Bible Commentaries

Psalms 105:23-25 — 9, p. 146. "God made them stronger than their adversaries" It is surprising to us that a scholar such as Leupold would question the truth of this. He wrote, "This can scarcely be intended to be understood in the most literal sense."H. C. Leupold, p. 738. Indeed! And why not? "The king over Egypt said… Behold the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. Come let us deal wisely with them, etc." (Exodus 1:7). "God turned their heart to hate his people" "Through his great

Psalms 110:4 — verse, along with the episode in Genesis involving Abraham and Melchizedek, and also the New Testament deductions founded upon those Scriptures. (See my comments in that volume, pp. 129-139.) A brief summary of the important declarations of Hebrews 7:1-10 is here included. MELCHIZEDEK, A TYPE OF CHRIST Melchizedek's name (King of Righteousness).His being king of Salem (King of Peace)His receiving tithes of Abraham,His blessing AbrahamHis bringing forth Bread and WineHis being served by both Jews

Psalms 119:49-56 — STROPHE 7PROUD SEDUCERS TORMENT LAW-KEEPERS BUT CANNOT DEPRIVE THEM OFCOMFORT AND JOY IN DOING SO Zayin "Remember the word unto thy servant, Because thou hast made me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction; For thy word hath quickened me. The proud have

Psalms 142:6-7 — the prayer of some "Israelite dying in jail"! To begin with, David's "body" was not imprisoned here; his "soul," that is his "spirit" was imprisoned by his enforced hiding from the armies of Saul. As Addis affirmed, "The term `prison' in Psalms 142:7 need not be taken in a literal sense."W. E. Addis, p. 395. Also, as McCaw wrote, "Prison, not in the sense of `jail', but in the sense of being restricted in movement."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 541. "Thou wilt deal bountifully with me" Thus,

Song of Solomon 1:15-17 — Solomon is the one spoken of here is inherent in the mention of the cedar palace, the triple flattery, "Behold, thou art fair my love," and in the fact that there has been no change in the maiden's identification of her lover back in Song of Solomon 1:7. It is impossible to suppose that, suddenly, Solomon is her true love here. Also, the proposition that the maiden would have referred to herself as the rose of Sharon and the lily of the valley is not half as attractive as the one that makes the words

Jeremiah 8:9-13 — Jehovah,: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig-tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them." "The word of Jehovah" This is a reference to the Torah, which is the subject of Jeremiah 8:7 and Jeremiah 8:8. The scribes, self-styled "wise men," as they claimed to be, had rejected the Word of God, namely, the Law of Moses, by their false interpretations of it. "Jeremiah 8:10-12 are a repetition of what Jeremiah wrote in Jeremiah 6:12-15."Charles

Ezekiel 10:20-22 — visions, an importance which we have already stressed. CHERUBIM "And I knew that they were cherubim" We are indebted to Anton T. Pearson for most of the information cited here.Anton T. Pearson in Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1962), p. 721. Cherubim are emblematic, composite figures representing glorified human life, or angelic life, spiritualized and exalted to have a part in the service of God Himself. In the sacred Scriptures, they are seen as performing a number of functions: (1)

Ezekiel 15:5-8 — from the fire, but the fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I set my face against them. And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord Jehovah." Only when we come to Ezekiel 15:6-7 does the Lord himself make the divine application of the little parable. The news is devastating. God will set his face against them; the citizens of Jerusalem shall be given to the fire for fuel! "During Israel's better days, a prophet had compared

Ezekiel 16:35-38 — eighteen verses (Ezekiel 16:35-51) speak of the awful punishment of the Chosen People and of its absolute justice in God's sight. The punishment of unfaithful wives in antiquity was as sadistically cruel as anything ever known. It is described in Nahum 3:4-7. (We refer the reader to my commentary on Nahum in the Minor Prophets Series, Vol. 3, p. 48.) In this paragraph, God condemned Israel to suffer such a shameful and terrible punishment. Why? They had cast into jeopardy the salvation of all mankind! "Thy

Ezekiel 4:1 — PROPHECY OF JERUSALEM'S DESTRUCTION (Ezekiel 4-7)VISIBLE PORTRAYAL OF FALL OF JERUSALEM The absurd view that the events of this chapter existed only subjectively in the mind of Ezekiel, that it was all a vision of his, is here rejected. "The adoption of such an interpretation is not the act of an

Daniel 8:3-4 — could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and magnified himself." Many have pointed out that the ram here is the same world power represented by the arms and breast of silver in Daniel 2:32 and the beast "like unto a bear" (Daniel 7:5). The symbolism is exactly the same in all three instances. The ram represents Medo-Persia. This is one kingdom with two elements (Median and Persian), not two successive powers, for they are here represented by one animal. The bear's having three

Hosea 10:12 — interpreted as an appeal by Hosea to his contemporaries to turn from evil, but as the instructions that were given to Ephraim in the early days… The instructions to Ephraim were not obeyed (as proved by Hosea 10:13)."John Mauchline, op. cit., p. 677. "For it is time to seek Jehovah, till he come and rain righteousness upon you" Full agreement is felt with Butler who cautioned against the efforts of some commentators to construe this passage as a denial that "men must do righteous deeds in order

Hosea 12:14 — unto him." If God's people today are to avoid the error of Ephraim, they must have regard, not only to the grace and mercy of the Lord, but also to the fact, "Of God's demands upon the covenant community."Ralph L. Smith, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 7 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972), p. 54: Nobody ever trusted any more completely in God's promises than did Ephraim; but he made the mistake of supposing that they were unconditional, a mistake exactly like that of people today who fancy that they

Hosea 6:7 — third rendition is very attractive to most scholars because it rounds out the list of place-names appearing in this summary of Israel's treachery: Adam, Gilead, Shechem, and the house of Israel (Bethel).Ralph L. Smith, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 7 (Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1972), p. 33. In none of the places here cited, is it possible to identify, except in the most general terms, the exact nature of Israel's transgression. As Smith put it, "The interpreter may have to be content

Hosea 9:8 — reprobate like Ephraim is here bracketed with God himself, an exclamatory witness of the unbelievable arrogance and unbelief of Ephraim. "As for the prophet, a fowler's snare is in all his ways" Hosea tells us here exactly who is the prophet of Hosea 9:7, he is the false prophet, the one who is a fowler's snare to the people, who are gulled into believing his senseless lies. McKeating, a recent, highly respected scholar, strongly affirmed the validity of the renditions given above (American Standard

Obadiah 1:1 — of nations will destroy Edom. Historically, this judgment did not all fall at once, but in a succession of defeats by the Nabateans, the Babylonians, by Israel itself, by the Maccabees, and, finally, by the Romans in the general destruction of A.D. 70, after which Edom disappeared from history as any kind of a separate entity. The first nine verses of Obadiah echo many of the sentiments of Jeremiah 49:7-27, but the declaration of Thompson that "Both are using an earlier oracle against Edom,"John

Micah 6:16 — melancholy fact that Jehovah's law was despised."H. A. Ironside, Notes on the Minor Prophets (Neptune, New Jersey: Loizeaux Brothers, reprint, 1929), p. 248. In the light of this, one may plainly see that the questions asked by the people in Micah 6:6-7, were not at all the questions of sincere worshippers of Jehovah, but the quibbling efforts of the Baal-worshippers to justify their abominable paganism. It is heartening indeed to find an admission by McKeating, a great scholar who often accepts critical

Nahum 3:1 — occasionally associated with a lament (Jeremiah 22:18); "But it appears here to be clearly related in nuance to a malediction" "This would suggest a rendition of `Woe be…' rather than `Alas.'"Edward R. Dalglish, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 7 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972), p. 242. "The bloody city" or "city of bloods" as rendered by some. Instances of the remarkable and sadistic cruelty of Nineveh have already been cited; but in this connection, we shall return again briefly to that

Habakkuk 2:5 — drunkard, Babylon, drunk with power, motivated by an insatiable desire like that of the drunkard for drink. "The drunkard can never drink enough wine… the Chaldeans can never conquer enough land."D. David Garland, Broadman's Bible Commentary, Vol. 7 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972), p. 258. The reason for the choice of such a metaphor probably derived from the fact of, "drunkenness being a besetting sin of Babylon. It was, in the case of Belshazzar, the immediate cause of the fall of Babylon (Daniel

Habakkuk 2:8 — reference to the wanton destruction and misuse of the natural resources as well, a thought apparently demanded by the dramatic figures used to describe the impact of Babylon upon the earth. Jeremiah called them, "the hammer of the whole earth" (Jeremiah 51:7), and "a destroying mountain that destroyeth the whole earth" (Jeremiah 51:25). In his comment on Habakkuk 2:17, where this thought recurs, Hailey wrote that, "The Chaldean held the whole creation of God in contempt, considering it all his to be used