Bible Commentaries

Jeremiah 29:1-4 — she was a very important person who seems to have worn a crown and occupied a throne adjacent to that of the king. Scholars have a lot of trouble with the word "eunuchs" in this passage; and Cheyne even called it a gloss;The Pulpit Commentary, p. 587. but the Bible fully explains it. The princes of Judah and Jerusalem had already been captured and carried away to Babylon, among whom were Daniel and his friends; and they had been emasculated, given new names, and given into the charge of Nebuchadnezzar's

Jeremiah 34:8-10 — the people" entered into the covenant to do so. Again the existence of the Pentateuch, and the Jews' familiarity with its teachings, is emphatically evident in the events of this prophecy. The laws appealed to here were those of Exodus 21:2; Exodus 21:7 and Leviticus 25:39-55. The Jews knew all about those laws but simply refused to obey them. What induced the change here? Early in the final siege of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar's immense composite army approached the city. It was early January in Zedekiah's

Ezekiel 10:5-8 — 113. It would never have been necessary for the Angel of Jehovah himself, the one clad in linen, to scatter coals of fire in any personal sense over Jerusalem. As Beasley-Murray stated it, "This vision prophesies the fires that destroyed Jerusalem in 587 B.C. (2 Kings 25:9), by the armies of the Chaldeans."G. R. Beasley-Murray in the New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 671. In a very similar way, the fires that again destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. were prophetically identified by Jesus Christ himself

Ezekiel 20:10-17 — mankind, but to Israel only, as a sign between them and God. It was not revealed to Adam, who never heard of it, but to Moses (Nehemiah 9:13). "Their heart went after their idols" The martyr Stephen mentions Israel's worshipping the host of heaven (Acts 7:42) during the period of their wilderness wandering. "Their heart went after their idols" "Israel in Canaan might have deserved this sweeping condemnation, but not Israel in the wilderness; because only two outbreaks of idolatry are recorded, namely

Ezekiel 24:15-18 — throughout the world upon funeral occasions. Cooke described the custom thus: "Friends and relatives of the deceased were accustomed to assemble in the house of mourning for a funeral meal, provided by those assembled."International Critical Commentary, p. 271. Of course, the bereaved was supposed to participate in the feast. It was that meal, here called, "the bread of men," that Ezekiel was forbidden to eat. "Bind thy headtire upon thee" The meaning of headtire is "turban." Eichrodt warned us not to be

Ezekiel 8:14-15 — the name that was adopted into the Jewish calendar for their fourth month (June-July). Plumptre has commented upon the prominent part women had, especially in the corrupted worship of the Jews. They wove hangings for the worship of Ashera (2 Kings 23:7), and they also burned incense to the Queen of Heaven (Jeremiah 44:9; Jeremiah 15-19). "This goddess was probably Ashteroth."E. H. Plumptre in the Pulpit Commentary, p. 145. The mourning period, whether long or short, was always followed by the most

Daniel 10:4-9 — the Christ in Revelation 1 points to Christ himself. As Young noted, "This is a theophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of the Eternal Son."Edward J. Young, The New Bible Commentary, Revised, Daniel (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 700. As Keil said, "This understanding is placed beyond doubt by a Comparison with Revelation 1:13, where John saw the glorified Christ, who is there described by a name definitely referring to Daniel 7:13."C. F. Keil, Commentary on the Old Testament

Hosea 1:8-9 — breach"Jacob M. Myers, op. cit., p. 13. between God and the covenant nation. There is a specific reference in this to the covenant itself. Jeremiah had stated the essential heart of the covenant thus: "I will be your God, and you shall be my people" (Jeremiah 7:23); and in the name of the third child, God specifically cancelled it. The names of all three children tend to this inevitable conclusion. The people had wandered far away from the teaching of God. Myers interpreted the meaning of Jezreel as "defection,

Hosea 5:5 — Israel and Ephraim shall stumble in their iniquity; Judah also shall stumble with them." "The pride of Israel" Homer Hailey cited two permissible interpretations of the meaning of this "pride." In one sense, God Himself is the "pride of Israel" (Amos 8:7); and if this is the meaning, it says that "God Himself shall testify against Israel." The other view understands "the pride" as the arrogance of the nation itself which rises up before God as a witness against them.Homer Hailey, Commentary on the Minor

Amos 2:7 — rights of the poor."Ibid. "A man and his father unto the same maiden" Motyer accurately described the sin here as an open defiance of the law of God against adultery (Exodus 20:14), and fornication in the name of religion in particular (Deuteronomy 23:17). The widely supported efforts to eliminate from Amos' writings all except his "social concerns', has led to all kinds of bizarre interpretations of this place, some going so far as to make an "oppressed domestic servant" out of this girl which Amos

Amos 8:5 — in the light of other things that David did still leaves the practice questionable. We believe this is a clear instance in which it came to pass as declared by the martyr Stephen, "That God turned, and gave them up to serve the host of heaven" (Acts 7:42). While the sabbath day was indeed a legitimate religious day, the same was not true of the "new moons"; and thus we have another example of the gross departure of Israel from their duty. The Hebrews had twelve months; and thus there is no question

Jonah 3:10 — under the subtitle, Purpose, in the last three or four paragraphs, above. All of God's promises, whether to bless or to destroy, in the last analysis, are conditional; and one of the purposes of Jonah is to exemplify that principle. See Jeremiah 18:7-10. In fact, Griffiths said that, this passage from Jeremiah "is a general rule, demonstrated in the particular case of Jonah."Michael C. Griffiths, op. cit., p. 985. "And God saw their works" It is most significant that the sparing of Nineveh was altogether

Micah 2:12 — reject them anyway. The rule referred to is the conceit, accepted as axiomatic truth in some of the critical communities, to the effect that, "No prophet could predict judgment and hope at the same time."Ralph L. Smith, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 7 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972), p. 139. Of course, that rule has been absolutely repudiated by the most recent scholarship, as indicated by the same writer; but in the meanwhile, enemies of the Bible are still parroting their old and outdated objections. This

Nahum 1:8 — enemy here should be addressed as "her." Watts thought that the feminine was used to indicate not only Nineveh; "But it may also point to her patron goddess, Ishtar."John D. W. Watts, Cambridge Bible Commentary, Nahum (Cambridge: University Press, 1975), p. 105. There will be other uses of the feminine in this manner, as in Nahum 2:5-7. "Pursue his enemies into darkness" Watts thought the "darkness" here to be, "the darkness of the underworld, the world of death and demons where they belong."Ibid.

Zechariah 14:21 — prophets, vol. 2, p. 198.) The word means "trafficker," especially a crooked and deceitful one. It was a derogatory word used of the pagan population driven out of Palestine and supplanted by the Jews, who in time, also became "Canaanites" (Hosea 12:7). It stands for any wicked, profane, and idolatrous person. "In the house of Jehovah of hosts" The Jewish temple, symbolical of Jehovah's house, became infested with Canaanites, as witnessed by the double cleansing of the temple by Jesus Christ who

Matthew 16:20 — him, their charge of sedition, as alleged before Pilate, would not stand up; and they were compelled to admit at last that their real reason was not a suspicion of disloyalty to Caesar, but "because he made himself the Son of God" (John 19:7). DIVISION 5 THE SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF CHRIST REPEATEDLYFORETOLD; THE SCHOOLING OF THE DISCIPLES FOR THE PASSION (Matthew 16:21—20:34) In section four, the Messiah's kingdom was accepted by some, rejected by others. A summary of each class in

Matthew 3:7 — head down in mock humility, also called the Hump-Backed Pharisee; (5) The Ever-Reckoning Pharisee who kept a ledger of good deeds and bad deeds in an effort to balance accounts with himself; (6) The God-Loving Pharisee, the noblest of the group; and (7) The Timid Pharisee who was the schizophrene of his day. It was probably to this latter class that Jesus addressed his warning that no man can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).W. F. Ledlow, Jesus and His Method (Austin, Texas: Firm Foundation Publishing

Matthew 4:18 — op. cit., p. 634. It is wrong to think that these men were of an ordinary or degraded social position. True they were not members of the aristocracy; but Luke shows these four men, including James and John, to have been partners in a business (Luke 5:7); Mark mentions two hired servants in the boat (Mark 1:20); and it is evident from John 18:16 that John was favorably known to the high priest. Such considerations make it imperative to think of these men as far above ordinary persons. Socially, they

Mark 10:45 — words thus translated were understood by the Jews as applicable to martyrs, and they indicate the voluntary nature of Christ's atoning death. People did not take his life, except in a limited sense, for Jesus gave his life as a ransom for men (John 10:17-18). (2)    "A ransom …" The Greek word thus rendered denoted the ransom of a prisoner of war, or of a slave. The Old Testament use of the word in the Septuagint (LXX) meant the money a man paid to redeem his life

Mark 4:30-32 — … That certain seeds may be smaller than a mustard seed is no problem. Hyperbolic language was frequently employed then, as throughout history, in order to stress a point. Matthew's "all Judaea" is hyperbole. Compare Matthew 3:5 and Luke 7:30. Greater than all herbs … Many commentators stress the great size of the mature mustard tree, which in some parts of the world reaches to a height of more than twenty feet. Bickersteth reported such large specimens "on the slopes of the