Bible Commentaries

Genesis 33:8-11 — met" This is such an obvious reference to the present which Jacob had dispatched in three droves to Esau the day before that one may only marvel that Peake would refer it to one of the "two companies" into which Jacob had split his group (Genesis 32:7), also inferring that Esau extorted another half of all Jacob had, taking it away from him. He wrote: "Esau inquires as to the meaning of the camp (one of the two companies) he had already met; and on the spur of the moment Jacob offered it (the half

Genesis 46:1-4 — doubt. "And God spake unto him" As far as the record goes, this was the last appearance of God to Jacob, there being eight appearances in all: (1) Genesis 28:13; (2) Genesis 31:3; (3) Genesis 31:11; (4) Genesis 32:1; (5) Genesis 32:30; (6) Genesis 35:1; (7) Genesis 35:9; (8) Genesis 46:2. It is of interest that the appearance of God to Jacob came not for the personal benefit of the patriarch but upon occasions pertinent to the welfare of the covenant nation. God did not appear to Jacob and comfort him

Exodus 30:22-33 — the instructions indicated that all of this was to be done "after the art of the perfumer." According to Jewish tradition, the essences of the spices were first extracted, and then mixed with the oil. The preparation was entrusted to Bezaleel (Exodus 37:29); and the duty of preserving it fell upon Eleazar the son of Aaron (Numbers 4:16).F. C. Cook, op. cit., p. 84. The amount of each of the four spices was approximately 15 1/4 pounds each of myrrh and of cassia, and 7 pounds, 14 ounces each of the

Exodus 4:21 — hearts are darkened" (Romans 1:21). "God gives them up!" (Romans 1:24; Romans 1:26; Romans 1:28). This is called judicial hardening. (We have often addressed this problem in our series. See my commentary on Romans at Romans 1:28; Romans 1:32; Romans 11:7. Also see my comments at Genesis 6:5). 2.    In the case of all disobedient hearers of the Gospel, the same phenomenon occurs continually. The Gospel is an aroma of life unto life in them that are saved, and an aroma of death unto

1 Kings 11:26-40 — sought to kill him, he fled to Egypt. We shall hear of Shishak again in the reign of Rehoboam over Judah. "Shishak is the first Pharaoh to be mentioned by name in the Bible; we shall meet him again in 1 Kings 14:25."The Layman's Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, p. 46. Ahijah's exalted thoughts about what kind of a king Jeroboam would be proved to be the essence of vanity. Jeroboam proved to be a very wicked king. THE DEATH OF SOLOMON The final obituary for Solomon is this simple paragraph, but over it there

1 Kings 15:16-22 — the Lord, but now, at a later time, he asked help from the king of Syria in Damascus. The prophet Hanani condemned Asa for this lack of confidence in the Lord and severely rebuked him. Asa's angry response was to imprison the prophet (2 Chronicles 16:7-10). It should not be overlooked that Baasha's building Ramah here was in fact his fortification of the place. "Benhadad the son of Tabrimmon, the son of Hezion, the king of Syria" We are amused that Matheney comments on this thus: "This genealogy of

2 Kings 23:4-7 — foreign religion (Hosea 10:5; Zephaniah 1:4)."Ibid. "The word is [~chemarin], the usual Aramaic word for `priest,' which comes from a root meaning, to be black."T. Miles Bennett, The Books of Nahum and Zephaniah (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1968), p. 72. "It means black-robed and is used in Hosea 10:5; Zephaniah 1:4; and in 2 Kings 23:5."W. J. Deane, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 14, Zephaniah, (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 2. Snaith denied this on the false premise that

1 Chronicles 17:1-15 — took it from him that was before thee; but I will settle him in my house and in my kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forever. According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David." 2 Samuel 7:1-17 is parallel to these fifteen verses; and we have written fourteen pages of comments on them in Vol. 4 (2 Samuel) of the Historical Books in our series of commentaries, pp. 81-94. The variations in the two accounts are not significant. God's prohibition

Job 5:1-7 — Job has become a fool. In his description of what happens to the fool, "Eliphaz deliberately goes through a whole roll of disasters corresponding so exactly to what had happened to Job, that each word is a poisoned arrow."The Expositor's Bible, Vol. 7, Job, p. 719. "His children are far from safety" The implication of this is that Job's sins have also brought sorrow to his children. Of course, it is true that sin injures others besides the sinner. It is against God, against the sinner's family, against

Leviticus 24:1-4 — olives or pressed them to squeeze out the juice. Then they strained the juice to remove the pulp. Then, when the oil rose to the surface of the juice, they skimmed it off."Robert O. Coleman, Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Leviticus (Chicago: Moody Press, 1972), p. 104. "A lamp to burn continually" Based upon such passages as 1 Samuel 3:3, Allis and other dependable scholars limited this to mean "burn continually every night."Oswald T. Allis, New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans,

Numbers 15:1-10 — were given.John Marsh, Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 2, Numbers (New York: Abingdon Press, 1955), p. 215. "The laws here are addressed to the new generation,"T. Carson, New Layman's Bible Commentary, Numbers (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), p. 259. the condemned generation apparently being ignored altogether, as indicated by the words, "When ye are come into the land of your habitations" (Numbers 15:2). This is also an indication of a very probable time-lapse between this and the last

Numbers 9:1-3 — 9:3). In this passage, we are exposed to the usual "fembu" from the liberal scholars that this place is, "Secondary… and certainly comes from the post-exilic period."Martin Noth, Numbers, A Commentary, (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1968), p. 71. This passage, however, cannot be identified in any manner with the post-exilic period, because any writer in that period would have used the month Nisan as the time of the Passover. The words "in its appointed season" refer back to Exodus 12 and the

Deuteronomy 19:4-10 — long after the times of Moses, for anyone whomsoever to have included such orders as these! "No late author would have invented such a provision."R. K. Harrison, The New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 222. Not only did God never really enlarge Israel's borders until the times of David and Solomon, but even in their times, the conquered area was not really incorporated into Israel, but merely made tributary to Israel's monarchy, and furthermore,

Joshua 11:16-20 — Moses." This summary of Joshua's victories is similar to that in Joshua 11:10, but this one goes much further and, "encompasses the areas conquered in the entire conquest."William H. Morton, Beacon Bible Commentary, Joshua (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1970), p. 347. This paragraph should certainly put an end to the impression that Joshua conquered all of Canaan in just two or three swift campaigns. However, it is clear enough that the THREE decisive campaigns recounted so far, "clearly put an end to

Joshua 21:43-45 — through on their opportunities. Instead of driving out the Canaanite debauchees, Israel soon united with them, allowed themselves to be trapped and seduced by their gods, intermarried with them, and in time became, actually themselves Canaanites (Hosea 12:7; also see my discussion of this in Vol. 2 of the minor prophets Series, pp. 198,199). There is a type of critic who FINDS FAULT with God: "Well, he did not drive out all the enemies like He promised." All of God's promises are CONTINGENT upon the obedience

Ruth 2:8-13 — prayer for her that Jehovah would grant her a rich reward for what she had done to Naomi. To all of this, one must add the things mentioned in the following paragraph. (6)    He then invited her to eat with the other harvest workers. (7)    He took pains to give her a special portion of food, so large that she was able to take part of it to Naomi. (8)    Boaz then instructed the young men harvesting his barley to aid Ruth by purposely leaving

1 Samuel 15:17-23 — is one of the best known in the entire O.T., and R. P. Smith explains why: "This saying marks the high moral tone of the prophets and soon became a fundamental principle with them. It was reproduced by Hosea (Hosea 6:6); Psalms 50:8-14; Psalms 51:16-17; Isaiah 1:11; Jeremiah 6:20; Micah 6:6-8, and finally received our Lord's special approval (Matthew 9:13; Matthew 12:7)."The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 267. "The Lord has rejected you from being king" This powerful word from the very prophet who

1 Samuel 20:1-3 — the beginning of Saul's career, such an experience had resulted in Saul's being turned, "into another man" (1 Samuel 10:6). David had every right to hope that a similar change in Saul's life might have been effected by this new prophetic experience. (7)    "David is still a court member and would be acting very improperly if he absented himself at the approaching festival without permission."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 298. (8)    Finally, the loving

1 Samuel 28:3-7 — tribes"The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 301. "The Philistines at Shunem…Israel at Gilboa" It was at Gilboa that Saul greatly trembled. "This was the spring by which Gideon and his men camped. It was called the `Spring of Trembling' (Judges 7:1, KJV). Saul here camped beside the same spring, and `trembled greatly.'"Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, op. cit., p. 291. "The two armies here confronted each other near the eastern end of the plain of Esdraelon."George DeHoff's Commentary, Vol.

2 Samuel 19:31-40 — buried by the side of his father and mother. "But here is your servant Chimham; let him go over with my lord the king; and do for him whatever seems good to you" Josephus tells us that Chimham was Barzillai's son,Flavius Josephus, Antiquities, p. 227. which is supported by the inference in 1 Kings 2:7. David not only honored this request but he told Barzillai that he would do for Chimham. "Whatever seems good to you (Barzaillai), and also that anything Barzillai might desire, David would do for