Bible Commentaries

Genesis 25:5-8 — mentioned in this context, unless Hagar is included."Ibid. Such views are in error. A plurality of concubines is the required meaning of the plural here, and we cannot believe that either Keturah or Hagar is included. Right here is the explanation of those 318 men "born in Abraham's house" (Genesis 14:14) who went to war with him in the rescue of the King of Sodom. Both comments cited here are nothing but ingenious denials that the sacred author used the correct word. Of course, he did. Thus it appears

Exodus 31:1-5 — called by name Bezalel" On occasion, when God especially needed a man for important assignments, he called him by name. Thus, on the Damascus road, he called, "Saul, Saul" (Acts 22:7). When Samuel was a child, God called "Samuel" three tinges (1 Samuel 3 and God even called "Cyrus," the ruler of Medo-Persia, generations before he was born (See Isaiah 45:1-7). God's thus calling certain persons "by name" seems to have been rare and reserved for those who gave extraordinary service in fulfilling the plans

Isaiah 29:9-12 — themselves, citing a number of reasons. (1) They knew God, but because they did not glorify him, nor give thanks (Romans 1:21), their senseless heart was darkened, and they became fools. (2) They perverted and corrupted their knowledge of God (Romans 1:22-23), and… God gave them up to lusts and uncleanness (Romans 1:24). (3) They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served themselves, rather than God (Romans 1:25);… and for this cause God gave them up unto vile passions

Isaiah 59:1-8 — Isaiah 59:1-2 here give the Lord's answer to the complaining Jews; and the next six verses (Isaiah 59:3-8) give Jehovah's indictment of the hardened nation, then nearing the time of their destruction under the judgment of God. "Behold, Jehovah's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities

Jeremiah 31:31 — 162-166, one may find additional commentary on the New Covenant. There were several covenants that God made. (1) There was a covenant with Noah (Genesis 6:18; Genesis 9:9); (2) two covenants with Abraham (Genesis 17:2; Genesis 17:10; Genesis 15:18 ff); (3) the covenant of salt (Numbers 18:19; Leviticus 2:13); and (4) the covenant of the everlasting priesthood (Numbers 25:13). However, in Hebrews 8:6-7, this "new covenant" is contrasted with what is called "the first covenant," or "the old covenant,"

Daniel 3:24-27 — their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their breeches changed, nor had the smell of fire passed upon them." GOD PRESERVED THEM IN THE FIERY FURNACE This was indeed a miracle fulfilling exactly the Divine promise of Isaiah 43:2. It ranks on a parity with the great plagues by which God accomplished the delivery of Israel from bondage in Egypt. REGARDING MIRACLES A miracle is not merely an astounding wonder. It is a supernatural occurrence designed as a witness of God's redemptive

Matthew 27:53 — suffrages — these words are not an interpolation, but a part of the genuine words of the Bible. And if there be in all the world a document more absolutely historical than the Bible, it is yet to be discovered.William R. Nicholson, op. cit., p. 63. There are eight resurrections recorded in Scripture, besides the resurrection of Christ which is uniquely different. The other seven are: (1) son of the widow of Sarepta (1 Kings 17); (2) son of the Shunamite (2 Kings 4); (3) the man raised by the

Deuteronomy 3:5-11 — cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man)." "Fortified with high walls" "The ruins of these cities remain until this day."J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 124. Cook gave the literal meaning of the Hebrew in Deuteronomy 3:5 as "with double gates and a bar."F. C. Cook, Barnes' Notes, Deuteronomy (Baker Book House), p. 275. "The height of the stone doors of Bashan point to a race of great stature,

Luke 24:4 — is the same as that mentioned in Matthew and Mark, Lamar's words are surely applicable; but the conviction maintained here is that this was a totally different episode, like the appearance to the disciples on the way to Emmaus. As noted under Luke 24:3, the women here were those who "followed him" from Galilee; but of those women mentioned in Matthew and Mark (and also by Luke in Luke 24:10), it is evident that they ACCOMPANIED Jesus in the same manner as the Twelve. See Luke 8:1-3, where

John 16:8 — of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Convict the world … The means of the Spirit's convicting the world was explained thus by Lipscomb: He will convict the world, not by direct work upon their hearts, but as the event shows (Acts 2:37), through the life of the apostles, declaring the wonderful works of God. The Holy Spirit came not "unto the world" but "unto the apostles." The world could not receive the Spirit directly (John 14:17), and never can, AS THE WORLD.

John 6:56 — only eating and drinking characteristic of the Christian's life. Paul declared that "In one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit" (1 Corinthians 12:13). Here the receiving of the Holy Spirit is the same as to "drink of" the Holy Spirit. And I in him … In this passage, the mutual union of Christ and believers is spoken of as the saved being in the Lord, and as the Lord being in the

Acts 15:13-18 — that the Gentiles should be free from the observance of the Law, and gave him the right hand of fellowship. After this the result of the Council was a foregone conclusion. J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 838. It is evident that Dummelow is correct in this, which means that the decisive part of the confrontation in Jerusalem took place before the formal gathering, that it was dominated and controlled, not by the Pharisee party in Jerusalem, but

Acts 22:3 — the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as ye all are this day. Dummelow gave an excellent outline of Paul's speech which properly begins with this verse: Paul was accused of: (1) hostility to the Jews; (2) contempt for Jewish law; and (3) desecration of the temple. He replied to all three charges thus: (1)    He was a Jew by birth, educated in Jerusalem under the noted Gamaliel, was zealous for God, and a persecutor of the Christians, (2)    His

Romans 5:17 — righteousness deriving from Christ was through life. Life is more than death, "much more"! Furthermore, the life in Christ reaches ultimately an eternal status. Paul had, with this verse, concluded the discursive detour that he began with Romans 5:13, and was about to affirm (Romans 5:18-19) that the universal justification in Jesus Christ (potentially) is the counterpart of the universal condemnation in Adam. Immediately, in the next two verses, Paul would state the great conclusion which he had

Romans 9:2-3 — kin should do it is exquisitely so. The apostle does not yet name the fact that gave him pain, but conceals it until he can bring it out with better effect. Moses E. Lard, op. cit., p. 292. I could wish … is the key to understanding Romans 9:3. As Hodge wrote: The expression is evidently hypothetical and conditional, "I could wish, were the thing allowable, possible, or proper." Charles Hodge, Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

2 Corinthians 3:1 — ourselves? or need we as some, epistles of commendation to you or from you? As Lipscomb said, "Against the usage of such letters in general, Paul here says nothing." David Lipscomb, Second Corinthians (Nashville: Gospel Advocate Company, 1937), p. 47. Rather, Paul is either replying to some allegation of the false teacher who might have inferred that nobody recommended Paul, or he is consciously hedging against a similar charge that he anticipated. "It is not necessary to deduce from

Ephesians 3:14-15 — For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. I bow my knees … Paul had begun to finish this prayer back in Ephesians 3:1, but he interrupted it for the magnificent digression regarding the great mystery in Christ; now he repeated the words, "For this cause," and completed the marvelous prayer. The Jews often stood to pray (Matthew 6:5; Luke 18:11-13); but

Hebrews 3:6 — 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 include all the families of man in the church

Hebrews 7:18 — weakness and unprofitableness. God had never considered the Levitical system to be complete, final or efficacious in itself; but "it was added because of transgression, until the seed should come to whom the promise hath been made") Galatians 3:19). The law expired, therefore, by limitation, when Jesus was revealed as that "seed" so long anticipated. The weakness and unprofitableness of that foregoing commandment refers to the whole system of Moses; and Macknight explained the weakness

Judges 10:10-16 — them, and served Jehovah; and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel" "We have sinned" "The penitential confession of Israel's sins undoubtedly had its setting in a fast called together by their leaders."Broadman Bible Commentary, op. cit., p. 432. If this was the case, there was probably a prophet who, upon behalf of Jehovah, spoke the stern words of Judges 10:13-14. "Did I not deliver you," Reference is here made to no less than seven nations from whose power the Lord had delivered Israel.