Bible Commentaries

Exodus 19:4-6 — mine: and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." These verses, along with the first three, are a single paragraph, in fact constituting a summary of Exodus 19-24. Honeycutt outlined these chapters thus: "Meeting God… Exodus 19; the Law of God… Exodus 20-23; and Sealing the Covenant… Exodus 24."Roy L. Honeycutt, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 1, Exodus (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1969), p.

Exodus 21:1-6 — and, while God did not order the abolition of it, he did in this passage initiate rules that greatly abetted the horrors of slavery. First of all, no Hebrew slave could be compelled to serve more than six years, the only exception being given in Exodus 21:6, where a slave could voluntarily accept perpetual slavery. The time was not then ripe for the abolition of slavery, and it should be remembered that neither Christ nor any of his apostles ever called for the abolition of it as an institution. However,

2 Kings 8:7-9 — from this sickness?" That Elisha was honorably received in Damascus at that time might have been due to his fame that resulted from the healing of Naaman. Certainly, something had changed from that situation in which Benhadad sought to capture him (2 Kings 6:13 ff). "Not only in Israel, but also in the neighboring nations, Elisha was well known and respected as God's man."The Teachers' Bible Commentary, p. 213. "And the king said unto Hazael" This character should not be confused with the father

1 Chronicles 16:8-36 — together and deliver us from the nations, To give thanks unto thy holy name, And to triumph in thy praise. Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting. And all the people said, Amen, and praised Jehovah." 1 Chronicles 16:8-22 corresponds almost exactly with Psalms 105:1-15; and our comments are found on pages 255-259 of my commentary on Psalms 2. 1 Chronicles 16:23-33 correspond almost exactly with Psalms 96 in its entirety. Our full comments on that Psalm are in Psalms

1 Chronicles 22:2-5 — his death." "David commanded to gather together the sojourners" These were the aliens, the original Canaanites, whom Israel enslaved, contrary to God's commandments. The complete record of this is found in the first chapter of Judges. (See our Vol. 2, of the Historical Books, Judges and Ruth, pp. 9-22.) "2 Samuel 20:24 indicates that David used forced labor."Ibid. These verses indicate that David proceeded to gather vast quantities of materials with which the temple would be constructed. GOD DID

Psalms 24:1-2 — "The earth is Jehovah's, and the fulness thereof; The world, and they that dwell therein. For he hath founded it upon the seas, And established it upon the floods." "The earth is Jehovah's, and the fulness thereof" (Psalms 24:1). No man possesses the earth, or any portion of it, except in a very limited and accommodative sense. The title deeds which men treasure are merely the written permission of the societies in which they Five, conveying the right of use for the brief

Psalms 65:1-5 — things wilt thou answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, Thou that art the confidence of the ends of the earth, And of them that are afar off upon the sea." God is here praised: (a)    because He hears prayers (Psalms 65:2) (b)    because He forgives sins (Psalms 65:3) (c)    because He provides fellowship with Himself for His people "in His courts," that is, in His presence in heaven, (Psalms 65:4), and (d)    because

Isaiah 51:12-16 — else, would be able to thwart God's purpose of delivering them from bondage. "Thou hast forgotten Jehovah thy Maker" "It is not so much apostasy as want of a practical faith with which captive Israel is here reproached,"Pulpit Commentary, Vol. II, p. 261. according to Rawlinson; but this was true only of the "righteous remnant," not of the thousands who would never leave Babylon. The Hebrew in Isaiah 51:14 allows the rendition: "He marches on with speed, who cometh to set free the captive."Adam Clarke's

Jeremiah 2:4-8 — to the darkness of the caverns amidst the rocky precipices (Deuteronomy 8:15)."Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary, p. 507. God indeed had tenderly led Israel safely through countless difficulties and dangers; so what had gone wrong? Jeremiah 2:8 cites four classes of the leadership of the nation as extremely culpable, these being, (1) the priests, (2) the Levites, (3) the rulers (shepherds), and (4) the prophets. The priests were complacent and indifferent; the Levites knew not God; the shepherds

Jeremiah 34:8-10 — SLAVES FREED AND PROMPTLY ENSLAVED AGAIN (Jeremiah 34:8-22) "The word that came unto Jeremiah from Jehovah, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people that were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them; that every man should let his man-servant, and every man his maid-servant,

Jeremiah 49:1-6 — daughters (Genesis 19). Their original home was the extensive area east of the Jordan river, northward from the Moabites, and between the Arnon and Jabbok rivers. During the Amorite invasion, the Ammonites lost some of their territory to Sihon (Numbers 21:21-31), who in turn was conquered by Israel under Moses; and the territory was assigned to the tribe of Gad. Thus, Israel benefited the Ammonites by destroying their old enemies, making the later conduct of Ammon even more reprehensible. Both during

Ezekiel 10:5-8 — Significantly, in the New Testament on the Day of Pentecost, when God's glory was manifested by the appearance of the Holy Spirit upon the holy apostles, that event also was marked by forked flames as of fire and the "sound of a rushing mighty wind" (Acts 2:2). The great significance of this chapter is that the very manifestation of God's glory which had appeared to Ezekiel in Babylon at the Chebar river (canal) is here seen in the process of deserting the Temple in Jerusalem, strongly indicating that

Hosea 4:5 — How could the priesthood have been legitimate, when it was instituted by Jeroboam I, for the specific purpose of supporting his throne, and made up of Jews who were "the lowest of the people" and "not of the sons of Levi," contrary to the Word of God (2 Kings 12:31)? It is nothing short of amazing that so many commentators on this part of the Bible seem to be utterly blind to the true nature of Israel's apostasy. Even Mays speaks of Israel's priests as having their "vocation given to them by Yahweh,"

Hosea 5:1 — efforts to classify these evil religious leaders as being, in any sense, priests of God, are frustrated in the fact of their being: (1) illegitimate, not belonging to the tribe of Levi, from which alone it was lawful for God's priests to be ordained; (2) imported from Sidon by Jezebel, enemies of God by definition, and devoted utterly to the old Bull-god of the Sidonians and Canaanites; and (3) constantly engaged in the promulgation of the licentious rites deeply rooted in their inherent paganism. "The

Numbers 13:4-16 — Jacob. It is easy to memorize these names if they are arranged so as to allow the alliteration, thus: SHAMMUA, SHAPHAT, and SETHUR, AMMIEL, GADDIEL, GEUEL, IGAL, NAHBI, PALTI, GADDI, CALEB and JOSHUA. "Shammua" means "heard," the name appearing also in 2 Samuel 5:14; Nehemiah 11:17; Nehemiah 12:18. "Shaphat" means "judge." This was also the name of Elisha's father. "Sethur" means "hidden." "Ammiel" means "God is my kinsman." The name also appears in the story of Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9:4). "Gaddiel"

Matthew 1:24-25 — passages; but, concerning all such insinuations against the truth, men need only to remember that God's word is not vitiated by such quibbles. As reflecting further light on the question of Mary's virginity, whether perpetual or not, the statement in Luke 2:7 is also pertinent. "She brought forth her FIRSTBORN son, etc." This terminology also suggests that Mary bore other sons, otherwise Christ should have been called her "only" son. The sacred Scriptures make the truth quite plain.

Luke 2:27-28 — the parents brought in the child Jesus, that they might do concerning him after the custom of law, then he received him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, The parents … Luke's use of this word for Joseph and Mary here, and again in Luke 2:41, and Mary's reference to Joseph as "father" of Jesus raises no question whatever regarding the virgin birth. One grows weary of the sophistry, and that is all it is, that seizes upon such expressions as any manner of denial of the facts

Luke 2:4 — called Bethlehem, because he was of the house of David. Luke's design in this chapter was to show how it came about that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, despite the fact of Joseph and Mary's residence in Nazareth, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Micah 5:2. The only reason cited by Luke for this journey to Bethlehem was the decree of Caesar and the necessity for Joseph's obedience to it. However, it does not appear to be certain that Mary was required to make this journey. Clarke stated that "It

Revelation 14:4-5 — And in their mouth there was found no lie: they are without blemish. These are they that were not defiled with women … More nonsense has been written about this than about anything else in Revelation, with the possible exception of Revelation 22:2! We shall start with Barclay: "If we are to treat it honestly, we cannot avoid the conclusion that it praises celibacy and virginity and belittles marriage." William Barclay, op. cit., p. 107. We should have expected this from a scholar

Revelation 20 overview — SECTION VII (Chapter 20) The interpretation of this chapter is largely determined by the view already taken of the preceding chapters. After the introductory letters to the seven churches, the vision of the final judgment has already appeared six times in the preceding chapters: In