Bible Commentaries

Genesis 2:7-8 — personally animated by the Almighty. Here is the impassable gulf that separates the animal kingdom from that of man. A special endowment was given to men. He became a living soul. Thus, there is no contradiction whatever between Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. What is elaborated here reveals, "the foundation of that likeness to God and world-dominion ascribed to man in Genesis 1."Thomas Whitelaw, op. cit., p. 42. And just where, it may be asked, did Moses find such a significant and world-shaking truth as

Exodus 23:20-24 — overthrow them, and break in pieces their pillars." "An angel before thee" This can be none other than the Angel of Jehovah, not Moses, or the Ark of the Covenant, or any such thing. This Angel: (1) would bring them into Canaan, which Moses did not; and (2) he had the power to withhold forgiveness of sins, which Moses could not do. He is that same glorious Being who came to Joshua as the Captain of the hosts of Jehovah, and the one who was "among the myrtle trees" of Zechariah 1:8. "The Hittite…

2 Chronicles 29:25-30 — applicable exclusively to the order that the Levites should praise God; "And the Hebrew text certainly supports such a rendition."Adam Clarke, Vol. 3, p. 690. Note that there is a distinction made in this very passage between the instruments of David (2 Chronicles 29:26) and the song of Jehovah (2 Chronicles 29:27). The importance of this is emphasized by the apparent contradiction which the ASV and other current versions make in this passage with the prophet Amos. The passage has no bearing whatever

Esther 9:29-32 — such a thing could have been allowed in Israel, except as a consequence of such events as are related in Esther and at a time closely associated with those events. "This second letter of Purim" "This was a new letter, not the one mentioned in Esther 9:20; and this one included a period of fasting (Esther 9:31)."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 456. "That first letter was merely a recommendation; but its favorable reception prompted Esther and Mordecai to make the feast official."F. C. Cook, Barnes'

Psalms 103:6-13 — nation was once in bondage; and the thought here is retrospective to the days of Moses."H. C. Leupold, p. 717. "Slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness" Here are given two of the "Thirteen Attributes of God" as revealed in Exodus 34:6-7; Joel 2:13. Jonah named five of these in his prayer (Jonah 4:2). "Thou hast not dealt with us after our sins, etc." "Just take a look at what the holy and righteous God did to the fallen angels, the antediluvian world, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the lost generation

Psalms 21:8-10 — make them as a fiery furnace in the time of thine anger. Jehovah will swallow them up in his wrath, And the fire shall devour them. Their fruit wilt thou destroy from the earth And their seed from among the children of men." "All thine enemies" (Psalms 21:9). Barnes' summary of these enemies is: "All that in any way are opposed to God and his reign, all worshippers of idols, all enemies of truth, all rejecters of revelation, all workers of iniquity, all infidels and scoffers. These shall be subdued,

Psalms 91:14-16 — salvation." God Himself is the speaker in these verses; and they convey very rich and precious promises for the faithful servant of God. This passage states that because one loves God and knows his name, that the Lord: (1) will deliver him from trouble; (2) exalt him and honor him; (3) give him the privilege of prayer; (4) satisfy him with long life; and (5) show him God's salvation! What a mountain of motivation there is here for humble and faithful service of God! There are a number of implications

Proverbs 26:3-12 — is more hope of a fool than of him." Here we have a variation in Proverbs, a collection of verses regarding a single subject. The subject here is fools. Apparently Hezekiah's men, who sought out these proverbs from the writings of Solomon (Proverbs 25:1), decided to classify them! This subject was apparently one of Solomon's favorites, We have already discussed this subject under the following verses: Proverbs 10:8; Proverbs 10:13-14; Proverbs 10:23; Proverbs 12:1; Proverbs 12:8; Proverbs 12:15;

Ecclesiastes 7:8-10 — Vol. 9b, p. 158. "Of course, this proverb is too pessimistic to be true without qualifications."International Critical Commentary, op. cit., p. 140. In fact Solomon gave two proverbs in which this is not true, namely, in Proverbs 5:4 and in Proverbs 23:32. "Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry" Here once more Solomon virtually repeats a proverb he gave in Proverbs 14:17, "He that is soon angry will deal foolishly." "What is the cause that the former days were better…?" This, of course, is

Isaiah 55:6-8 — heed his word and be saved. The balance of the chapter, and beginning right here in Isaiah 55:7, is devoted to the reasons why men should heed the Divine call to repentance, there being five of these: (1) "God will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:7). (2) "My thoughts are not your thoughts," etc., (Isaiah 55:8). (3) A third for introduces this reason, "God's ways are superior to men's ways as the heavens are higher than the earth" (Isaiah 55:9). (4) "God's Word will accomplish its purpose anyway, regardless

Jeremiah 14:19-22 — desperate, pleading with God not to abhor them, pleading for him not to break the covenant, the very covenant which they had not merely broken, but which they had shattered and rejected. "The throne of they glory" "This is a reference to the temple (2 Kings 19:15; Psalms 99:1)."Charles Lee Feinberg in Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press), p. 472. Feinberg noted that this prayer for the people was based upon three things: "(1) God's reputation, (2) his temple, and (3) his covenant with Israel"Ibid. "Here

Jeremiah 33 overview — THE RIGHTEOUS BRANCH, THE MESSIAH Much of this chapter is challenged by the critics who point out that Jeremiah 33:14-26 are missing from the LXX, and that the apparent prophecies of the endless succession of a Davidic line of kings and a restoration and perpetual continuity of the Levitical priesthood with its countless sacrifices are totally contrary to other prophecies

Jeremiah 51:1-5 — full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel." "Them that dwell in Leb-kamai" The proper name here is a kind of trick word called an athbash, devised by numbering the Hebrew alphabet from each end (for example, in English X, Y, Z, would be numbered 3, 2, 1, etc.; and A, B, C, would be numbered 1, 2, 3, etc. Thus, to form an athbash, the letters of a name would be changed. The letter "A" would be written "Z," and the letter "B" would be written "Y," etc.). Leb-kamai here is an athbash for "Chaldea."Anthony

Ezekiel 3:4-9 — their looks, though they are a rebellious house." GOD'S PROMISE OF POWER TO EZEKIEL As our study of Ezekiel moves forward, we are impressed by the right of this prophet to be called a type of Jesus Christ: (1) The name alone (Son of man) suggests it; (2) In this passage Ezekiel is sent "only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24); and again in this passage, (3) Ezekiel was told that Israel would not hear him, because they would not hear God (Ezekiel 3:7); and the exact duplicate

Daniel 2:46-49 — Babylon did not mean that this "rule" was absolute. Daniel recognized this in procuring the king's permission to name his companions to responsible posts. The magnificent prophecy of the establishment of Christ's kingdom reaching its climax in Daniel 2:44 above is one of the great features of the Book of Daniel. It is significant that all schools of interpreters accept this as a prophecy of the establishment of Christ's kingdom. "Interpreters of all schools, Christian, Jewish, rationalistic, unbelieving,

Hosea 4:15 — an interpolation; but as Unger declared, "More recent criticisms tend to deny this… Actually, there is no compelling reason for denying to Hosea any of the prophecy."Merrill F. Unger, Unger's Bible Dictionary (Chacago: Moody Press, 1967), p. 502. The holy writers of the New Testament affirmed the utmost confidence in all that Hosea wrote. See Matthew 2:15; Matthew 9:13; Matthew 12:7; Luke 23:20; Romans 9:25; 1 Corinthians 15:55; and 1 Peter 2:10, all of which have references to Hosea as the

Hosea 9:7 — the prophet is a fool, the man that hath the spirit is mad, for the abundance of thine iniquity, and because the enmity is great." In a word, the judgment is to fall upon Israel for their sins; and the reason for this is spelled out line by line in 2 Kings 17:7-18. That sacred account of what they had done to incur the awful judgment about to fall includes the following; They worshipped the female sex-goddess, Asherim, under every green tree in Israel. They forsook all the commandments of God. They

Micah 2:13 — of them." There are two possible meanings here. As Hailey indicated, one of the interpretations is that, "The Messiah is the breaker who breaks down the wall of sin that separated them from the Lord and made them bondsmen."Homer Hailey, op. cit., p. 200. That meaning is surely in line with what Pusey and practically all of the older interpreters thought to be correct. "This promise therefore is an encouraging revelation from God, rather than the vain optimism of some unnamed false prophet."Gleason

Nahum 1:3 — the rocks is an awful adversary. No matter how strong men may be or how many helpers they have, God will inflict upon them a death-blow."Alexander Fraser, The New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 762. The purpose of this and following verses is to identify God as the real adversary of Nineveh, and thus the Lord used the most superlative terminology that men knew in order to demonstrate the impossibility of escape by the enemy. "He will by no means

1 Samuel 4:5-9 — and their Philistine foes. "Every sort of plague in the wilderness" "The words in the wilderness do not compel us to refer all of the plagues against the Egyptians to the wilderness."C. F. Keil, Keil and Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries, Vol. 2-b, p. 54. The expression "every sort of plague" surely indicates that the Philistines were well informed about the history of Israel's deliverance from Egypt. It is unbecoming of writers to make a "big deal" out of alleged "mistakes" like this in the