Bible Commentaries

Exodus 6:2 — 22:14). Moses' own mother was named Jochebed (Exodus 6:20), which means "Jehovah is glory!"International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, p. 1688. Abraham knew Jehovah in the land of Ur, for God told him, "I am Jehovah that brought thee out of Ur" (Genesis 15:7), and Abraham used "Jehovah" in addressing God: "Oh Lord Jehovah, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit" (Genesis 15:8). The mother of all living in the gates of Paradise itself said, regarding the birth of Cain, "I have gotten a man with the help

Job 27:8-12 — teach you concerning the hand of God; That which is with the Almighty I will not conceal. Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; Why then are ye become altogether vain." "Will he delight himself in the Almighty, and call upon God at all times" (Job 27:10)? Job here points out the fundamental difference between himself and the wicked, that difference being simply that Job delights in the Almighty and calls upon God at all times. Such things the wicked do not. "Job's friends should have recognized

Job 5:8-16 — cause" We like Dilday's paraphrase here: "If I were you Job, I would quit complaining and humbly trust God to help me. He thinks that Job should rejoice in sufferings because they open the way to richer blessings."The Teachers' Bible Commentary, p. 275. Eliphaz, however, was mistaken. "Suffering does not come to men in proportion to their sins, and neither is prosperity granted in proportion to one's piety. Everything depends upon the will of God."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 467. Indeed

Psalms 114:1-8 — present, and as if he could actually see them doing such amazing things contrary to nature. The answer to the question, "What ailest thee?" is not stated as bluntly as the question; but it is here, nevertheless. That answer, stated in the Psalms 114:7, is, "All those mighty wonders are due to the presence of God." "Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob" Here indeed is the answer as to why the mountains skipped, the little hills frolicked like lambs,

Psalms 139:7-12 — mythological notions."Ibid. "Thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me" The bringing together in this verse, of God's `hand' and his `right hand' is an undeniable earmark of David's authorship, as is the case in the preceding Psalms 138:7. AS Jebb said, there are a dozen such earmarks in this psalm. "The darkness shall overwhelm me" The marginal reading here is "cover me" for the last two words. Despite the fact that darkness cannot hide from God, wicked men still prefer the nighttime

Psalms 149:7-9 — thou; and when Jehovah thy God shall deliver them up before thee, and thou shalt smite them; then thou shalt utterly destroy them: thou shalt make no covenant with them, and show no mercy to them, neither make marriages with them, Etc." (Deuteronomy 7:1-2). This is the only passage in the Bible that envisions Israel punishing and destroying a number of nations; and therefore we conclude with a great deal of assurance that the event prophesied here in Deuteronomy has to be the event extolled in Psalms

Isaiah 24:23 — 12:14); (5) The beast had authority to oppose the church for "forty and two months" (Rev, 13:5). (6) It is obvious that 42 months, 1,260 days, and time and times and half a time are all exactly the same amount of time, i.e., three and one-half years. (7) It is just as obvious that the "thousand years" of Revelation 20:1-6 refer to exactly the same time as indicated in the other symbolical expressions, namely, the whole dispensation of Christ. In view of the tribulations, sorrow and death that are clearly

Isaiah 32:9-15 — address from Isaiah."T. K. Cheyne's Commentary, p. 186. The warning was indeed shocking. In about a year, disaster would come upon Jerusalem, this fixing the approximate date of the prophecy as just prior to the destruction of Sennacherib's army in 701 B.C. "The beating of their breasts" because of the failure of the vintage and the harvest, is similar to what is related of the priestesses of Nineveh during the fall of that wicked city: "She is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids moan

Jeremiah 14:1-6 — the drought, the servants no longer attended their lords; it was `everyone for himself'; and the lords of the society were required to employ their own children to fetch water."Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (London: T. Mason and G. Lane, 1837), p. 294. Either interpretation shows the seriousness of the water shortage. "Cisterns" This word has the same meaning today; and for ages, such reservoirs have been used for storing water during the times of rain against anticipated shortages. The

Jeremiah 15:1-4 — rebellion against the Lord, had interceded for them, praying for their forgiveness; and there were several examples of this in the Old Testament. (Exodus 32:11-14; Exodus 32:30-34; Numbers 24:13-23; Deuteronomy 9:18-20; Deuteronomy 9:15-29; 1 Samuel 7:5-9; 1 Samuel 12:19-25; and Psalms 99:6-8). However, the sad message here is that even the intercession of such intercessors as Moses and Samuel would be of no avail whatever in the present extremity of Judah's total apostasy and rebellion. We find

Jeremiah 18:1-4 — the blood-money for the Christ would be used as a purchase price, a prophecy remarkably fulfilled when the thirty pieces of silver which Judas received for betraying Christ were actually used to buy a plot therein for the burial of strangers (Matthew 27:9-10). Many scriptures refer to the potter, the potter's house, the clay, the vessels, and other features of the potter's industry. Among them are the following: 1 Chronicles 4:23; Isa. 12:25; 64:8; Jeremiah 18:1-4; @@i19:lff; Daniel 2:41; Zechariah

Jeremiah 26:1-7 — discernible in this shameful trial of Jeremiah. "The priests, and the prophets, and all the people" These were the enemies of Jeremiah. It should not be thought that the "prophets" were in any sense true prophets. These characters are mentioned in Jeremiah 26:7-8; Jeremiah 26:11; Jeremiah 26:16; and the LXX designates them as "pseudo-prophets."Charles Lee Feinberg in Ezekiel (Chicago: Moody Press), p. 539. That irresponsible and fickle Jerusalem mob, designated here as "all the people," that is, the majority,

Ezekiel 34:25-31 — what is that covenant of peace? It can be nothing else except the New Covenant prophesied by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31-35). Plumptre discerned this; "The same thought underlies both that passage and this."E. H. Plumptre in the Pulpit Commentary, p. 207. "`The covenant of peace'; the new age is to be marked by a new covenant."J. B. Thompson, p. 223. The covenant of peace came from Jesus Christ. He said, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let

Hosea 4:1 — Perhaps, "There were some righteous people left; but they were few, and they hid themselves from the face of the multitude who were wicked."J. J. Given, Pulpit Commentary, Hosea, Vol. 13 (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1950), p. 97. The "truth" which was missing from Israel was the knowledge of God and of his revealed will, which is the only dependable, objective standard of "truth" the world has ever known. Truth, God's truth, is the only basis of morality, order, and trust that

Zechariah 14:5 — incredible withdrawal of Cestius Gallus in the siege of Jerusalem, stating that, "Upon his besieging Jerusalem, he retreated from the city without any just occasion in the world."Flavius Josephus, Life and Works of, translated by William Whiston, p. 700 (Book II, Chapter XIX). Of course, it was during that interval that every Christian, having heeded Jesus' warning, had opportunity to escape and flee. It was indeed an earthquake that opened up a way of escape. In this there is also a pledge that

Malachi 1:4 — Nothing is wrong, except that there is no deference to God's will. God only, is able to bless the labors of men. "Except Jehovah build the house, They labor in vain that build it: Except Jehovah keep the city, The watchman waketh but in vain" (Psalms 127:1). "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts" Baldwin noted that this popular title of God, "Jehovah of hosts," is found almost 300 times in the Old Testament, some 247 of these being in the prophetic books, including 91 in the last three of the minor prophets.Joyce

Mark 16:15-16 — dramatic shift to singular pronouns in these verses; although addressed to THEM and YE, that is the eleven, there is not a plural word afterward in these verses, this no doubt being designed by the Holy Spirit in order to thwart any application of Mark 16:17-20 to any persons whomsoever except the eleven. Matthew's account of the great commission is loaded with plurals, but there is not one in Mark's account. Go ye into all the world … Christ's assignment to the apostles was that of the universal

Luke 6:5 — service. (3)    He showed that the spirit of the ancient law of God should have been heeded, not merely the letter of it. "If ye had known what this meaneth, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless" (Matthew 12:7). This quotation from Hosea 6:6 reveals that the Pharisees had failed to read their own scriptures. To make the conveyance of a spoonful of wheat to the mouth a violation of God's sabbath, as carrying a burden, was contrary to the spirit of God's law;

Romans 11:7 — 10:3). Thus, the "seeking" in this verse, as it pertained to the old Israel, is mentioned in the sense of what they really should have done, and not in the sense of what they actually did. Christ made the same distinction in Luke 13:24 and Matthew 7:8. The election obtained it… refers to the true Israel who feared God and honored him in their lives. Specifically, these were the righteous remnant, as distinguished from the nation. And the rest were hardened … This is past tense and

Romans 13:11 — dreamer and the sleeper being identical as to their state. Many a spiritual sleeper has delusions of grandeur and glory which pertain not at all to him. Many a soul has been lost while its possessor slept. Illustration: On the night of September 2, 1757, when the soldiers of the Marquis de Montcalm, commandant of the French army of Quebec, retired to their tents, they slept the sleep of insecurity. Only a few sentries were left to guard the heights overlooking the mighty St. Lawrence river; but,