Bible Commentaries

Psalms 10:3-4 — (See my dissertation on this in Vol. 1 of my New Testament Series, pp. 209-211, where there is noted that atheism is essentially: (1) unworthiness; (2) egotism; (3) mental laziness; (4) illogical; (5) moral cowardice; (6) the opiate of the people; and (7) a form of self-pity.) (1)    Another kind of atheist is one who acknowledges that there must indeed be a God, but who supposes him to be merely some kind of impersonal law, or vital force behind the whole creation; but as Delitzsch

Psalms 120:1-7 — PUNISHMENT OF SUCH A TONGUE "Sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper" "The mighty here, `the mighty man' in the margin, is a reference to God who will punish the wicked tongue. "Sharp arrows are an appropriate reference here, because, "In Jeremiah 9:7, the deceitful tongue is compared to a deadly arrow. It is therefore fitting that Jehovah should send sharp arrows against those who slander the righteous."W. E. Addis, p. 393. "Coals of juniper" The marginal reference here makes this the "broom tree."

Psalms 26:1-8 — those who live for this life only are vain, chaffy, frothy men, quite unworthy of a Christian's friendship."Charles Haddon Spurgeon, p. 132. "I will wash my hands in innocency" "This figure is probably taken from the practice of the priests (Exodus 30:17-21) or from that of the city elders (Deuteronomy 21:6-7)."J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 340. We recall also the maneuver of Pilate (Matthew 27:4). "So will I compass thine altar O Jehovah" The psalmist truly desires to worship God, but here he may

Psalms 59:10-13 — hardeners (Judges 3:22); and (4), in this passage as object-lessons."Derek Kidner, Vol. 1, p. 213. And to these we may add a fifth; (5) God uses one wicked nation to destroy another. "The king of Assyria," for example, was called God's razor (Isaiah 7:20); but later God used Babylon to destroy Assyria, etc." Kidner also believed that this verse, "Inspired the line, 'Scatter her enemies, and make them fall,' in the British national anthem."Ibid. "Sin of their mouth… words of their lips…

Psalms 99:6-9 — cited in the same breath. "Thou (God) tookest vengeance of their doings" Moses and Aaron were forbidden to enter Canaan; and, "Samuel's judgeship seems to have been brought to an end through his undue leniency toward his sons Joel and Abijah (1 Samuel 7:1-5)."The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 345. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" is a law which is not abrogated by forgiveness. All of God's forgiveness is accompanied by punishment in order to show the pardoned man how deadly his

Proverbs 4:10-19 — more unto the perfect day. The day of the wicked is as darkness: They know not at what they stumble." "The years of thy life shall be many" "The Hebrew in this line actually means, `thy years shall be multiplied'."The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 87. The fact of the life of Solomon having been cut short indicates that he did not follow his own good advice. In this section, two ways of living are presented; and then they are compared. "Proverbs 4:10-13 describe the way of wisdom; Proverbs 4:14-17

Ecclesiastes 5:13-17 — we carry anything out; but having food and covering we shall be therewith content. But they that are minded to be rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition" (1 Timothy 6:7-9). We may also read in Paul's words an application that he did not state, namely, that "This is exactly what happened to Solomon." Several of the great tragedies connected with wealth are mentioned here. (1)    "They perish by evil

Isaiah 22:20-25 — the Messiah. This was indeed the "fall" of the righteous remnant in the racial sense. "It was hewn down" is far too strong as a reference to the fall of one man. This foretells the destruction of secular Israel by the armies of Vespasian and Titus in 70A.D. The reference here to the "key of David" is of special interest. Many have pointed out that "opening and shutting" represent the making of decisions that no one but the king could change. Here is the background of Jesus' teaching in Matthew 16:19,

Isaiah 23:6-9 — this word, pp. 198,199.) The word thus rendered here also may be translated Canaanite, or Phoenician; and one of the charges of the prophet Hosea against Israel was that they also had become "traffickers" in the crooked and deceitful sense (Hosea 12:7). Barnes suggested that the ruin of a great city so magnificent and so ancient would naturally raise a question as to who had purposed such a thing; and that question is raised in Isaiah 23:8. The thundering answer comes in the very next verse: "Jehovah

Isaiah 42:5-9 — concerned especially the bringing of the Messiah into the world, which event God had specifically tied to the posterity of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and therein lies the fact of God's refraining from the destruction of the "chosen people" until A.D. 70. Ages before the Messiah finally came, the apostate nation of the fleshly descendants of Abraham fully deserved to be destroyed, yet God, in a sense, was `stuck with them' until Messiah was born. Paul commented on this thus: "God endured with much

Jeremiah 12:1-4 — not see our latter end." "Wherefore... doth the wicked prosper" Jeremiah got to the point at once; and the problem here presented before the Lord in faith and humility was indeed an old one. Habakkuk had struggled with it; the patriarch Job (Job 21:7) was perplexed by it; and the Book of Psalms devotes at least two chapters to a discussion of it (Psalms 37 and Psalms 73). Men of every generation, even the most devoted and faithful of Christians, have found this same question to be a perplexing and

Jeremiah 47:1 — secure his eventual retreat. (2) It has also been suggested that this same Pharaoh-Necho, severely defeated at Carchemish, took Gaza and fortified it, as a bastion against Nebuchadnezzar's following him into Egypt. (3) Another king, Pharaoh-Hophra (588-570 B.C.) is alleged to have taken Gaza in an expedition against Tyre and Sidon. J. R. Dummelow mentions all three of these possibilities.J. R. Dummelow's Commentary, p. 479. The trouble with finding any certainty in the answer is due to, "Our ignorance

Jeremiah 7:12-15 — Battle of Ebenezer by the Philistines about 1050 B.C."Ibid.. Since, after its destruction, "Shiloh was not rebuilt until about 300 B.C.,"Hans Kjaer, Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society, article, "The Excavation of Shiloh." Vol. 10, 1930), pp. 87-174. the ruins of the place were surely evident in Jeremiah's day witnessing the destruction that took place about a half millennium earlier. Albright, Thompson, and Unger all make mention of the excavations that have disclosed the destruction of Shiloh.

Ezekiel 16:15-18 — had so richly blessed them. They were trusting their own ability to take care of themselves by their alliances with other states. The evil outlined in this long paragraph, "Began when Israel adopted the Canaanite sanctuaries of Palestine (Jeremiah 2:5-7, also v. 28 here)";G. R. Beasley-Murray in the New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 673. but, as noted in the previous paragraph, it was Solomon who brought the whole pantheon of pagan gods into Israel. All of Solomon's pagan wives brought their own religion,

Ezekiel 28:20-26 — glory that were due him."Ibid. The fact that very little of this ever actually came to pass as prophesied here was due to the widespread failure of the Jews to live up to the solemn terms and conditions upon which such glorious promises rested. Jer. 17:7:10 should be read in connection with every wonderful promise that God made to Israel or to any other nation. By the times of Jesus Christ, racial Israel had totally departed from the God of their fathers; and, as spelled out by the apostle Paul in

Ezekiel 4:12-17 — bread in the embers of a fire made of camel's and cow-dung. They took it out when done, brushed the ashes off of it, and divided it among the party... I tasted it and found it quite as good as the common bread of that country."Moshe Greenberg, p. 107. The big point about this use of dung for fuel is that in Jewish minds it made the bread ceremonially unclean. Cook pointed out that there are abundant echoes of the prohibitions in th'e Pentateuch, such as those in Leviticus 26:39 in Ezekiel.International

Hosea 3:2 — certainty. "She had actually become a slave-concubine, and the price paid was the price of a slave."Ibid., p. 219. Of course the verb for "I bought" here is uncertain in meaning.The New Layman's Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), p. 930. "For fifteen pieces of silver… etc." The total value of the price paid is estimated at thirty pieces of silver. Given observed that: From Exodus 21:32, we learn that thirty shekels were the estimated value of a manservant, or a maidservant…

Micah 1:16 — (Micah 1:1; Micah 1:5; Micah 1:9; Micah 1:12); and it is incorrect to view the prophecies as separated in time by any lengthy period. The judgment of Samaria and Jerusalem was one judgment, although executed at different times. Samaria fell completely in 722 B.C. to Sargon of Assyria; the cities and towns in the vicinity of Jerusalem fell to Sennacherib of Assyria in 701 B.C.; and Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 586 B.C. It was only upon that latter occasion that the citizens of Jerusalem were carried

Micah 6:6 — abused. Contrary to what is frequently alleged, the passage does not say: "The true worship of God is the service of man. The Old Testament has no greater word than this.J. E. MacFayden, Abingdon Bible Commentary, (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury, 1929), p. 796. This passage is one of the greatest in the Bible on the futility of ritualistic worship."Rolland E. Wolfe, The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. VI (New York: Abingdon, 1957), p. 938. There are many such comments regarding these verses, but they miss the

Nahum 2:2 — have emptied them out, and destroyed their vine-branches." Dalglish thought this referred to "the restoration of both Judah and the Ten Northern tribes, and to their restoration under a Davidic monarch."Edward R. Dalglish, Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. 7 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972), p. 240. However, nothing like that is in the passage. "Jacob" is used here, not Judah; and Jacob necessarily included all of Israel, northern and southern; and, besides that, it is the spiritual Israel which comes