Bible Commentaries

Genesis 24:1-9 — oath; only thou shalt not bring my son thither again. And the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and sware to him according to this matter." The servant here would appear to be not the same as the Eliezer mentioned in Genesis 15:2, as it would seem nearly impossible for that servant to have continued in a state of health and vigor long enough to have enabled him to carry out such a mission as that entrusted to the servant here. "Thy hand under my thigh" (Genesis 24:2). "This

Exodus 24:1-2 — evil for which they later died had not been, at this time, committed. This record was therefore written before the sons of Aaron died. Huey mentioned a number of ways in which covenants were made in ancient times: (1) they ate salt together (Leviticus 2:13; Numbers 18:19); (2) they ate a sacrificial meal together (Genesis 31:54); (3) they exchanged articles of clothing (1 Samuel 18:1-4); (4) they walked between the divided pieces of slaughtered animals (Genesis 15:10; Genesis 15:17).F. B. Huey, op.

Job 34 overview — 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 had to be told that neither the blind man nor his parents had committed sins that resulted in his being born blind. The relevance of these New Testament passage is seen in the fact that people supposed the victims of those

Psalms 38 overview — PRAYER OF A SUFFERING PENITENT The chapter heading here is the one found in the superscription, which also names David as the author. As Delitzsch observed: "The occasion was David's adultery (2 Samuel 12:14); and Psalms 6; Psalms 38; Psalms 51; and Psalms 32 form a chronological series. Here, David is distressed both in mind and in body, forsaken by his friends, and regarded by his foes as one who is cast off forever. The fire of divine anger

Leviticus 19:17-18 — paragraph above extends the Decalogue 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

Jeremiah 35 overview — B.C.;Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition), p. 190. Thompson placed it in 601 B.C.;J. A. Thompson, The Bible and Archeology (Grand Rapid, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972) p. 615. and Cheyne dated it in the summer of 606 B.C.T. K. Cheyne, Jeremiah in the Pulpit Commentary, p. 94. The conviction of this writer is that men do not really know exactly when it was written and that the exact date is not necessary anyway. Payne

Joshua 21:3-8 — of the tribe of Reuben, and out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve cities. "And the Children of Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these cities with their suburbs, as Jehovah commanded by Moses." "Thirteen cities" (Joshua 21:4) The simple fact that the children of Aaron at that time could have numbered only a few families shows this assignment of `thirteen cities' to them to be purely imaginary."Samuel Holmes, op. cit., p. 254. Again, this is due to a failure of the critic

Judges 5:3-4 — the clouds dropped water" "Hear, O ye kings… princes" "These kings and princes were not those of Israel; Israel had no kings or princes; these are the kings and princes of the heathen nations."Keil-Delitzsch, Old Testament Commentaries, Vol. 2-A, p. 309. "Psalms 68:7-9; Habakkuk 3:3-16, and this passage all relate to the same event and mutually explain each other. The subject is the march of Israel with the Lord at their head to take possession of Canaan."Albert Barnes, Notes on Bible Books,

1 John 1:7 — own "admitted sinfulness and the affirmation that we do have fellowship with God (1 John 1:3)."J. W. Roberts, op. cit., p. 31. Roberts resolved the "contradiction" in the considerations of: (1) Christ's propitiation for our sins; (2) the cleansing action in view in this verse; and (3) the intercession on our behalf of Jesus Christ our advocate. Here indeed is the achievement of that absolute perfection required of all who hope to enter heaven, as announced by Jesus Christ in the

1 John 1:8 — because the apostle here identified himself with the false teachers, not through any agreement with them, but out of a delicate regard for his readers. This identification of an apostle with those addressed is prevalent in the New Testament. Hebrews 2:3 is a remarkable example of the same thing; and yet that instance of it has been perverted to mean that no first generation Christian could have written that epistle! Some have pointed out that the need for John's teaching here resulted from the most

Jude 1:11 — events associated with these three names of infamy; and we shall do our readers the courtesy of making the same assumption with regard to them. For those who would like to "brush up a bit," the narratives of Cain (Genesis 4), Balaam (Numbers 22—24), and Korah (Numbers 16) are among the most interesting records in Scripture. Jude's reason for the choice of these three examples might have been lodged in the spectacular punishments they received. Cain was cursed of God; Balaam was found

Revelation 6:11 — should be killed … In the times during which Revelation was written, and throughout history, there were to be many more martyrs who would take their place along with those already slain, and all would be rewarded together "on that day" (2 Timothy 4:8). Should have fulfilled their course … The alternative reading of this clause in the ASV is, "should be fulfilled in number," a thought that harmonizes with sentiments expressed a number of times in the New Testament. The

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

1 Samuel 30:16-20 — stands for David, and "they" refers to the celebrating Amalekites! "They were spread abroad over all the land" H. P. Smith believed that this feast they were having, "Was very possibly a religious feast."International Critical Commentary, Samuel, p. 247. Their being deployed over such a wide area shows that they were utterly helpless against the kind of ferocious attack David and his men brought against them. "From twilight till the evening of the next day" Twilight may mean the morning twilight

2 Samuel 14:12-17 — to keep him, one of God's people, an outcast in a heathen country, far from the worship of the God of Israel? Upon your own showing, you are guilty of a great fault in not allowing Absalom to return."Albert Barnes, op. cit., p. 100. "The last half of 2 Samuel 14:14 here is obscure";International Critical Commentary, op. cit., p. 335. and there is no certainty that the RSV in this place is correct. The KJV reads, "God doth not respect any person"; and the alternative reading in the margin is that,

2 Samuel 18:1-5 — command of 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

2 Samuel 19:11-15 — even an Israelite. Thus Joab was more closely akin to David than was Amasa, but at this point David had not returned completely to normal senses. Willis pointed out that David's reasons for this maneuver were: (1) to provide an inducement to Judah; (2) to punish Joab for killing Absalom; and (3) to punish him for his stern rebuke.John T. Willis, p. 388. We consider these reasons absolutely inadequate as grounds for appointing a known incompetent traitor as his supreme general. Besides that, Judah

2 Samuel 3:2-5 — fifth, Shephatiah the son of Abital; and the sixth, Ithream, of Eglah, David's wife. These were born to David in Hebron." In a collective sense, these sons of David were nothing special. Amnon raped his half-sister Tamar, the full sister of Absalom (2 Samuel 13:1) and was murdered by Absalom, who also rebelled against his father and sought to dethrone him. Practically nothing is known of Chileab, who is called Daniel in 1 Chronicles 3:1. Adonijah had himself proclaimed king during the final illness

2 Samuel 5:11-12 — for the sake of his people Israel." "David's policy as king was that of being strong at home, but living side by side with other nations as his allies. Here he made an alliance with Hiram king of Tyre, and later an alliance with Toi king of Hamath (2 Samuel 8:9); and it was his proposed alliance with the Ammonites, which, due to their rejection of it, led to his war with them and with the Aramaeans."Archeology and the Old Testament, p. 206. "Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David" This king

2 Samuel 8:3-8 — shields of gold which were carried by the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. And from Beta and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took very much bronze." "Hadadezer" This is the same person who is called Hadarezer (in 2 Samuel 10:16 in some versions) and throughout Chronicles. "David hamstrung all the chariot horses" This was the greatest damage that could be done to a hostile military force, rendering their horses unserviceable. This was cruelty of a most contemptible