Bible Commentaries

Ezra 4:24 — "Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem; and it ceased until the second year of Darius I the king of Persia." Chronologically, this verse comes exactly after Ezra 4:5, above, where it was stated that, "The people of the land hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose… all the days of Cyrus king of Persia." In fact, this lobbying against the rebuilding of the temple went on throughout the remainder

Job 18:1-4 — Shall the earth be forsaken for thee? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place?" As Kline stated it, "These later speeches of Job's friends degenerate into irrelevant harangues on the woes of the wicked."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 475. Bildad's speech here, especially in Job 18:5-21, demonstrates this characteristic. "His speech has no significance."Arthur S. Peake, A Commentary on the Bible (London: T. C. and E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1924), p. 357. It is simply a description of what Bildad

Psalms 107:33-38 — Canaanites. "This is a metaphor of Israel's exchanging the desert (wilderness) for the land flowing with milk and honey."Ibid. "There he maketh the hungry to dwell" "The hungry here are the Israelites, that same word being applied to them also in Psalms 107:5; Psalms 107:9, pointing to the unity of authorship."Ibid. This whole paragraph praises God for his blessing of Israel in the Promised Land.

Psalms 27:4 — Yahweh."Mitchell Dahood in The Anchor Bible, p. 167. "And to inquire in his temple." Kidner warned that, "These words do not imply that Solomon's Temple had been built."Derek Kidner, Vol. 1, p. 121. Also, Rawlinson wrote that, "It has already appeared from Psalms 5:7 that the word `Temple' in David's time was applied to the tabernacle."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 8, p. 199. Furthermore, as the ASV margin shows, another allowable reading here is "Consider his temple," which indeed might be the better rendition,

Proverbs 26:13-16 — 22:13. "As the door turneth upon its hinges" "Just as the door moves on its hinges, but does not go anywhere, the sluggard turns over and over in his bed but does not get out of it and go anywhere to do any work."The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 501. See the comments under Proverbs 6:9-10, and under Proverbs 24:33. Proverbs 26:15 is practically identical with Proverbs 19:24. See the comments there. The meaning of Proverbs 26:16 is that, "The idle fool sets more value upon his own opinion than

Isaiah 33:10-12 — myself; now will I be exalted. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath is a fire that shall devour you. And the peoples shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns that are cut down, that are burned in the fire." Isaiah 33:5; Isaiah 33:10 both stand in contrast with what is said of Sennacherib in Isaiah 33:3. The meaning is simply that God has at last had enough of this evil ruler's depredations and will now rise up and put an end to them. "God has now determined that the

Jeremiah 33:19-22 — host of heaven cannot be numbered neither the sand of the sea measured; so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me." "The promise of an innumerable posterity once given to the patriarchs, as in Gen. 13:16; 55:5; 22:17, etc., is here applied to the descendants of David and to the number of God's ministers."J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archeology (Grand Rapid, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972) p. 603. This means that the numbers of people

Hosea 8:11 — one given by the Lord himself in the Pentateuch. Hindley pointed out that: At any one time, only one altar was to be set up for the nation in the place which God would choose (Deuteronomy 12:26 f; Deuteronomy 14:24; Deuteronomy 27:4-8; 2 Kings 21:4-5). No special stress on write in the following verse suggests that Hosea was already familiar with a written law.J. B. Hindley, op. cit., p. 712. "Altars have been unto him for sinning" The purpose of an altar was that of procurement of the forgiveness

Micah 5:10 — this proves what was noted above, that the destruction of Israel's enemies (the enemies of righteousness) would not come about through military prowess on the part of Israel, but would be accomplished by the Lord himself. This verse, and through Micah 5:15, carry the message that, "The Messiah shall destroy all instruments of war, and put down all idolatry, having taught his people to rely upon him alone."Homer Hailey, op. cit., p. 211. Hailey's summary of these same verses was similar: The instruments

Habakkuk 1:17 — deferring the well-deserved destruction of humanity throughout the historical period while the redeemed from all the earth were being gathered. But that mercy could not change the nature of the rebellious sons of Adam "born in Adam's image" (Genesis 5:3) who without restraint (except that of other rebellious states raised up against them) would continue to devastate the earth as long as God's mercy for all men (in the purpose of redeeming some of them) would prevail. The answer to this question by

Zechariah 1:14 — remained, and the word of the Lord would yet "go forth from Jerusalem" on the Day of Pentecost when the Gospel Age began. Zion" The use of this term appears to be significant. This was the ancient name (pre-Israelite) of the hill captured by David (2 Samuel 5:7); and, as Baldwin said, "It sometimes stands for the people of Jerusalem in their religious privilege and responsibility."Joyce G. Baldwin, op. cit., p. 99. We believe that to be the reason why the term is used here. The true covenant with God on

Zechariah 11:9 — As Gill said: "Here the prophet states his intention not to feed the flock but to let it die. This brings to mind two key passages. One in which Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem because of her historic failure to heed the prophets (Luke 13:33-35), and the other one in which he predicted the destruction of the city (Luke 21:5-6)."Clinton R. Gill, Commentary on the Minor Prophets, Zechariah (Joplin, Missouri: College Press, 1971), p. 349. Horrible as this prophecy for Israel appears, it was literally

Matthew 10:34 — it shall be as sweet as honey" (Revelation 10:9). The sword of Christ is: (1) a sword of separation, (2) the word of God (Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12), (3) the sword of civil authority (Romans 13:1-8), (4) the sword of judgment (Genesis 3:24), (5) the sword of correction (Revelation 2:16), and (6) the sword of victory (Revelation 19:13). Even Mary, the mother of Jesus, was acquainted with that sword. "Yea, and a sword shall pierce thine own soul" (Luke 2:55).

Matthew 24:18-20 — of the sabbath as a permanent institution may be inferred by our Saviour's reference to it here, although it does seem that, due to Jewish background, many of the disciples did keep it. In fact, such was true long afterwards, even in Rome (Romans 14:5).

Matthew 26:2 — Yet at the very time Christ revealed this to the disciples, the chief priests decided otherwise. They decided that he should die by subtlety (that is, secretly, by assassination or murder), and that it should not be done during the feast (Matthew 26:5), thus clearly postponing his death for at least a week. However, THEY were not the architects of our Lord's death. As the Master said, he would lay down his life of his own accord; and Christ, not the priests, would choose the hour and the manner of

Matthew 27:26 — Then released he unto them Barabbas; but Jesus he scourged and delivered to be crucified. Scourging was a part of execution by the cross. It came in fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah (Isaiah 53:5), but it may be supposed that Pilate did not know that every stripe laid upon our Lord by the scourge was a fulfillment of the word of God. The connection between chastisement and crucifixion is not often stressed, but there still exist inhumane

Matthew 7:1 — even Christ did this while on earth. "I came not to judge the world but to save the world" (John 12:47). The exercise of such judgment is all the more sinful in that it is premature. "Judge nothing before the time" (1 Corinthians 4:5). The widespread failure of otherwise devoted people to observe this injunction is tragically regrettable; and yet some insist on their right to judge others and defend it on the basis of Jesus' words, "By their fruits ye shall know them"

Mark 1:14-15 — appearance of repentance and faith in human hearts. There is apostolic precedent for using expressions like this without regard to the chronology of things mentioned. Thus Peter spoke of Jesus Christ, "whom ye slew and hanged on a tree" (Acts 5:30, KJV). In these verses, and through Mark 4:34, Mark takes up the Galilean ministry, especially that in the vicinity of Capernaum.

Mark 10:35 — being raised "after three days." (2) It was founded in human vanity and conceit. (3) It represented an effort on their part to gain ascendancy over the other apostles. (4) It showed a fundamental misconception of what God's kingdom would be. (5) It was a selfish maneuver prompted by the Lord's repeated announcement of his forthcoming death and resurrection in which they appeared as desiring the chief places in the presumed absence of the Lord. (6) It was a request founded in ignorance (Mark

Mark 6:14 — the transmigration of souls. At that particular time, according to Bickersteth, "The views of Pythagoras respecting the transmigration of souls were current and probably influenced the troubled mind of Herod."E. Bickersteth, op. cit., p. 245. Such doctrines were rejected by Christ and the apostles. Paul's mention of "the body" (2 Corinthians 5:10) opposes the idea of the soul's having a succession of "bodies."