Bible Commentaries

Genesis 29:13-20 — Christ himself ("the son of David") was her descendant. (5)    She was the first, and therefore the lawful, wife of Jacob. (6)    Her son Judah gave his name and title to Christ, "The Lion of the Tribe of Judah." (7)    She is here mentioned first and was at last buried by Jacob's side in the cave of Machpelah at Hebron, "presumably before Jacob's descent to Egypt."Mrs. M. Beeching (nee Gray), The New Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans

Genesis 37 overview — Toledoth X (Genesis 37:2) Here, in Genesis 37:2, begins the tenth and final division of Genesis, the same being the [~toledowth] of Jacob, following logically upon that of Esau just concluded. The narrative in this section is concerned chiefly with the story of Joseph; and,

Exodus 40:1-38 — burnt-offering, as a type of the blood of Christ, therefore partook of that same superlative holiness that pertained to the Holy of Holies itself. See Keil, Exodus II, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 255; also Rawlinson, op. cit., p. 397. And thou shalt anoint the laver and its base, and sanctify it. And thou shalt bring Aaron and his sons unto the door of the tent of meeting, and shalt wash them with water. And thou shalt put upon Aaron the holy garments; and thou shalt anoint him,

Exodus 6:14 — years of Egyptian bondage."Wilbur Fields, op. cit, p. 149. The Amram of Exodus 6:18, and the Amram of Exodus 6:20 (Moses' father) cannot be the same persons. "An indefinitely long list of generations has been omitted here."C. F. Keil, op. cit., p. 470. The fact that just four generations are mentioned here, whereas there were actually ten, is perhaps due to the promise in Genesis 15:16, where the delivery of Israel from the land of their oppression was prophesied to happen in the "fourth generation."

Psalms 11:1-7 — 500. And, as McCaw stated it, "The psalm belongs to all of those occasions when evil powers threaten the security and well-being of God's people."Leslie S. McCaw, The New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 457. Dummelow also took a broad view of the psalm's application thus: This is a song of confidence in God, and in the security of the righteous under his protection, notwithstanding the timid counsels of less trustful friends, and the evil devices

Psalms 16:5-8 — Jehovah always before me." This was never done by David, or any other king of Israel; and as Kidner pointed out, "Of the Messiah alone can such words as these be perfectly and literally true. for example, the always of this verse."Derek Kidner, Psalms 1--72 (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1973), p. 86. The apostle Peter himself confirmed the accuracy of that opinion in Acts 2:25, where he quoted Psalms 16:8 and through the rest of this Psalm, stating specifically that David said these things concerning

Leviticus 13:9-28 — been occasions in which the people were beset with great anxieties in their fear of leprosy. What of those who were declared unclean? Their lot was tragic indeed. They were compelled to dress as mourners (Leviticus 10:6; Leviticus 21:10; Ezekiel 24:17; Micah 3:7), and to dwell apart from all human habitation (2 Kings 7:3; 2 Kings 15:5; Luke 17:12), and to warn any person passing by through chance by crying "Unclean! Unclean!… Like the Pariah in India, they were untouchable."Christopher R.

Jeremiah 2:20-25 — the passage thus: "Long ago you snapped your yoke,Shook off your lines.And said, "I will not serve!"Nay, on every high hill,Under every green tree,There you sprawled a-whoring."Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition), p. 11. Even more explicit is the rendition of Thompson who rendered the last two lines here as: "And under every green treeYou sprawled in sexual vice."J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archeology (Grand Rapid, Michigan: Wm.

Numbers 24:3-9 — including such scholars as Albright, give another translation of the clause in Numbers 24:3, rendering it, "Whose eye is true."Harry M. Orlinsky, Notes on the New Translation of the Torah (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1969), p. 237. If this is received, the apparent contradiction is removed. Traditionally, it has been believed for ages that God's revelation to his prophets sometimes came during a kind of trance in which the prophet's eyes remained open. Dummelow tells us that

Matthew 16:4 — contract in which God was the husband and Israel the bride, hence a charge of adultery was a reflection upon Israel's fidelity to God. That unequal marriage God would shortly dissolve through his own death, in the person of Christ, upon the cross (Romans 7:4). It is also doubtless true that that generation was "adulterous" in the ordinary sense as well. Christ had already explained the sign of Jonah and did not repeat it on that occasion. The impact of the word "desired" in Matthew

Matthew 27:66 — what they do" (Luke 23:34). 2.    "Verily, I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). 3.    "Woman, behold thy son … Behold thy mother" (John 19:26-27). 4.    "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). 5.    "I thirst!" (John 19:28). 6.    "It is finished" (John 19:30). 7.    "Father,

Matthew 8:20 — young ruler, he found the conditions too rigorous. The title "Son of man," as applied by Jesus to himself, is one of deep interest. It was his favorite designation of himself, and he used it no less than forty times; but only once (in Acts 7:56) is it ever found on anyone's lips except his own. Some believe our Lord took this title from Psalms 8:4, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him; And the son of man, that thou visitest him?" In the New Testament, Christ is called:The

Mark 7:21-23 — and unworthiness. Pride is the opposite of such consciousness of God. Foolishness … As Barclay said, "This describes, not the man who is a brainless fool, but the man who, as we say, is playing the fool."William Barclay, op. cit., p. 178. The foolishness meant here is the kind of living that is not guided by moral principle nor related to any sacred standards. The conduct described by this awesome catalogue of sinful acts defiles man, the source of the defilement being the unregenerated

Luke 14:18-20 — some have sought to make them, but the most important excuses that could be given."H. Leo Boles, op. cit., p. 288. But Summers called them "ridiculous and humorous."Ray Summers, Commentary on Luke (Waco, Texas: Word Books, Publisher, 1974), p. 179. As far as these excuses may be weighed as justifying the refusal of those bidden to attend the feast, they are worthless and therefore ridiculous; but from the standpoint of the carnal man, they did pertain to the things men of the world

Romans 1:24-25 — included a conscious requirement of God that the sinner thus judged shall be compelled to continue upon the shameful path he has chosen, just as in the case of Judas who received the sentence from Christ, "What thou doest, do quickly" (John 13:7), in which case Satan had already entered Judas' heart, and he had been given up by Christ to commit the treacherous deed already committed in his heart. Another example of the same thing is the case of Balaam who, when he would have turned back from

Romans 7:25 — 126. Greathouse concurred in this thus: The balance of this verse summarizes the dreary state of man in the flesh, as set forth in the preceding section. William M. Greathouse, Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press, 1968), p. 157. In Phillips' and Moffatt's translations, the last sentence is placed adjacent to Romans 7:24, leaving the final words of the chapter, "I thank God …" One must admit that such an arrangement seems logical and would help men to outline

2 Corinthians 4:18 — radiation, etc., are, all of them, invisible. 2.    Noah, acting upon God's instructions, preserved through the flood a new beginning for the human family. "Being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet" (Hebrews 11:7). Such a flood as God promised had never occurred before; and it was a sheer act of faith for Noah to believe in "thing not seen as yet." 3.    Abraham likewise trusted in the invisible; and although the word "unseen"

Revelation 8:1 — hour of silence does not either include or introduce the seven trumpets, or anything else. Since the sixth seal brought a vision of the Second Advent and final judgment, followed by a special vision of the safety and felicity of the saints (Revelation 7), not only while they are enduring sufferings and tribulations, but also through the final judgment into heaven itself, the most natural question of the soul is, "What will it be like in heaven?" The Scriptural answer to that question is this

2 Samuel 22:1-51 — writers often "quoted" Scriptures with variations, but many such "quotations" are not "quotes" at all, but new Scriptures written by the inspired writer. We have cited many such examples in our commentaries. For example, see our comments under Ephesians 4:7-8, and under Romans 12:19, where in both instances the inspired Paul used O.T. passages with variations, but they must not be viewed as Paul's faulty memory of what the quotations really were, but as NEW SCRIPTURE inspired exactly as Paul gave it. David

2 Samuel 6:1-5 — word "from" in this verse should be "to". David and his men went to Baale-judah to get the ark where it had rested for twenty years or more following the removal of it to that place at the request of the men of Bethshemesh (1 Samuel 6:19 to 1 Samuel 7:2). "Baale-judah in this verse is only another name for Kiriath-jearim."Ibid, p. 320. It is actually the old pagan name of the place as indicated in Joshua 15:9; Joshua 15:60. "Called by the name of the Lord of hosts" This cannot be limited to God's