Bible Commentaries

Genesis 3:15 — and thou shalt bruise his heel." Many scholars cannot recognize this as the great Protoevangelium of the O.T., which of course, it surely is. Their blindness is due to their failure to recognize that the key to understanding the O.T. is Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:15-16). The terminology of this verse is such that it cannot apply to anything in heaven or upon earth except the long spiritual conflict between Christ and Satan. "Between thee and the woman" Woman here stands for the whole of Adam's

1 Kings 3:1-3 — name of Jehovah until those days. And Solomon loved Jehovah, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places." "Pharaoh's daughter" Gates identified this Pharaoh as being, "Either the last of the 21st Dynasty of Egyptian rulers or the first of the 22nd Dynasty."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, O.T., 1 Kings, p. 313. Most scholars declare him to be "unknown." The significance of this note is that it was unlawful for an Israelite to marry a foreign

1 Kings 5:13-18 — by 150,000 slaves, who were remnants of the Canaanites whom Israel had enslaved rather than exterminating them as God had commanded. (See our commentary on Judges and Ruth for a full discussion of this shameful action on the part of Israel. (pp. 10-22).) "Solomon raised a levy… of thirty thousand men from all Israel" All of these were able-bodied citizens of Israel who were thus conscripted for forced labor for a total of one fourth of each year! It should be remembered also, in this connection,

Psalms 60 overview — Eduth.Michtam of David, to Teach, When He Strove with Aram-Naharaim, and Joab Returned, and Smote of Edom in the Valley of Salt Twelve Thousand. Shushan Eduth. This is usually translated, "The Lily of the Testimony,"J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 352. which was the name of the tune or melody to which the singers fitted the words of this psalm. Psalms 45; Psalms 69; and Psalms 80 were also set to this tune. Michtam of David. "Michtam" is thought to mean that this was a "Golden Psalm"; but some have

Leviticus 19 overview — This great chapter is the O.T. equivalent of the N.T. Sermon on the Mount, or the practical phase of living the holy life as outlined by Paul in the Romans 12. At no other place in the O.T. is there achieved so high a plane of morality as that which appears here, where Israel was commanded to "Love thy neighbor as thyself," and to include also the alien stranger in the same affection. Coleman wrote that,

Jeremiah 16 overview — - FORBIDDEN TO JEREMIAH The following chapter divisions were suggested by Henderson:E. Henderson, The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah (London: Hamilton, Adams, and Company, 1851), p. 99. (1) Jeremiah forbidden to marry and have a family (Jeremiah 16:1-2); (2) God's explanation for this prohibition (Jeremiah 16:2-4); (3) funeral celebrations also forbidden (Jeremiah 16:5-7); (4) festival celebrations likewise prohibited (Jeremiah 16:8-9); (5) God's further elaboration of the reasons for such penalties

Ezekiel 16 overview — catching the point of Ezekiel's many prophecies concerning the worthlessness and reprobacy of the "Once Chosen" people. That is the background of this chapter. Ezekiel seized upon the metaphor of the marriage covenant, so dramatically depicted in Hosea 2:2-14, expanded and elaborated it, and made it the startling "Allegory of the Unfaithful Wife," fully meriting the brutal and sadistic punishment of adulteresses in ancient times. This whole chapter was summarized by Halley. "It is a graphic, vivid portrayal

Ezekiel 33 overview — be returned to Palestine; and a new kingdom would be set up under totally new conditions of worship and fellowship with God. The remainder of Ezekiel falls into two parts: (1) the first deals with the restoration from captivity (Ezekiel 33-39), and (2) the second deals with the new arrangement and laws of the future kingdom (Ezekiel 40-48).J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 512, EZEKIEL'S CALL TO HIS NEW MISSION; STRESSING THE OLD RULES It was a discouraging situation that confronted Ezekiel. Israel

Numbers 36:1-4 — inheritance of the tribe of our fathers." There were many families of the children of Gilead; and the reading in the RSV is altered to take account of this, giving us, "families of the children of Gilead" (Numbers 36:1). "My lord… my lord" (Numbers 36:2). There was a vast difference in the respect that this generation of Israelites paid to Moses when compared with the attitude of the generation that came out of Egypt. In all of the Bible, prior to this instance of it, "Only Aaron ever referred to Moses

Numbers 6 overview — Israel, and this chapter has the rules for those who became Nazirites. There were two types of this vow: (1)    The Nazirite for Life, of which the Bible has only three examples: (a) Samuel; (b) Samson; and (c) John the Baptist; and (2)    the Nazirite of Days, the rules in this chapter applying only to the latter of the two classes. There are no certain examples anywhere in the Bible of persons actually becoming Nazirites, despite there having been apparently

Deuteronomy 25:1-3 — of the law is dearly that of restricting such beatings, which were never to exceed 40 stripes, but note that this was the maximum, not the standard penalty for any offence. The judges were supposed to assign such punishments "by number" (Deuteronomy 25:2), indicating that penalties, of five, ten, fifteen or even fewer stripes could be assigned as penalties; but there is no record of where any Jewish judge ever assigned less than the maximum. In 2 Corinthians 11:24, Paul was punished "five times"

Deuteronomy 32:19-22 — GOD'S ANGER FLAMES AGAINST ISRAEL (Deuteronomy 32:19-22) "And Jehovah saw it, and abhorred them, Because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: For they are a very perverse generation, Children in whom is no

1 Thessalonians 1:1 — on the part of the apostle for these faithful workers who had so frequently labored and suffered with him on the mission field. Silas was beaten and imprisoned with Paul at Philippi (Acts 15:19), and Timothy's imprisonment is mentioned in Hebrews 13:23. Timothy's father was a Greek, and Silas was a Roman citizen. Silvanus was chosen by Paul following the dispute with Barnabas (Acts 15:40), and Timothy was recruited from Lystra where Paul had been stoned (Acts 16:1); thus both were identified with

1 Thessalonians 5:19 — fire, and the thought is that the child of God should not put out the sacred fire within. This verse is parallel with the following: Many are weak and sickly among you, and some sleep (1 Corinthians 11:30). The last state is become worse than the first (2 Peter 2:20-21). There is a sin unto death (1 John 5:16). It is impossible to renew them (Hebrews 6:4-6). She that giveth herself to pleasure is dead while she lives (1 Timothy 5:6). Whosoever shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness,

Hebrews 3:6 — bold deduction, names Christians themselves as components of God's house, "whose house we are"! The old Israel is no more. The Son having been revealed, men are no longer under a servant, even so true and faithful a servant as Moses (Romans 2:28; Romans 9:6-8; Galatians 6:15; John 8:39). Think of the house of God. He laid the foundations of it, even before the world was (1 Corinthians 2:7), provided the blue prints of it in the dispensation of Moses, and extended it upward and outward to

1 Peter 4:17 — more than have this one and the next. Does Peter, for one moment, mean to say that Christians shall hardly be saved at all? Certainly not! Did not he himself say, "An abundant entrance into the eternal kingdom shall be richly supplied to us" (2 Peter 2:11 KJV)? Well, what is in view here? The time is come for judgment to begin … This does not mean the eternal judgment is about to begin, but it refers to the judgment against Jerusalem impending in the total destruction of it, and prophetically

1 John 2:13 — fathers, because ye know him who is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the evil one. I have written unto you, little children, because ye know the Father. Having addressed the entire group of Christians in 1 John 2:12 as "little children," John here singled out three age groups: fathers, young men, and children, arranged quite logically in a descending order, and using a different word for "children" ([@paidia])Ibid. in order to distinguish

Revelation 21:1 — And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more. (Revelation 21:1) A new heaven and a new earth … "What is promised here is the fulfillment of Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22, passages strongly ascribed by millennarians to the thousand years." Albertus Pieters, Studies in the Revelation of St. John

Ruth 1:15-18 — God" "This means she will join in Naomi's religion. She is determined to be hers "usque ad aras" - to the very altars. Thy God shall be my God, and farewell to all the gods of Moab, which are vanity and a lie."Matthew Henry Commentaries, op. cit., p. 258. "Jehovah do so to me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me" The form of this ancient oath is found only in the books of Samuel and Kings (1 Samuel 14:44; 1 Samuel 20:13; 1 Kings 19:2; 1 Kings 20:10). The great significance of it is

2 Samuel 5:1-5 — when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years." "All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron" We learn from 2 Samuel 5:3 that they `all came' in the person of their representatives, i.e., the elders. "David made a covenant with them" We have no way of knowing what this covenant contained and not even what any of the provisions of it were; but it fully satisfied