Bible Commentaries

Exodus 4:21 — and willful sin inevitably leads to God's judgmental action against the sinner, not upon some distant day of judgment, but in the sinner's lifetime. "God hardens his heart." Such sinners are penalized. "Their senseless hearts are darkened" (Romans 1:21). "God gives them up!" (Romans 1:24; Romans 1:26; Romans 1:28). This is called judicial hardening. (We have often addressed this problem in our series. See my commentary on Romans at Romans 1:28; Romans 1:32; Romans 11:7. Also see my comments at Genesis

Job 13 overview — JOB'S FOURTH DISCOURSE CONTINUED There are three divisions in this chapter: (1) He accuses his "comforters" of forging lies (Job 13:1-12); (2) he again affirms his uprightness and righteousness (Job 13:13-19); and (3) he proclaimed his submissiveness to God's will (Job 13:20-28). This third paragraph was called by Scherer, "A new attack upon God";The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 3, p. 997. but, of course, it is no such thing.

Proverbs 10:30 — "The righteous shall never be removed; But the wicked shall not dwell in the land." The truth here is eternal in its scope. History affords many examples of the oppression of the righteous and the establishment of wicked populations in every land; but in the destiny of our sin-cursed earth, God has scheduled another chapter. "We look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13).

Leviticus 24:1-4 — olives or pressed them to squeeze out the juice. Then they strained the juice to remove the pulp. Then, when the oil rose to the surface of the juice, they skimmed it off."Robert O. Coleman, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Leviticus (Chicago: Moody Press, 1972), p. 104. "A lamp to burn continually" Based upon such passages as 1 Samuel 3:3, Allis and other dependable scholars limited this to mean "burn continually every night."Oswald T. Allis, New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1970),

Isaiah 29:9-12 — "Pharaoh hardened his heart." Paul mentioned the judicial hardening of the whole pre-Christian Gentile world as caused by the people themselves, citing a number of reasons. (1) They knew God, but because they did not glorify him, nor give thanks (Romans 1:21), their senseless heart was darkened, and they became fools. (2) They perverted and corrupted their knowledge of God (Romans 1:22-23), and… God gave them up to lusts and uncleanness (Romans 1:24). (3) They exchanged the truth of God for a lie,

Jeremiah 31:31 — THE NEW COVENANT "Behold the days come, saith Jehovah, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah." In Vol. 10 (Hebrews) of the New Testament Commentaries, pp. 162-166, one may find additional commentary on the New Covenant. There were several covenants that God made. (1) There was a covenant with Noah (Genesis 6:18; Genesis 9:9); (2) two covenants with Abraham (Genesis 17:2; Genesis 17:10; Genesis 15:18 ff);

Daniel 7:23-25 — important deductions are made mandatory by these words. Note that the "saints" existed throughout the period of the little horn, itself a part of the fourth beast, having arisen out of it. "Shall be diverse" This is twice mentioned - in both Daniel 7:24 and Daniel 7:25. Not all of that diversity is spelled out here; but the New Testament sheds further light upon it. The diversity is seen in that (1) the little horn is a religious kingdom, as indicated by its two horns (of a lamb) (Revelation 13:11);

Matthew 27:53 — it is yet to be discovered.William R. Nicholson, op. cit., p. 63. There are eight resurrections recorded in Scripture, besides the resurrection of Christ which is uniquely different. The other seven are: (1) son of the widow of Sarepta (1 Kings 17); (2) son of the Shunamite (2 Kings 4); (3) the man raised by the bones of Elijah (2 Kings 13); (4) daughter of Jairus (Matthew 9); (5) son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7); (6) Lazarus (John 11); and (7) Dorcas (Acts 9:41). One might also include Eutychus

Matthew 9:7 — And he arose, and departed to his house. Thus, another mighty wonder performed by the Master followed the usual pattern: (1) It was complete. (2) It was immediate. (3) It was accomplished by a mere word. (4) There were no incantations. (5) There was no agonizing. (6) There were no loud prayers. (7) It was totally accomplished with the utmost ease in the presence of his enemies, without prior staging, and without any props.

John 19:41 — was fulfilled by the burial in Joseph's tomb. But what about the grave with the wicked? Here is another example of prophecy supplying details regarding Jesus which are not given in the Gospels (such as the piercing of Jesus' feet mentioned in Psalms 22:16). In the same manner, this prophecy mentions the two graves: (1) one with a rich man (singular), (2) the other with the wicked (plural). Remember that the prophecy speaks of "grave" with the wicked, not merely "death" with the

Romans 8:2 — Christianity in which such terminology is discovered. Paul himself wrote of certain persons who were spoken of as "without law," that is, without Moses' law; but of the same persons, Paul said they were "under law to Christ!' (1 Corinthians 9:21). Thus, freedom from Moses' law does not mean freedom from the higher law "in Christ." All people are under obligation to obey Christ. Paul called such obligations "the law of Christ" (Galatians 6:2); James called them "the

1 Corinthians 4:3-4 — judgment; yea, I judge not mine own self. For I know nothing against myself; yet am I hereby not justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. In this and the following verse, Paul considers the three tribunals of judgment, these being: (1) conscience, (2) the court of public opinion, and (3) the Lord the righteous judge of all people. The supremacy of that court of last resort is dramatically affirmed. The implication of Paul's words here as directed toward the false teacher is as follows: If I do not

1 Corinthians 6:2 — the words "know ye not," which occur ten times in the letters of Paul to the Corinthians, and only twice in all the rest. F. W. Farrar, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), Vol. 19, p. 192. Farrar says that "(these words) are a fitting rebuke for those who took for knowledge their obvious ignorance." Ibid. Furthermore, this expression occurs six times in this chapter in 1 Corinthians 6:2-3; 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Corinthians 6:15-16;

2 Corinthians 2:5 — But if any hath caused sorrow, he hath caused sorrow, not to me, but in part (that I press not too heavily) to you all. The traditional interpretation of this makes it a reference to the incestuous person of 1 Corinthians 5:1-8. McGarvey saw in 2 Corinthians 2:3-5 above a plain hint of the connection between the two passages, since, he said, "By referring to 1 Corinthians 4:21; 1 Corinthians 5:1, it will be seen that the threat of correction at his coming and the case of the incestuous

Philippians 1:1 — might have acted as Paul's secretary." Robert H. Mounce, Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1971), p. 756. Timothy … This name is associated with that of Paul in several other Pauline letters (Colossians 1:1; Philemon 1:1; 2 Corinthians 1:1; and in 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:1). Timothy was deeply interested in the Philippians, having been with Paul when their congregation was established (Acts 16:11-40), and in all probability having visited them again and

Colossians 1:3-4 — letters of that period, each containing an expression of thanks to some pagan deity; but strong agreement is felt with Ashby who declared that Paul's prayers were "no merely conventional opening." The omission of such prayers in Galatians and 2 Corinthians indicates that they were included only when the progress of the converts was a real cause for thanksgiving." Ernest G. Ashby, A New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1969), p. 483. Faith …

Hebrews 9:3 — And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies. The only access to that Holy of Holies was through the veil, a description of which is afforded by Exodus 26:31 ff. It was this veil which was parted in twain from the top to the bottom at the time of our Lord's crucifixion (Matthew 27:51), thus being brought into focus to reveal an astonishing weight of symbolism. THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE The three colors

Revelation 22:16 — I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things for the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the bright, the morning star. Up to this verse, we have been studying God's authentication of this prophecy (Revelation 22:6-15). See outline under Revelation 22:6. This verse through Revelation 22:19 is the authentication of Jesus the Lord. "Revelation again takes on the aspect of a legal document. Note the legal formula, "I Jesus,' showing that Jesus is bearing

1 Samuel 25 overview — DRASTIC CHANGES IN DAVID'S SITUATION The changes referred to in our title of this chapter include (1) the death of the prophet Samuel, David's truest friend and ally; (2) the increasing difficulty of providing supplies for his growing band of followers; (3) the renewal of Saul's efforts to hunt him down and kill him; (4) his withdrawal to the wilderness of Paran; and (5) his acquisition of Nabal's estate through marriage to Abigail.

2 Samuel 15:1-6 — David to his son's intentions. Throughout history, the first step of any man seeking to usurp power was to procure a bodyguard. Herodotus tells us how Pisistratus seized control of Athens by means of that very procedure.The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 2, p. 1122. It was unusual for Israelites to ride in chariots drawn by horses, and the practice was frowned upon by God's prophets. Samuel had warned Israel that their king which they demanded would, "Take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and