Bible Commentaries

Job 19:13-22 — heartless, bigoted, hypocrites, arrogant in their conceited confidence that they `knew all the answers,' proceeded to judge Job, as if they were God Himself. No wonder Christ said, "Judge not, that ye be not judged with the same condemnation" (Matthew 7:1). "Why do ye persecute me as God" This does not mean that Job accused God of persecuting him. He protests his friend's persecution of him, as if they were God, assuming to know that which only God could know, and condemning Job upon this presumed

Job 25:1-4 — everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). This means that the stars were pure in God's sight; thus Bildad's word here is another example of the fact that Job's friends had not spoken of God the things that were right (Job 42:7). It is believed by many scholars that much of this last half of Job is obscured by the imperfect preservation of the text, The critical analysis of these middle chapters takes special notice of, "(1) The extreme brevity of Bildad's speech, (2) the

Psalms 12:6 — furnace on the earth, purified seven times." Delitzsch recognized these words also as the direct message of God to David.F. Delitzsch, Old Testament, Psalms (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 195. He also interpreted David's words in Psalms 12:7 as the equivalent of the psalmist's solemn "Amen" to God's promise in Psalms 12:5-6. THE SEVEN-FOLD PURIFICATION OF GOD'S WORD Satan himself tried God's Word in Eden, saying "Thou shalt not surely die," but the sprawling cemeteries of the whole world,

Psalms 72:13-16 — The only way we can understand such terminology as this is to ascribe it to the prayer of David, at a time when he was almost on his death bed, anticipating the reign of his son Solomon, and applying the prophecies spoken to him by Nathan (2 Samuel 7) to Solomon, whom David mistakenly supposed would be that "everlasting king" of God's promise through Nathan. Solomon never saved any souls, nor did he ever redeem anybody. "And they shall live" The marginal reading here makes more sense, i.e., "He

Isaiah 25:9-12 — singled out, not as a single nation awaiting God's punishment, but as "A representative of all the obdurately hostile and unbelieving world whose God-resisting peoples shall be mowed down in the final destruction."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 727 All of the figures that God uses in the Bible to describe the final punishment of the wicked are all repulsive: (1) the lake of fire; (2) the perpetual silence; (3) the outer darkness;, (4) where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth; (5) where the

Isaiah 29:5-8 — behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall all the nations be that fight against Zion." In Isaiah 29:7-8, the words Ariel and Zion are used interchangeably, making it certain that Ariel and Zion (or Jerusalem) have the same meaning. As already noted, the mention of many nations fighting against Jerusalem is a sure indication that even the lifting of

Isaiah 38:18-20 — wrote: "Ingenious scholars, whose aim is to present us with the text as they think Isaiah should have written it, are pretty well agreed that there is a dislocation here, and that these last two verses ought to have come earlier, perhaps between Isaiah 38:6-7; and they compare the order in the book of Kings."George C. M. Douglas, p. 294. It has been almost a century since Douglas wrote this; but he here pointed squarely to the great passion of countless critical commentators of our own times, whose comments

Isaiah 63:7-9 — care. He said, "Surely, the children of these people will not lie or deal falsely!" (Isaiah 63:8). "There was a condition, however, that if God was to abide among them, Israel would be required to hearken unto God's voice (Deuteronomy 6:3; Jeremiah 7:23; Ezekiel 11:20)); but God was disappointed in them."HI], p. 503. The near-universal extent of wickedness is emphasized by the statement that "There was none to help" (Isaiah 63:5). However, it is probably best to view such statements as hyperbole

Jeremiah 1:8-10 — placing his hands upon them (Luke 18:15); he cured all kinds of diseases by a mere touch, sometimes even by the touching of his garment (Matthew 2:8; Matthew 2:15); and he even raised the dead, taking the deceased daughter of Jairus by the hand (Luke 7:14). "To pluck up, to break down, to destroy, to overthrow, to build and to plant" These six mighty infinitives outline the scope of Jeremiah's commission, which was very largely one of destruction; but as indicated by the last two, "giving ground for

Jeremiah 3:6-10 — whole heart, but feignedly." We have already noted the nature of the harlotry and whoredom of God's people, and there is no need to elaborate it here. Notice the fourfold reiteration of the appellation `treacherous' as applied to Judah in Jeremiah 3:7-8; Jeremiah 3:10-11. The aggravated nature of Judah's sin is seen in this: "Israel had openly broken the political and religious connection with Jehovah; but Judah nominally retained both; but her heart was toward the false gods."The Pulpit Commentary,

Jeremiah 34:6-7 — been positively dated in this very year of the final siege of Jerusalem."Merrill F. Unger, Unger's Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1966), p. 10. "These treasures were discovered by the Wellcome-Marston Expedition."The New Bible Dictionary, p. 704. "Lachish and Azekah" These were important fortified towns, which longer than any others except Jerusalem itself, resisted the Chaldean army. Lachish, at one time, had been larger than Jerusalem itself, and according to the Lachish Letters was the

Jeremiah 49:14-18 — prophets series of commentaries for a full discussion of Obadiah. Obadiah is not the only prophet who gave pronouncements of God's wrath upon the Edomites. Others are Ezekiel 25:12-14; Ezekiel 35:1-15; Joel 3:19; Amos 9:12; Isaiah 21:11-12; Isaiah 34:5-7; Isaiah 63:1-6. So far I have already commented upon all of these (except the ones in Ezekiel). To all of these, of course, there must also be added the prophecies against Edom through the prophet Jeremiah. "Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities"

Ezekiel 6:4-7 — fertility rites, an orgiastic worship embodying drunkenness and cultic prostitution. Associated with such high places were idols, sacred stones, pillars, sacred trees, etc."John T. Bunn in the Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1871), p. 249. The presence of dead bodies and bones around the altars and idols of the high places had two purposes, "(1) It defiled the idols with corpses; and (2) it showed the helplessness of the idols."International Critical Commentary, p. 69. "And

Hosea 1:10 — history of the Jews after captivity, for the clear reference to the call of the Gentiles is undeniable. "As the sand of the sea" The significance of this appears in the fact of its repetition of the Father's promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:5; Genesis 17:22 where exactly this same terminology is used. Although the covenant with Abraham's fleshly descendants was broken and abrogated, the promise to Abraham was not so terminated; but, as this verse shows, it will be fulfilled by the bringing in of Gentiles,

Hosea 5:8 — stress any difference in the instruments. The two were probably slight variants of the same instrument. The Mishna states that the shopar was sometimes straight and sometimes curved, and usually a simple ram's horn.Charles F. Pfeiffer, op. cit., p. 807. The particular war prophesied by this passage was the prelude to the destruction of all northern Israel and took place in 734 B.C. McKeating gives this summary of it: Israel and Syria, who were old enemies decided to make common cause against Assyria.

Hosea 8:4 — this place to the murderous overthrow of one king after another in the closing year's of the northern monarchy; but we believe much more is included. The very conception of an earthly ruler over God's people was contrary to the will of God (1 Samuel 8:7 ff). All of their kings, even Saul, were nothing more than a total rejection of the Theocracy; and, although God accommodated himself to their rebellion in that instance, there is no evidence at all that the secular kings were ever anything other than

Zechariah 9:7 — Mitchell, op. cit., p. 269. This is the last mention of the Philistines in the Old Testament; the modern name Palestine is derived from their name."David J. Ellis, The New Layman's Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), p. 1040. From this verse, it is clear that Zechariah prophesied, not the extermination of these people, but their amalgamation into "Israel." The whole paragraph (Zechariah 9:1-7) is a brilliant prophecy of the campaign of Alexander the Great that

Malachi 3:14 — God; and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked mournfully before Jehovah of hosts?" This is the age-old problem of the prosperity of the wicked contrasted with the struggles and tribulations of the righteous. Psalms 73 addresses the same problem. The saints of all ages have confronted it and have been perplexed by it. There is only one answer; and it is the same in the Psalm, or in Malachi, or always. "It was too painful for me, Until I went into the sanctuary of

Matthew 2:2 — 626.<.footnote> The Messianic hope is mentioned by the Roman historians, Suetonius and Tacitus, the latter actually stating that the prophecies were fulfilled in the birth of Titus!Adam Clarke, Commentary, article on Matthew (London: Mason and Lane, 1837), on Matthew 2:2. We saw his star in the east … Many conjectures with reference to this star still leave the question unanswered with regard to what it actually was. Kepler stated that there was a conjunction of the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and

Matthew 5:48 — real perfection he might eventually attain must be the free gift of Christ. Illustration: In a measure of music, in ordinary 4/4 or quadruple time, a single half-note fills the measure half-full; a dot after that note brings it to 3/4 full, another dot 7/8 full, another to 15/16 full, another to 31/32 full, and so on and on. If one added a million dots, the measure would never be full, for each dot would add only half the value of the preceding dot. In a manner of speaking, this is the way it is with