Bible Commentaries

Genesis 22:7-8 — certain as it may be possible to imagine. "Father … Here am I, my son" More tragic words were never spoken. How Abraham's heart must have been stricken with anguish here. Note the repetition of "they went both of them together" in Genesis 22:6 and Genesis 22:7. The sacred narrative here has been the unfailing marvel of all subsequent ages. Not a word is wasted. The breathless intensity of it rises higher with every step taken by father and son up the mountain to the place! The awesome climax,

Genesis 35:22-29 — the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid: Gad and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob that were born to him in Paddan-aram. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father to Mamre, to Kiratharba (the same is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac sojourned." Genesis 35:26 should not be read as stating that Benjamin was actually born in Paddan-aram, for as Speiser noted, this is merely an "apparent" meaning.E. A. Speiser, op. cit., p. 274. As a group, the twelve were indeed born in Paddan-aram; and even Benjamin was evidently

Genesis 42:21-23 — had not actually killed their brother, they had little doubt that death had indeed claimed him. The edict of God Himself to the effect that "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God made he man" (Genesis 9:6) was very much in the minds of those sinful brothers, who recalled their own merciless refusal to hear the pleas of their brother. That detail concerning how they heard and refused Joseph's pleading is not recorded elsewhere, but from this it appears

Genesis 8:1 — This chapter continues the story of the Flood, including the period of the ark's flotation, its coming to rest, and the decrease of the waters (Genesis 8:1-5), the sending forth of the raven and the dove (Genesis 8:6-12), the disembarkation (Genesis 8:13-19), and Noah's burnt-offering with God's response (Genesis 8:20-22). "And God remembered Noah, and all the beasts, and all the cattle that were with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and

Exodus 18:5-7 — beginning of the next chapter, saying, "Since even at Rephidim they could have been said to be at the mountain of God, there seems to be no real problem in the order of the narrative."Philip C. Johnson, Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1962), p. 67. In Exodus 18:5, the translation is somewhat ambiguous, since it does not clarify "his sons and his wife" as belonging to Moses. Newer versions correct this. Also, in Exodus 18:6, it sounds as if Jethro is speaking to Moses, but the next clause

Exodus 34:5-8 — concerning the nature, or attributes, of God Himself. This sacred glimpse of God's loving mercy lies behind the N.T. revelation that "God is love." The O.T. prophets returned to these words again and again. They are quoted in Nehemiah 9:17; Psalms 86:15; Psalms 103:8; Psalms 145:8; Joel 2:15; Jonah 4:2; and also Numbers 14:18. It is an inexcusable error, however, to suppose that God will finally accommodate to human wickedness. He will "by no means clear the guilty"; and despite some efforts to

2 Chronicles 5:2-10 — seen without: and there it is unto this day. There was nothing in the ark save the two tables that Moses put there at Horeb, when Jehovah made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of Egypt." "All of 2 Chronicles 5, 2 Chronicles 6 and 2 Chronicles 7 is virtually identical with 1 Kings 8:1 to 1 Kings 9:9, the few additions giving mainly liturgical information."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 385. Our Commentary on 1 Kings has our discussion of what is contained in this section. "The

Ezra 6:19-22 — did eat, and kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for Jehovah had made them joyful, and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel." "With Ezra 6:19, the writer resumes the Hebrew language, which he had discarded for the Chaldee, beginning at Ezra 4:8. With the exception of the letter of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:12-26), the remainder of the book is in Hebrew."F. C. Cook, Barnes' Commentary Series,

Esther 5:5-8 — further time for prayer; or (3) that it was due to God's overruling providence which would use the intervening time prior to that second banquet to make the granting of Esther's petition absolutely certain."Matthew Henry's Commentary, op. cit., p. 1136. It might very well have been a combination of all these things. "She wisely concluded that the king would understand that there was indeed a real petition in the background; which, of course, he did."F. C. Cook, Barnes' Commentary Series, Esther, p.

Psalms 1:1 — negatively as one who does not do certain things. Nothing could be farther from God's truth than the notion that only the positive declarations are sufficient. Even in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount there are no less than ten negative commandments in Matthew 6 alone. Without any doubt whatever, serving God is eternally identified with not doing many things. Another interesting revelation of this verse is the characteristic of wickedness that it is able to exercise an increasingly strong power over any person

Psalms 49:16-20 — understandeth not, Is like the beasts that perish." The futility of trusting in riches continues to be the theme here. Psalms 49:17 reminds us of what the apostle Paul said, "We brought nothing into this world, and neither can we carry anything out" (1 Timothy 6:7). The proverb, "You can't take it with you," is not nullified by Bob Hope's wisecrack, that, "If I can't take it with me, I ain't goin'." All men need to be reminded that a hearse never has a U-haul trailer! Also, for the curious question which reporters

Psalms 61:4-5 — refer to David's, "Dwelling spiritually in the heavenly dwelling of which the earthly tabernacle was a type." Another view is that of Addis, who wrote, "The king mentioned here seems to be a high priest also, for he dwells in the tabernacle (Psalms 61:4) and abides before God (Psalms 61:7)."W. E. Addis, p. 383. Of course, there is only one great King and High Priest dwelling in the presence of God, and that is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Since the Messianic King is most surely mentioned

Psalms 67:1-7 — our God, will bless us. God will bless us; And all the ends of the earth shall fear him." "God be merciful… bless us… cause his face to shine upon us, etc." As Addis noted, "This Psalm is an expansion of the Aaronic blessing of Numbers 6:24-26."W. E. Addis, p. 384. This short psalm is further shortened in meaning by the verbatim repetition of Psalms 67:3 in Psalms 67:5. There is not much we can add by way of interpretation to that which we have already stated above. This great prophecy

Leviticus 20:6-9 — God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I am Jehovah who sanctifieth you. For every one that curseth his father or his mother shall surely be put to death: he hath cursed his father or his mother; his blood shall be upon him." Leviticus 20:6… "To play the harlot" is equivalent to the same words in Leviticus 20:5, above. It is a mistake to read this merely as "spiritual adultery." Of course, it was also that, but there was the grossest kind of immorality connected with all phases

Leviticus 8:14-17 — commanded Moses." "He brought the bullock" Moses officiated at this consecration. On all subsequent occasions, it was the High Priest who did so; but as yet there was no High Priest. The procedure here followed the instructions given in Leviticus 4:6-7 in most particulars, but not in all of them, due to the special circumstances. "The blood is smeared on the altar of burnt-offerings rather than on the veil and altar of incense."Gordon J. Wenham, The Book of Leviticus (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans

Numbers 14:11-19 — of glosses, and their broken construction and unintelligibility is due to such an origin, rather than to Moses' emotion, as some have suggested."George Buchanan Gray, International Critical Commentary, Numbers (Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1903), p. 156. Well, just how reasonable is a view like that? What is affirmed by it is that some, or many, of those invisible "redactors" and/or "editors" put together an "unintelligible" passage. Why? Were such authors of all those "glosses" themselves unintelligent,

Deuteronomy 23:21-25 — "threshing wheat"? Of course not. It would have been as reasonable to charge them with irrigating land in case they knocked off a little dew early in the morning! (See our comments on the N.T. incident related to this under Matthew 12:1 ff, and Luke 6:1 ff.) We are fortunate enough to have the explanation of just how the Pharisees managed to nullify this law by their specious reasoning: Jewish commentators limited the application of the role in Deuteronomy 23:24-25 to "harvest laborers," making it

2 Peter 2 overview — and by Paul, Peter and John. It is printed as a single paragraph in the ASV, but a workable outline of it is given by Strachan, thus: R. H. Strachan, Expositor's Greek Testament, Vol. V (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1967), pp. 133-141. The false teachers and their judgment (2 Peter 2:1-3). Historical illustration of Divine judgment on the wicked, and care of the righteous (2 Peter 2:4-10 a). Further description of the false teachers (2 Peter 2:10 b-14). The example

2 Samuel 4:9-11 — the lie to their claim of having been the Lord's tools in that brutal murder; and in the second instance, he pointed out the precedent which he himself had already established in the killing of the Amalekite."The Interpreter's Bible, op. cit., p. 1067. His third point was that Ishbosheth was a "righteous man," contrasting with Saul who was wicked. By the time David got this far into his response, those two evil brothers must have anticipated what would come next. "Shall I not now require his blood

2 Samuel 9:3 — king said, `Is there not still someone of the house of Saul, that I may show the kindness of God to him?' Ziba said to the king, `There is still a son of Jonathan; he is crippled in his feet.'" This crippled son, of course, was Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9:6), whose real name was Meribbaal (or Meribaal) (1 Chronicles 8:34; 1 Chronicles 9:40). This writer finds it impossible to agree with the position maintained by many scholars that, "Until the times of Jezebel, the name `Baal' retained its innocent meaning."The