Bible Commentaries

Psalms 47:5-9 — that God had, in a sense, "come down" to rescue his people; and after he had done so, of course, he went up to heaven; but this is the utmost abuse of the anthropomorphism inherent in certain Biblical statements that God "came down," as in Genesis 11:5. Never for one moment did God actually leave heaven and come down to earth either to inspect men's works, or to thwart them. It seems to us that even simple, uneducated people should certainly know a basic truth like that. Note that the text says nothing

Isaiah 35:8-10 — history of war, sickness and folly in Isaiah 36-39."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 609. Another glorious thing about this chapter was pointed out by Kelley who wrote: "Attention has often been called to the numerous parallels between Isaiah 35 and those found in Isaiah 40-66. The themes shared in common include: (1) the transformation of the desert into a lush oasis at the appearance of God, which appears also in Isa. 41:17-20; 43:19-21; 51:3,10,11; 55:12:13; (2) the coming of God as a source

Jeremiah 33:14-18 — loosed from their sins and cleansed in the blood of Christ. "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins, in his own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen." (Revelation 1:5-6, KJV). KINGS AND PRIESTS UNTO GOD These are Christians, called by the apostle Peter "a royal priesthood" (1 Peter 2:9), and of whom the prophecy declares that "They live and reign with Jesus Christ a thousand years!" (Revelation 20:6). And just who

Ezekiel 30:1-5 — of Jehovah. We have already written many comments relating to the Day of Jehovah, especially in Joel, Amos, and Zephaniah, etc. These will be found in the appropriate volumes of our commentaries under the following references: Isaiah 13:6-9; Joel 1:15; Joel 2:1; Joel 2:11; Joel 3:14; Amos 5:18-20; Obadiah 1:15; Zephaniah 1:7; Zephaniah 1:14; Zechariah 14:1; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Thessalonians 2:2; 2 Peter 3:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Hebrews 9:27; Matthew 25:31-46, and many other references. Many other

Ezekiel 34:20-24 — God's church actually have received that glorious designation, "Shepherds." The word `shepherd,' pastor in the Greek, is one of the New Testament terms for elder; thus all elders are "kings" in the sense of ruling under "The Chief Shepherd" (1 Peter 5:1-4). As Paul expressed it, "If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him." This fully takes care of the impression that their are multiple kings suggested. Nevertheless, it is an indisputable fact that absolutely all of the great blessings promised

Daniel 2:36-42 — indicated by the vision, and especially if it must be found as a successor to Babylon, that is, coming after Babylon, a vital requirement of the vision. There was, of course, a state called Media (never a world empire); but it was conquered by Babylon in 550 B.C.,Edward Meyer, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 15 (Chicago: William Benton, Publisher, 1961), p. 172. years before Babylon itself was conquered by the Medo-Persians. Even more disastrous to the theory of making the Medes a successive empire to

Matthew 11:18-19 — direction it took. The following criticisms were directed against Christ: (1) He was called a glutton. (2) He was called a winebibber. (3) They said he cast out demons by the prince of demons (Matthew 9:34). (4) They called him Beelzebul (Matthew 10:25). (5) They called him a sinner (John 9:24). (6) They said he had a demon (John 7:20). (7) They said he was a Samaritan (John 8:48). (8) They charged him with violating the sabbath (Matthew 12:2). (9) They referred to him as a "deceiver" (Matthew

Matthew 12:29 — not enter even a herd of swine without our Lord's permission (Matthew 8:32). (3) God's specific permission was necessary in the satanic harassment of the patriarch Job (Job 1:12). (4) Satan sifted Peter only after the Lord allowed it (Luke 22:31). (5) Satan and his angels are reserved "in chains of darkness" until the day of judgment (2 Peter 2:4). (6) He sowed tares in the wheat, but could do so only "while men slept" (Matthew 13:25). (7) He snatches the word of God from men's

Matthew 27:54 — The angels confessed him (Luke 2:11). (2) The demons confessed him (Matthew 8:29). (3) Almighty God confessed him three times,, at his baptism, on the mount of transfiguration, and in a voice resembling thunder (John 12:28). (4) Simeon (Luke 2:30). (5) Anna (Luke 2:36). (6) Nicodemus (John 3:2). (7) Nathaniel (John 1:49). (8) John the Baptist (John 1:29). (9) Peter (Matthew 16:16). (10) Pilate (Matthew 27:24). (11) Pilate's wife (Matthew 27:19). (12) Judas Iscariot (Matthew 27:4). (13) The centurion

Mark 1:1 — sonship of Jesus and is the equivalent of hailing him as a supernatural person and as having an equality with God. The Pharisees properly understood the implications of this expression, interpreting it as "making himself equal with God" (John 5:18).

Luke 1:26 — insignificance suggested that no place where men live is beyond the Father's love and care. (3) The rural atmosphere provided an appropriate place for Jesus to develop into maturity. (4) By such a choice God signaled the reversal of human value judgments. (5) It enabled the fulfillment of the prophecy that Jesus should be called a Nazarene (Matthew 2:23). (6) It was less accessible to the curiosity and malignant hatred of powerful rulers than would have been the case with some large city.

John 5:46 — unbelievers of the writings of the great lawgiver. Such is the deceptiveness of sin, that persons who truly imagine themselves to be believers are in fact no such thing! It is possible that Christ had in mind here the great prophecies of Genesis 3:15 and Deuteronomy 18:15-19; but there were many prophecies in "Moses," a word signifying the entire Pentateuch, regarding Christ. As Hovey said: "This is a perfectly clear testimony on the part of Christ to a Messianic element in the Pentateuch,

John 9:2 — instance of handicap, disease, and sorrow should be invariably ascribed to the individual sin of the sufferer. As Paul stated it, "Death reigned … even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression" (Romans 5:14). Without regard to such truth, the apostles were quite ready to blame this man's blindness upon himself, or if not upon him, then upon his parents. It seems ridiculous to us that prenatal sin could be committed; but, as Dummelow noted: The disciples

Romans 2:21-24 — of adultery was supported by all the Old Testament prophets, especially Jeremiah, who wrote, (They) assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbor's wife (Jeremiah 5:7-8). Jeremiah even went so far as to say that the Israelites had committed adultery "under every green tree" (Jeremiah 2:20). The charge of robbing temples is more difficult to understand because, grammatically, it does not seem to fit in.

Romans 5:1 — vociferous claims to the effect that Paul really meant "faith only" require repeated attention to the truth. Note: Through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations, for his name's sake (Romans 1:5). But now is manifested, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, is made known unto all nations unto obedience of faith (Romans 16:26). It would be impossible to overestimate the significance of Paul's

Romans 9:5 — Christ is called "God" no less than ten times in the Greek New Testament, the other nine passages where this is done being John 1:1; John 20:28; Acts 20:28; Hebrews 1:8; Philippians 2:8; Colossians 2:9; Titus 2:13; 2 Peter 1:1; and 1 John 5:20. Objectors to the obvious meaning here allege that Paul nowhere else makes such a statement of Christ's deity. Barrett, for example, wrote: Nowhere else in any epistle does Paul call Christ God. C. K. Barrett, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans

Hebrews 10:22 — things demands that specific attention be given to each one of them. With a true heart shows that no insincere person or hypocrite can ever really draw near to God. Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:8). The Holy Spirit says, "Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23). Success is promised the obedient. "And thou shalt find him, when thou searchest after him with all thy heart and with

Hebrews 7:9-10 — is exactly what the writer does when he says that Levi was still in the loins of Abraham when Abraham paid the tenth to Melchizedek; he uses the proper expression. R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 220. For notes on "loins" see under Hebrews 7:5. The burden of the argument in this place is simply that the priesthood of Melchizedek (and therefore of Christ) is greater than the Levitical priesthood; and the proof offered is that the whole Hebrew nation, including of course the Levites, in the

Hebrews 9:3 — Holy of Holies. The only access to that Holy of Holies was through the veil, a description of which is afforded by Exodus 26:31 ff. It was this veil which was parted in twain from the top to the bottom at the time of our Lord's crucifixion (Matthew 27:51), thus being brought into focus to reveal an astonishing weight of symbolism. THE VEIL OF THE TEMPLE The three colors of the veil (Exodus 26:31 ff), blue above, scarlet beneath, and purple between, formed by the perfect blending of the other colors,

2 Peter 2:1 — outstanding teachings in the Petrine writings is the correspondence between the Old and the New Israel, an analogy that he had surely learned from the Lord himself. Jesus himself had flatly predicted the same thing Peter prophesied here (Matthew 7:15-23). A number of Old Testament references to the false prophets of the Old Israel were cited by Barclay, thus: William Barclay, The Letters of James and Peter (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1976), p. 314. The false prophets said, Peace, Peace,