Bible Commentaries

Genesis 1:1 — have questioned this, of course; but we have never encountered any other adequate explanation of it. "The heavens" There are three heavens visible in the Word of God, these being: (1) the earth's atmosphere, where "birds of the heaven" fly (Jeremiah 15:3); (2) the heaven of the galaxies and constellations (Isaiah 13:10); and (3) the heaven where God dwells (Psalms 11:4). The heavens here include the first two and perhaps others of which we do not know. "And the earth" If our understanding of "the heavens"

Genesis 2:16-17 — have no way of finding out. Whatever it was, it was forbidden to our great progenitors; but they violated the divine law that forbade their eating of it; and the manifold sorrows of our race inexorably ensued. We shall return to this subject in Genesis 3, where the event of the Fall is recorded. Skinner's comment on the penalty of disobedience in these verses includes practically all of the errors that men have imported into the passage, as follows: "The threat was not fulfilled; but its force is not

Genesis 36 overview — Toledoth IX (Genesis 36:1) Roehrs referred to this chapter as a "list of meaningless names," suggesting that it is an act of penance merely to read it!Walter R. Roehrs, Concordia Self-study Commentary (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1973), p. 49. Despite such a view,

Exodus 18 overview — advice from Jethro with reference to the judges. Jethro's arrival with Moses' wife and their two sons (Exodus 18:1-6); his conversation with Moses (Exodus 18:7-11); his worship of the true God (Exodus 18:12); his observance of Moses' work (Exodus 18:13-16); his advice to Moses (Exodus 18:17-23); Moses' acceptance of that advice (Exodus 18:18-26 and Deuteronomy 1:9-18); and Jethro's departure (Exodus 18:27) are subdivisions of the chapter. Keil suggested that Jethro here appears as the first-fruits

Exodus 7:8-10 — A PRELIMINARY MIRACLE (Exodus 7:8-13) "And Jehovah spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh shall speak unto you, Show a wonder for you; then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent. And Moses and Aaron went in unto

Psalms 109 overview — psalm appear to us as wholly antithetical to the true spirit of Christianity. There was certainly a glimpse of this same bitter spirit that appeared in the lives of two of the blessed apostles, namely, "The Sons of Thunder," that is, "Boanerges" (Mark 3:17). These, of course, were James and John the sons of Zebedee. The glimpse referred to is recorded in Luke 9:52 ff. The apostles went before Jesus into a village of the Samaritans to prepare the way for Jesus, but the Samaritans did not receive him.

Psalms 46 overview — Sennacherib's army before the walls of Jerusalem in 701 B.C. Here is what these scholars wrote: "Psalms 46-48 form a group of three which we may assign with little doubt to the reign of Hezekiah, when Sennacherib's army was suddenly destroyed (2 Kings 19:35). They all three strike the same note of gratitude, confidence and praise, which is found in Isaiah's references to the same event (Isaiah 29-31; Isaiah 33; Isaiah 37).J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 348. "This Psalm looks back to the deliverance from

Jeremiah 46 overview — Bethlehem, eight centuries before it happened (Micah 5:2), as a reference, "To the time when David was being called to the kingship." (Note that a radical critic here applied this prophecy to an event that had already happened centuries earlier). See pp. 341-346, in Vol. 2, of the Minor Prophets Series for a full discussion of the critical rule regarding predictive prophecy, and for many specific reasons why it is impossible to believe such a rule. The chapter division in this chapter are: (1) the two

Amos 7 overview — Here begins the final major section of Amos, consisting principally of five visions, three of which are found in this chapter: (1) that of the locusts (Amos 7:1-3); (2) that of the fire (Amos 7:4-6); and (3) that of the plumb-line (Amos 7:7-9). The balance of the chapter (Amos 7:10-14) has an exceedingly interesting and instructive narrative of the confrontation between God's Prophet (Amos) and Jeroboam's Priest.

Deuteronomy 20:1-4 — ye affrighted of them; for Jehovah your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you." "To the Israelites, horses and chariots were always objects of terror in war (Joshua 11:4; Joshua 17:16; Judges 1:19; Judges 4:3, and 1 Samuel 13:5)."W. L. Alexander, The Pulpit Commentary, Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 230. Furthermore, all of the nations they would confront in Canaan were well supplied with that very type of military

Luke 13:15 — interests were involved; no mercy or indulgence was to be thought of, however, where only the sick and the poor were involved.H. D. M. Spence, The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), Vol. 16, Luke II, p. 3. They pretended that it was in harmony with God's law to do more for an animal on the sabbath day than for a human being. It should ever be borne in mind that Christ perfectly kept all of God's true sabbath laws; it was only the human additives thereunto

John 4:24 — worship is spiritual. WHAT IS WORSHIP? A good description of worship is that of Isaiah 6:1-8, an analysis of which shows that worship is: (1) an awareness of the presence of God, (2) a consciousness of sin and unworthiness on the part of the worshipper, (3) a sense of cleansing and forgiveness, and (4) a response of the soul with reference to doing God's will: "Here am I, send me!" In the New Testament, it is evident that the worship of God involved the doing of certain things: (1) meditating

Romans 12:19 — of the North Vietnamese who murdered 9,000 civilians in one of their Tet offensives. Vengeance is not a Christian prerogative, this being true for a number of reasons, such as: (1) God has forbidden it; (2) it is illegal in any civilized state; and (3) it is contrary to the Christian principle of overcoming evil with good, the latter being the master strategy against evil. The punishment of evil-doers is a prerogative of God and may not be usurped by his children. The quotation here is from Deuteronomy

Romans 5:20 — often gives medicine, to bring the disease from within to the surface, and make it abound, so to speak, with a view of driving away the disorder, and so enabling health to reign in the system of his patient. Lyth in Biblical Illustrator, op. cit., p. 431. Irenaeus was probably the first to use that illustration, thus: The law is a poultice to bring sin to a head. Irenaeus, quoted by Wm. M. Greathouse, op. cit., p. 123. Greathouse observed that, The law's intrusion was not without divine point. It was

1 Thessalonians 4:16 — they are figures of speech"; Raymond C. Kelcy, op. cit., p. 101. but this is not to deny the historical certainty of the great event here prophesied. A shout … Jesus cried "with a loud voice" over the grave of Lazarus (John 11:43); and, in the light of the passage before us, there must be some significance in it. The shout is here identified with the voice of the archangel and the sound of a trumpet; and evidently some fantastically penetrating sound will signal the onset of

1 Timothy 3:11 — Women in like manner must be grave, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. Hervey summarized the three possible meanings of this verse, making it applicable to: (1) the wives of the deacons; (2) the wives of the elders and deacons; or (3) the women deacons. A. C. Hervey, op. cit., p. 53. Hervey, like so many present-day commentators opted for the third meaning, but this commentator is certain that the third meaning is wrong. If the women in view here had been deacons, Paul would have

Hebrews 13:1 — of the shorter verses of the Bible but worthy indeed of standing thus alone as a divine injunction of the greatest importance. Westcott divided the various exhortations listed in this chapter into the three categories of: (1) social duties (Hebrews 13:1-6); (2) religious duties (Hebrews 13:7-17); and (3) personal instructions of the author (Hebrews 13:18-25). Significantly, love of the brethren stands at the head of the list of all obligations. BROTHERLY LOVE Our brother! He stands before us, like

James 4:1 — "fundamentalism" peculiar to certain schools of New Testament criticism. "James cannot be thinking of wars and fightings between nations." Ronald A. Ward, New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Company, 1970); p. 1231. Roberts, quoting Arndt and Gingrich, noted that the Greek word for "fightings" "is used always in the plural and always of battles carried on with weapons." J. W. Roberts, The Letter of James (Austin, Texas: Sweet Publishing Company,

2 Peter 3:16 — formation." Raymond C. Kelcy, op. cit., p. 162. Speaking in them of these things … There are many subjects discussed in 1 Peter, which were also discussed by Paul in his letters. Among these are: (1) the great apostasy; (2) the eternal judgment; (3) the second coming of Christ; (4) the longsuffering of God; (5) the character of lawless and wicked men; (6) the need for watchfulness; (7) the fact of sinners being slaves of sin, etc., etc. Some things hard to be understood … Note that this

Revelation 12:3 — great power, and also of kings and their successors, as revealed later. Seven diadems … These do not symbolize lawful power but usurped authority. "These are not like the crowns of victory worn by the saints (Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:11; Revelation 6:2, etc.)." A. Plummer, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 22, Revelation (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 311. A different word is used in the Greek. Morris thought that the color red, so prominent