who ever became a part of God's church. As Grosheide declared: "It is clear that the judgment of God is meant; it may refer to suffering loss (1 Corinthians 3:15), but also to eternal life." F. W. Grosheide, op. cit., p. 89.

Judges 3:19-22 — here is, "Sculptured stones near Gilgal, meaning `graven images' or `carvings' - perhaps the figures carved on the standing stones from which Gilgal received its name."J. A. Soggin's Commentary on Judges, p. 50. The same word is used again in Judges 3:26. "Keep silence" Bruce tells us that this is "An onomatopoeic word,"The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 260. that is, a word based upon its resemblance to some sound, such as `bow wow,' `splash' or `bang.' In this light, the word here was probably