Bible Commentaries

Genesis 24:50-58 — her home and relatives, with the near certainty that she would never see them again. (3)    She believed the messenger completely, an incredible act of faith. (4)    She made the decision, saying, "I will go." (5)    She followed the messenger to meet her bridegroom. (6)    She was already the bride-elect, but her actual union with Isaac would not occur until many days had passed, and that final "evening" arrived. (7)    Then,

Genesis 47 overview — 47:1-4). (2)    Pharaoh confirms the settlement of Israel in Goshen. (3)    Jacob himself had an audience with Pharaoh (Genesis 47:7-10). (4)    Israel's settlement in Goshen was accomplished (Genesis 47:11-12). (5)    Money in Egypt became exhausted (Genesis 47:13-14). (6)    Cattle and herds traded for food (Genesis 47:15-17). (7)    Their lands and their persons bartered for food (Genesis 47:18-20). (8)    All

Exodus 23:6-9 — judgment" (Proverbs 17:23). Isaiah spoke of the princes of his day, "who love gifts and follow after rewards" (Isaiah 1:23), and he mentioned those who "justify the wicked for reward, and turn away the righteousness of the righteous from him" (Isaiah 5:23). Micah condemned the heads of the house of Jacob, "who abhor judgment and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward (Micah 3:9-11); Zephaniah spoke of Israel's bribe-hungry

1 Chronicles 14:1-17 — God commanded him: and they smote the host of the Philistines from Gibeon even to Gezer. And the fame of David went out into all lands; and Jehovah brought the fear of him upon all nations." Here also we have a chapter exactly parallel with 2 Samuel 5:11-25, where my commentary on these events is found on pp. 59-65, and where the slight and unimportant variations are also noted. "For his people Israel's sake" David's life, like that of all mortals, was marred by many sins and mistakes; and this significant

Job 34 overview — contradicting that nearly universal fallacy. The false idea that wickedness is at once punished by God with retribution in kind is not true. It was not true in the days of Job; it was not true in the days of Christ; and it is not true today. In Luke 13:1-5, Christ pointed out that those men whose blood Pilate had mingled with the sacrifices, and that those men upon whom the tower of Siloam fell were not any worse sinners than other citizens of Jerusalem; and in John 9:2-3, even the apostles of Christ

Psalms 118 overview — Anthony L. Ash, p. 381. in various verses of the psalm. (2)    The "national hymn" interpretation. This is simply preposterous, because the personal pronouns, "I," "my" and "me" occur thirty times in twenty-five verses (Psalms 118:5-29). The psalm is intensely personal. (3)    The language of the psalm could not possibly have been spoken by a group of singers. Such expressions as, "I will cut them off," repeated three times in Psalms 118:10-12, presumes an authority

Psalms 65 overview — exact distance of the moon from our planet, the exact angle of the earth's tilted inclination upon its axis, etc. All such marvelous providential arrangements of the earth are dramatically stated in this psalm, "Thou hast so prepared the earth" (Psalms 65:9). The assignment of the psalm to David in the superscription is denied by many scholars who admit at the same time that they have no idea who wrote it; and we continue to remain unimpressed with that kind of `information.' The grounds upon which the

Leviticus 19:17-18 — injunctions to include the prompt payment of bills. Although only the day-laborer is mentioned here, there can be little doubt that it also "covers the case of paying tradesmen promptly."F. Meyrick, op. cit., p. 287. (See also Deuteronomy 24:14 and James 5:4.) In the second paragraph (Leviticus 19:15-16) our translation fails to produce the equivalent of the "Hebrew legal idiom" which the verses contain.Harry M. Orlinsky, op. cit., p. 216. "Both these verses are concerned with behavior in a court of law."Ronald

Leviticus 27 overview — chapter, on the contrary, have to do with special vows which were not obligatory, but voluntary. `If thou shalt forbear to vow, it shall be no sin in thee' (Deuteronomy 23:22)."S. H. Kellogg, The Book of Leviticus (Cincinnati: Jennings and Graham), p. 541. From this it is easy to see why the instructions regarding vows would not have fit into any other location earlier in Leviticus. Voluntary religious actions have no place whatever among those duties God has commanded his servants to obey. Thus, they

Isaiah 66 overview — these chapters, or particularly what dates should be assigned to various chapters, etc., is of no importance at all. The fundamental facts are indisputable, these being: (1) that every line of this great book was printed in the Greek language about 250 years before the Son of God was born, in what is called the Septuagint (LXX) Version. A vast number of the prophecies in Isaiah were fulfilled long after that date, absolutely destroying the critical dictum regarding the impossibility of predictive

Numbers 3:5-10 — op. cit., p. 33. The proper word to describe such postulations, however, is not remarkable, but impossible! Moses alone can properly be considered as the human source through whom these instructions were conveyed to men, as clearly stated in Numbers 3:5: "Jehovah spake unto Moses." "The stranger that cometh nigh…" (Numbers 3:10). This repeated formula (also in Numbers 1:52) did not always have the same meaning. In Numbers 1:51, it means any non-Levites violating the restrictions would be put

Deuteronomy 21 overview — follows: (1)    expiation of a murder by an unknown person (Deuteronomy 21:1-9); (2)    rights of a wife who was taken from among prisoners of war (Deuteronomy 21:10-14); (3)    the right of the first-born (Deuteronomy 21:15-17); (4)    punishment of a rebellious son (Deuteronomy 21:18-21); and (5)    the right of prompt burial for those executed (Deuteronomy 21:22-23). Kline pointed out that another classification of these laws may

Deuteronomy 6:10-15 — country, a Christian may elect to say, "I affirm," instead of "I swear," and no Christian should hesitate to take advantage of such a choice. "The command to `Swear by his Name,' is not inconsistent with the Lord's injunction, `Swear not at all' (Matthew 5:34). Moses refers to legal swearing, and our Lord refers to swearing in common circumstances."F. C. Cook, op. cit., p. 284. It appears here that Moses was not encouraging swearing, but ruling that when an oath was required that it should not be in any

Joshua 5:1 — the Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any more, because of the children of Israel." "Until we had passed oven" Along with, "that he would give us," in Joshua 5:6, these usages of the first person plural identify the author as an eye-witness and participant in the events here narrated. Plummer speaks of those who have "emended the text,"Alfred Plummer, The Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 2, Joshua (Grand Rapids: Wm.

Jude 1:11 — Balaam for hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah. Glancing above at the preceding verses, it will be noted that Jude gave three examples of apostasy: the ancient Israelites, the rebel angels, and the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah (Judges 1:5-7). Next, he indicted the licentious Gnostic heretics as just as guilty as the ancient apostates, emphasizing their sinful and ignorant behaviour by contrasting it with the restraint of the archangel Michael (Judges 1:8-9), these two verses being somewhat

Revelation 14:14 — Morris, op. cit., p. 184. we do not hesitate to understand it as a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He has the "sickle" (a symbol of judgment) in his hand; and it was to Jesus that the Father gave the prerogative of judgment (John 5:27), the reason there assigned for God's so doing being "because he is the son of man." The mention of the same words here would appear to make it certain that Jesus is the one meant. "The crown sets him forth as King and Messiah, but

1 Samuel 15:4-9 — the fatlings, and of the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them; all that was despised and worthless they utterly destroyed." "Saul numbered the people … at Telaim" This appears to be the same place as Telem (Joshua 15:24) in the land of Judah in southern Israel. That part of Israel was closest to the territory of the Amalekites. "And Saul said to the Kenites… `Go down from among the Amalekites'" "The Kenites were of the family and kindred of Jethro, Moses'

1 Samuel 27:1-4 — when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he sought for him no more." "And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul" David had been warned upon another occasion when he was in Moab to return to Judah (1 Samuel 22:5); and it does not appear that it was God's will for David to dwell in Philistia at this time. There is no mention of him having consulted the sacred ephod or having sought the will of God in this matter. David's character during this sojourn in Philistia

2 Samuel 18:1-5 — Joab, one third under the command of Abishai… and one third under the command of Ittai" "It was common war strategy in ancient times to divide the army into three bodies (Judges 7:16; Judges 9:43; 1 Samuel 11:11; 1 Samuel 13:17; and 2 Kings 9:5-6)."John T. Willis, p. 382. In this particular case, however, there was another good reason. "Ittai had brought his clan of foreigners with him, and they would have been reluctant to fight under an Israelite commander, so David placed the foreigners

2 Samuel 6:6-11 — view could be correct, but to us it appears to be overly apologetic for David. Matthew Henry stated that, "David was angry and out of humor… David did not now act like himself, like a man after God's own heart."Matthew Henry's Commentary, p. 475. "Perez-Uzzah" "This means `the breaking forth upon Uzzah', just as Baal-Perazim means `the Lord of breakings forth' (2 Samuel 5:20)."John T. Willis, p. 322. In this last example, Baal is not the Lord who did the breaking forth. It is the Lord's breaking