Bible Commentaries

Psalms 104:1-5 — the clouds his chariot; Who walketh upon the wings of the wind; Who maketh winds his messengers; Flames of fire his ministers; Who laid the foundations of the earth, That it should not be moved forever." The focus of these lines is upon Genesis 1:1-5. The creation of light and the heavens and the earth are mentioned in that passage. "The heavens like a curtain" This is an appropriate line indeed, because the atmospheric heavens are indeed a protective tent or curtain shielding the earth from the

Psalms 106:19-23 — an ox" It is surprising indeed that any allegedly Christian commentator should question this; but Addis, declared that, "They had no intention of doing what is here stated. That it was an image of Yahweh that they made appears plainly from Exodus 32:5)."Ibid. No bull calf was ever "an image of Yahweh"! That is the age-old delusion about image worship. God cannot be worshipped by bowing down to anything that men might make. Furthermore, such a device is incapable of "reminding one of God." How could

Psalms 119:33-40 — STROPHE 5A PRAYER THAT GOD WILL TEACH HIM THE LAW AND THAT HE WILL TURN THE PSALMIST TO IT AWAY FROM COVETOUSNESS He "Teach me, O Jehovah, the way of thy statutes; And I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding, and I shall keep thy law; Yea, I shall

Psalms 124:1-5 — ruthless enemies; but the metaphor describing it is in these lines a destructive, overwhelming flood. This was an often used figure for a conquering army. Isaiah compared the ravaging armies of the Assyrians to the Euphrates river at flood stage (Isaiah 8:5-8). These verses not only describe the terrible danger that threatened Israel, they also identify the sole reason for their survival from such a threat, i.e., "Jehovah" who was "on their side." The balance of the psalm is devoted to the praise of their

Psalms 124:6-8 — The snare is broken, and we are escaped. Our help is in the name of Jehovah, Who made heaven and earth." The terrible danger of the situation Israel survived was concentrated in that hostile Philistine army. They had come up "to seek David" (2 Sam. 5:117), for the purpose of killing him, exactly as they had destroyed Saul. Moreover they possessed at that time the `bridle' of the city of Jerusalem. This meant they held the strategic advantage over the city. This is evident in the passage from 2 Samuel

Psalms 125:3 — proposal that recognizes this implication of a speedy reversal of the wicked rule, stating that, "This must have been written during the mild rule of Egyptian monarchs some time before the Syrian oppression."International Critical Commentary, Vol. II, p. 455. An alternative meaning was suggested by Barnes, namely, that, "God will not deal with the righteous as he deals with the wicked. God will not give his people prosperity as he does the wicked; but the righteous will be afflicted, and placed in such

Psalms 93:1-2 — course, those credentials are the same as those of the "ruling Jehovah" in this passage. These are: (1) King by right of eternal existence; (2) by right of creation; (3) by right of personal excellence, "majesty and strength;" (4) by divine right; (5) by right of maintenance, "upholding all things by the word of his power"; (6) by right of purchase (This establishes God's right to rule over humanity in that he purchased, or redeemed us, through the blood of His Son); and (7) by right of his present

Proverbs 7:1-5 — words." "Lay up my commandments" "The words, commandments and teachings here are the Torah. These are the words shared by the wisdom literature with the Pentateuch, Prophets and Psalms."Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1971), Vol. 5, p. 28. "Keep… my law, as the apple of thine eye" "This is a proverbial expression for anything particularly precious and liable to be injured unless zealously guarded."The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 9, p. 153. "Write them upon the tablet of your

Isaiah 3:16-17 — Peake, A Commentary on the Bible, Isaiah (London: T. C. and E. C. Jack, Ltd., 1924). p. 439. eyes. "And will lay bare their secret parts" This was literally the shameful punishment that was given to women convicted of adultery, as described in Nahum 3:5-6 "I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face; and I will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and will make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazing stock." In Nahum this was described

Isaiah 35:3-4 — and recompense belong together. The world cannot be put to rights and the era of peace be brought in without both the banishment and punishment of the wicked, and also the blessing of the `ransomed of the Lord.'"The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 795. Certainly, the admonition here for the strong to aid and strengthen the weak and fearful has an application to every age of God's people, whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament. New Testament admonitions on this subject are: 1 Corinthians

Isaiah 38:21-22 — given at the king's request."J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 439. In this connection, even during the charismatic age of the church when elders endowed with the gift of healing, prayed for the sick, they also anointed the sufferer with oil, as in James 5:13-15.

Isaiah 60:15-18 — win victories over any given generation, but God is forever winning the Great War against evil. (3) The walls that have been destroyed will be rebuilt. (4) Those who have hated God's people will return, along with their seed, to adore and honor them. (5) God's judgment against the wicked will take place dramatically before the eyes of the whole world. Note the correspondence of Isaiah 60:17 with Isaiah 9:9-10, and with later verses in that chapter. Also, Isaiah 60:18 is but a restatement in different

Isaiah 64:5-7 — as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee; for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us by means of our iniquities." Isaiah 64:5 in the very oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew text is damaged to the point of its being impossible to know exactly what is meant by it. There is little or no reason to trust the emendations that have produced the various statements printed here in recent

Jeremiah 30:4-7 — believe that was "the day of Jacob's trouble." That was evidently the day of Babylon's trouble! "That day is great… there is none like it" The unique day in view here, it appears to us, must be understood as the Judgment of the Great Day. See Amos 5:18 f and the first two chapters of Zephaniah. The great day mentioned here is not the day of the destruction of Jerusalem, nor the day of the destruction of Babylon. "It is the Day of the Lord, a significant eschatological theme."Charles Lee Feinberg

Daniel 12:8-9 — have understood these words. Why? (1) The holy people whose power was to be broken in pieces in the mind of Daniel was doubtless a reference to the OLD ISRAEL; but we have known since Jesus Christ that HE, and HE ALONE is the true Israel of God (John 15:1; John 15:5). (2) The expression, "time, and times, and a half a time" could have had no practical meaning whatever for Daniel. (3) The prophecies of knowledge being increased and men going "to and fro" could never have been fully understood by any

Daniel 8:3-4 — 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 ribs

Hosea 5:11 — American Standard Version text shows, there is no Hebrew word for "man's" in the last phrase of this verse; but the translators are undoubtedly correct in this rendition, because, as Keil observed: "The word for `command' or `statute' here (see Jeremiah 2:5, and 2 Kings 18:15) is [~tsaw] and it means a human statute as an antithesis to the word or commandment of God. It is thus used both here and in Isaiah 28:10; Isaiah 28:13."C. F. Keil, op. cit., p. 92. In the light of these, there is no way to translate

Amos 5:13 — advice added to the book"Ralph L. Smith, op. cit., p. 113. by some later editor, a view which would denominate such an editor as a very foolish and unspiritual person! We therefore reject out of hand the groundless speculation to the effect that Amos 5:13, "is a manifestly later insertion."Henry McKeating, op. cit., p. 43. What "editor" could have been so perverse and unspiritual as to inject a "sour note" like this into Amos' beautiful prophecy? Such a conception of how these words happened to be

Nahum 2:13 — and offspring, and with unlimited prey to seize with impunity, the lair is utterly abandoned?"Edward R. Dalglish, op. cit., p. 242. The enigma is answered in the first clause, one of the most important in the prophecy and the one repeated in Nahum 3:5, "I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts!" This verse identifies the Dasher in pieces of Nahum 2:1; it is God who overthrew Nineveh. He had instruments of course, but the decision for the execution of wrath upon that bloody city was not made in

Zechariah 5:5 — dealing with explicit sins and sinners, and in the vision of the ephah being carried to Babylon a transfer of sin in the sense of an evil principle being far-removed from God's people. Despite such views, we shall deal with this second vision in Zechariah 5 as independent of the other. As Leupold understood them, "It is scarcely feasible to regard these two visions as two sides of but one vision."H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Zechariah (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1971), p. 97.