Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 5:7-12 — conversion to the knowledge of the One True and Only God It was merely his recognition of Jehovah as the God of Israel whom he revered on a parity with the false gods of his own country. "Timber of fir" Jamieson identified this wood as cypress;Ibid., p. 216. and as cypress is mentioned in the Chronicles account, this may well be the case. "Twenty measures of pure oil" The word `thousand' in this phrase is understood; and, accordingly, the RSV properly translates the place as "Twenty thousand measures

1 Kings 9:15-19 — that immense building program involving many cities, not merely these specifically mentioned. but many, many others! To all of those suggested here, we must also add those twenty cities that Solomon unsuccessfully tried to unload on Hiram king of Tyre (2 Chronicles 8:1-2). Our narrator here offers this immense building program as "the reason" why Solomon raised a levy, that, of course, being a reference to the slaves of all Canaanites and the forced labor battalions of the Israelites themselves. It

2 Kings 3:4-8 — of flocks."C. F. Keil, op. cit., p. 301. "I am as thou art," Jehoshaphat's ready compliance with Jehoram's request is surprising, "Because his similar response to a like invitation from Ahab had resulted in his receiving the rebuke of God's prophet (2 Chronicles 19:2). Jehoram's removing that pillar of Baal might have influenced him."Albert Barnes, Kings, p. 231. So the kings went to war against Moab, but a drought had removed their projected water supply!

1 Chronicles 13:1-14 — ark unto him into the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months: and Jehovah blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had." 2 Samuel is parallel with this chapter in 6:11. (See Vol. 4 of our commentaries on the historical books (2 Samuel), pp. 67-73, for comments on the events recorded here.)

2 Chronicles 27:1-9 — Judah. He was five and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And Jotham slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead. "The people did yet corruptly" 2 Kings 15:35 has the information that the high places were not removed; thus God's people continued their idolatrous worship in the high places. "The wall of Ophel" "This wall was part of the old Jebusite city, a very important part of Jerusalem, also

2 Chronicles 33:1-10 — THE WICKED REIGNS OF MANASSEH AND ANTON XIII. MANASSEH (687-642 B.C.) All of the material in this chapter is parallel with 2 Kings 21, except 2 Chronicles 33:11-17 which relate the conversion of Manasseh. Our comments on this chapter are found in the parallel passages in our commentary on Second Kings. Here we shall

Psalms 105:26-36 — every herb in the land, And did eat up the fruit of the ground. He smote also all the first-born in their land, The chief of all their strength." First there is mentioned here the commission of Moses and Aaron for the purposes of the Exodus (Exodus 2-7). Next, we find the account of the plagues which God visited upon Egypt as the time drew near for His deliverance of Israel from bondage. There were ten of these visitations, but only eight are mentioned in this psalm. "The sequence followed in the

Psalms 34:15-19 — evil" (Psalms 34:16). "All men sin, but the reference here is to those who will not repent and who have no intention of turning away from their evil deeds. God will not even hear them when they pray (John 9:31)."George DeHoff's Commentary, Vol. III, p. 127. "Nigh unto them… of a broken heart" (Psalms 34:18). Our Lord himself was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and he is the ever ready comforter and Saviour of those whose hearts have been broken by the soul's tragic encounter with the

Isaiah 27:12-13 — land of Egypt; and they shall worship Jehovah in the holy mountain at Jerusalem." There are a number of things that positively identify this passage as a concluding reference to the final judgment. (1) There is the double mention of "in that day." (2) Also, the sound of the mighty trumpet must be invariably associated with the final judgment. Our Lord said: "And he shall send forth his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one

Isaiah 38:18-20 — used in portions of this little hymn suggests that it was used in the temple services, or at least, that Hezekiah might have composed it with such a usage in view. The final two verses here have the same information that appears in the narrative in 2 Kings, only there, it appears in a different sequence. We have already noted that Isaiah's probable reason for this different arrangement was that of avoiding an interruption of the message of God. We like Douglas' comment on this. he wrote: "Ingenious

Jeremiah 1:8-10 — nothing is more powerful than the touch of the Lord's hand. Our Saviour blessed the children by a touch, 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

Jeremiah 4:1-2 — been the means of God's reaching them! Gentiles and nations are alternate renditions of the same Hebrew noun. As Cook stated it: "Two great truths are taught in this verse: (1) that the Gentiles were to be members of the Church of the Messiah, and (2) that Israel's peculiar office was to be God's instrument in that great work. Thus Jeremiah is in exact accord with the evangelical teaching of Isaiah."Canon F. C. Cook, Jeremiah, p 157. It should not be overlooked that, "The situation envisaged here

Jeremiah 7:30-31 — situated, and which was the scene of Judah's child-sacrifices to that pagan deity. Josiah had defiled it; but apparently Jehoiachim had rededicated it; and, as Feinberg stated it, "This passage reveals that their children were actually burned."Ibid., p. 422. "Which I commanded not" Of course, God disclaimed any such thing as the sacrifice of children as having any connection whatever with what he had ordained. Let it be noted here that "going beyond" what God has commanded for his worship proved a great

Hosea 14:2 — iniquity, and accept that which is good: so will we render as bullocks the offering of our lips." Despite some uncertainties regarding the text, the meaning is certified to us by the New Testament references to this very place (Hebrews 13:15; 1 Peter 2:5), leading to our absolute confidence that "fruit from our lips" are the new sacrifices God will receive, that animal sacrifices would be offered no more, and that "spiritual sacrifices" (1 Peter 2:5) would alone be offered, and that "that is all that

Numbers 16:36-40 — were destroyed by Jehovah for disobedience. And God finally disinherited, outlawed, and cursed the whole Levitical priesthood for their sins and arrogant disobedience. "I will send the curse upon you: yea, I have cursed your blessings already" (Malachi 2:2).

Deuteronomy 12:8-14 — thyself that thou offer not thy burnt-offerings in every place that thou seest; but in the place which Jehovah shall choose in one of thy tribes, there shalt thou offer thy burnt-offerings, and there shalt thou do all that I command thee." Deuteronomy 12:8-12 here are the second pronouncement of what some have called "The law of the one altar." There are three such pronouncements in this chapter: (1)    Deuteronomy 12:2-7 (2)    Deuteronomy 12:8-12 (3)    Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 27:9-10 — commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day." "This day thou art become the people of God" This indicates that these two verses were spoken by Moses and the Levites upon the same day as the oath of ratification reported in Deuteronomy 26. It was that oath that made Israel God's people: "Israel became a nation, not by virtue of acquiring a land or language of their own, but by taking on itself the yoke of the Torah even while it was still in the wilderness, without a land or the other

1 Samuel 18:26-29 — contradicted what is stated here, declaring that, "The killing of two hundred Philistines is an unnecessary and unoriginal exaggeration. David paid the "full number" to Saul. viz., one hundred; and this is borne out by a later reference to the event in 2 Samuel 3:14." This writer must confess that one of the most incredible discoveries of a whole lifetime of Bible study is the unjustifiable and even dishonest allegations of critical scholars against the Word of God. The two passages cited here harmonize

1 Samuel 26:13-16 — closely; here David took no such chance but called to Abner from the top of an adjoining mountain. "Who are you that calls to the king?" David was not calling Saul, but Abner; but Abner apparently meant, "Who disturbed the king's repose"?Ibid., p. 423. It is very remarkable that, just a little while previously David's conversation with Abishai had not awakened anyone; and now, the voice of a man far away on the top of a distant mountain is easily heard by Abner. This is proof enough that the sleep

2 Samuel 4:1-3 — army."John T. Willis, p. 306. The story of the Gibeonites is found in Joshua 9. They deceived Israel into making a covenant with them by a clever device of pretending to be from a far distant country. The Gibeonites were savagely persecuted by Saul (2 Samuel 21:1 ff) who put many of them to death; and that could possibly account for the basic hatred of Saul's house which might have entered into the motivation for these two brothers to murder Ishbosheth. As a result of that persecution, the Gibeonites