Bible Commentaries

Genesis 22:15-16 — thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son." These verses are called "a supplement by a redactor" who decided the sparing of Isaac needed some greater reward than merely having his life spared.John Skinner, op. cit., p. 331. Such an allegation rests solely upon the statement that "Jehovah … called a second time." However, it is characteristic of the Bible that many such instances are given. For example, "The Word of Jehovah came the second time unto Jonah" (Jonah

Genesis 6:22 — building such a monster of a boat. How was he ever going to get 45,000 tons moved in one piece to the water! What a fool they thought him to be! They thought they were condemning him. Actually, it was HE who condemned them (Hebrews 11:7). See also, 1 Peter 3:19.

Exodus 3:6 — to Himself in this message out of the burning bush. Highlighting the designations is that of His identification as "The God of Abraham … Isaac … and Jacob." These names of the great patriarchs are again repeated by God Himself in Exodus 3:15. (We shall return to this in our discussion there.) Jesus Christ himself made the great argument for immortality to rest upon this single verse, indeed upon a single verb in it, and even the tense of that verb! "I AM" was said by our Savior to prove

Job 7 overview — KJV). His reference to his flesh being clothed with worms (Job 7:5), "Could be either a figure of speech or literally true. We do not know; but, in any case, Job's body had become loathsome, and he suffered intense pain."George DeHoff's Commentary, Vol. 3, p. 23. "In the first part of this chapter, Job justifies himself in his desire for death, and, in the latter part of it, he turns to God in prayer."Matthew Henry's Commentary, Vol. III, p. 43.

Psalms 5 overview — PRAYER FOR PROTECTION FROM THE WICKED(FOR THE CHIEF MUSICIAN; WITH THE NEHILOTH. A PSALM OF DAVID) This psalm is also called a "Morning Prayer" because of the statement in Psalms 5:3. Any connection the psalm has with the life of David is unknown, because the prayer is appropriate for any individual at any time, especially when one is threatened by enemies. "With the Nehiloth." This word has no certain meaning at all for us. It

Isaiah 47 overview — assistance to the city in the time of her calamity; but here he detailed the doom and destruction of Babylon itself. The speaker throughout is God Himself except for Isaiah 47:4, which may be attributed to a heavenly chorus,T. K. Cheyne's Commentary, p. 306. after the manner of the proleptic passages in Revelation, to the prophet Isaiah, or to the faithful among the captives. The chapter consists of four strophes or stanzas, composed of 4 verses (Isaiah 47:1-4), 3 verses (Isaiah 47:5-7), 4 verses (Isaiah

Jeremiah 4 overview — DESTRUCTION OF JUDAH The chapter begins with a conclusion of the prophet's address to the Northern Israel (Jeremiah 4:1-2); then there is a call for Judah's repentance and return to duty as the very last hope of her averting destruction (Jeremiah 4:3-4); next, the Babylonian invasion is prophesied (Jeremiah 4:5-9); there follows the most difficult verse in the chapter (Jeremiah 4:10); a continued description of the forthcoming invasion is given (Jeremiah 4:11-18); personified Judah bewails her fate

Numbers 11 overview — setting forth for the benefit of all people afterward several of their deeds as "examples" and for "the admonition" of those upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1 Corinthians 10:11). The account here gives the incident at Taberah (Numbers 11:1-3), the lusting for flesh (Numbers 11:4-9), Moses' appeal to God in desperation (Numbers 11:10-15), the appointment of seventy to aid Moses (Numbers 11:16-23), the endowment of the seventy (Numbers 11:24-25), the case of Eldad and Medad (Numbers 11:16-29),

Habakkuk 1 overview — This chapter begins with the salutation (Habakkuk 1:1), and a plaintive summary of Judah's wickedness (Habakkuk 1:2-3). Then comes the bold and courageous prophecy of the destruction of Judah by the Chaldeans (Habakkuk 1:4-11). But Habakkuk had a problem with regard to the inherent justice of God who would use the wicked Babylonians against a people who, wicked as

1 Corinthians 10:3 — (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1972), in loco. Dummelow noted that "Only here in the New Testament are the two Sacraments mentioned side by side," J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 907. giving three reasons why the term "spiritual food" was used in this verse: (1) it was miraculous; (2) it was typical; and (3) it assured them of God's presence.

1 Corinthians 12 overview — denunciation of Christ or any conduct that contravened the will of Christ were not of God, but of the devil. "Gifts" that take people away from the church are not of God's Spirit at all, but are derived from the evil one (1 Corinthians 12:1-3). There is diversity in the unity of the church, since the Lord has not given the same gifts to all Christians (1 Corinthians 12:4-11). The great metaphor of "the body" is developed as a figure of Christ's spiritual body, the church (1 Corinthians

2 Corinthians 11:24 — likely, were part of the old hierarchical crowd in Jerusalem, it must have required divine power for Paul to speak of them as mildly as he does. A Jewish beating with stripes was a cruel, brutal and inhuman punishment. It was founded on Deuteronomy 25:3 which fixed forty stripes as the number inflicted. The barbarous instrument was a three-ply scourge of knotted leather thongs, with the knots so arranged as to give the maximum pain and injury to the victim. The 39 blows were delivered 13 on the chest,

Colossians 1:14 — him is eternal life. Out of Christ there is condemnation; in him is redemption. Out of Christ there is guilt; in him is forgiveness, pardon and salvation. The holy Scriptures repeatedly declare that "we are baptized into Christ" (Romans 6:3); and this truth is repeated here because so many seem unaware of it. Findlay quoted Lightfoot as seeing in this passage Paul's refutation of a Gnostic claim that "redemption" consisted of being initiated into Gnostic "mysteries";

Colossians 3:7-8 — Wherein ye also once walked, when ye lived in these things; but now do ye also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of your mouth. Whereas the list of sins in Colossians 3:5 concerned sexual wickedness, the list here pertains to "tongue-wickedness," both lying in the center of man's body, as well as in the center of his nature. As Ellis said, "The words `out of your mouth' may refer to all the sins listed,"

Hebrews 10:37 — For yet a very little while, he that cometh shall come, and shall not tarry. This is a partial quotation from Habakkuk 2:3 which reads, "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry." The import of this exhortation is that whatever may seem to

Hebrews 12:22 — poetic name for Jerusalem, the name of the eminence upon which the city was built, and which enshrined the deepest emotional affection of the whole Hebrew nation. The prophets had extolled the word of the Lord as going forth from Mount Zion (Isaiah 2:3); it was toward Mount Zion that the captive Daniel had prayed in Babylon; and even Jesus Christ referred to it as the "city of the great King" (Matthew 5:35).

James 4:16 — But now ye glory in your vauntings: all such glorying is evil. All glorying … is not evil, but "all such glorying." There is a type of glorying "in Christ" that is helpful and necessary in the Christian pilgrimage. Hebrews 3:6 has the instruction that Christians should "hold fast our boldness and the glorying of our hope firm unto the end." Paul gloried in the churches (2 Thessalonians 1:4), in Christ, and in Christians (2 Corinthians 7:4). He commanded that "He

1 Peter 1 overview — extolling the mercies of God who had given Christians a marvelous birth, a glorious inheritance, and the salvation of their souls, a salvation which even the prophets of old, and actually the angels, had sought to understand more perfectly (1 Peter 1:3-12). The final verses of the chapter (1 Peter 1:13-25) interweave the practical commands to "gird up the loins of the mind," to be "children of obedience," not to participate in their former lusts, and to "love one another,"

3 John 1:13 — same."Ibid. The usually admitted opinion that all of these letters were written "in quick succession" would seem to bear this out. Wilder also point out that, "Since this is a personal note, the greetings are more intimate than in 2 John 1:13."Amos N. Wilder, op. cit., p. 313. See 3 John 1:14. Unwilling to write with ink and pen … This is a very curious deviation from John's words in 2 John 1:12, "I would not write them with paper and ink." "Ink and pen …

Jude 1:16 — they blustered and bullied, and played the superior person, but they cringed to rich men, and flattered them for the sake of dinners and presents."W. H. Bennett, The General Epistles (New Century Bible) (Edinburgh: T. C. and E. C. Jack, 1901), p. 340. Another analysis of this verse was given by Wallace which pointed out the numerous charges against the evil men enumerated in this single verse: (1) they are grumblers; (2) they are complainers; (3) they are malcontents; (4) their sole guide is