Bible Commentaries

Leviticus 5:1-6 — curse publicly" is the offender.Martin Noth, Leviticus, A Commentary, translated by J. E. Anderson (London: SCM Press, 1965), p. 41. Ronald E. Clements also accepted that understanding of the passage,Ronald E. Clements, Broadman Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, Leviticus (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972), p. 19. but Keil effectively refuted such ideas by pointing out that the word here rendered "adjuration" does not mean a curse in general, but an oath (a judicial oath equal to the oath of cursing in Numbers

Daniel 8:9-14 — Unto two thousand and three hundred evenings and mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed." THE LITTLE HORN Salient features of this are: (1) The terrible calamity prophesied was allowed to fall upon Israel "through transgressions" (Daniel 8:12), that means as a punishment for the sinful rebellion of Israel. (2) It will be a limited, controlled punishment. The sanctuary will again be cleansed. (3) The mention of the `glorious land' (Daniel 8:9) is a reference to Palestine. (4) `The prince

Hosea 10:15 — off." "So shall Bethel do unto you" This carries the meaning that: "Your idolatrous calf at Bethel shall be the cause of a like calamity befalling you."Robert Jamieson, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1962), p. 778. "At daybreak shall the king of Israel be utterly cut off" This simply means that the king would be slain like most of the people. The military ruin of the nation would be complete and final. Of special interest is the phrase "at daybreak,"

Amos 1:6 — Edom. Note that the whole of a nation was represented by one of its principal cities, Syria by Damascus, (Amos 1:3), and here, Philistia by Gaza. "It is evident that Gaza is simply regarded as a representative of Philistia,"C. F. Keil, op. cit., p. 245. as proved by the fact that in the announcement of the punishment, some of the other great cities of Philistia are also included, all of them, in fact, standing for the entire nation. "Carried away the whole people… to deliver them to Edom"

Nahum 1:10 — drink" most commentators understand this as a metaphor of nations being drunk upon their own power and intoxicated with their own boasting. Certainly the expression is so used by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 13:9; Jeremiah 13:13-14) and by Habakkuk (Habakkuk 2:5, margin ASV); but it ought not to be overlooked that both literal drunkenness and literal fire entered into the fall of Nineveh. The king had ordered a celebration of what was supposed to be the victory; and it became a drunken orgy. In the midst

Malachi 3:12 — for a wholesome and happy environment of the people of God, provided only, that they would respond to his love by obeying his commandments, honoring his name, and giving to him their praise, thanksgiving and offerings as he had commanded them. Isaiah 62:1-4 has a description of such times: "The nations shall see thy righteousness… thou shalt be a crown of beauty in the land of Jehovah… thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken… nor Desolate: but thou shalt be called My-delight-is-in-her,E.

Matthew 1:4 — the enemies of Christianity never disputed these genealogies during the times when they were available as public records of the Jews. Rahab … Ruth. Rahab is identified with the woman of that name who was a harlot on the walls of Jericho (Joshua 2:1). Ruth appears in Scripture as one of the sweetest and truest of womankind ever to live upon the earth. She, like Rahab, was a Gentile. The Book of Ruth recounts her remarkable story.

Matthew 10:39 — reservation in the pursuit of God's will is also losing his life in the sense of this verse. To submerge one's own life and will in those of Christ, so that he may say with Paul, "It is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20), is to lose one's life, and also to find it. This is the great antidote for selfishness.

Matthew 3:8-9 — They supposed themselves safe because they were the seed of Abraham to whom the promises of old had been truly certified. However, in this place John blasts their complacency and opens the door for the "spiritual sons" of Abraham (Galatians 3:26-29). Here in the preaching of John the Baptist was the beginning of that truth so fully expounded by Paul in which it appears that "He is not a Jew who is one outwardly …." (Romans 2:28-29).

Matthew 4:24-25 — Christ in this phase of his ministry. The various diseases, etc., mentioned show that Christ's power to heal extended to every possible condition of suffering and handicapped humanity. McGarvey noted that "The facts of this section (Matthew 4:12-25) furnish another argument in favor of the claims of Jesus (as the Messiah): (1) They show that his dwelling place was where the prophet Isaiah had predicted the appearance of a great light; (2) and that Christ was such a light. (3) That he was so

Matthew 5:18 — alphabet. Christ here expressed full confidence in the Old Testament with the strong warning that it should never be disparaged or set at naught. The New Testament teaches that all of the prophecies of the Old Testament shall indeed be fulfilled (Luke 24:44), that its narratives are "written for our example" (1 Corinthians 10:11), and for our admonition and learning (Romans 15:4). Here is the principle that the New Testament is essentially an extension of the Old, minus its types and shadows,

Matthew 9:24 — Christ said the same concerning Lazarus who had been dead and buried for four days (John 11:11). The actuality of death is not the point in either case, but the nature of death. IT IS A SLEEP. In death, as in sleep: (1) there is a loss of consciousness; (2) both are terminated, sleep by awakening, and death in the resurrection; (3) there is a rejuvenation or rebuilding of powers during the period of waiting; or, more properly, both are followed by an IMPROVED state of the person; (4) there is no total

Mark 14:57-59 — hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands. This testimony was untruthful. Jesus actually said, "(You) destroy this temple (referring to his body), and in three days I will raise it up (that is, rise from the dead)" (John 2:19). In context, Jesus' words were a prediction that the religious leaders would take his life and that he would rise from the dead three days later. There was no suggestion whatever of such a thing as the false witnesses alleged. Even such a misrepresentative

Mark 4:2 — "A parable is a truth presented by a similitude, being of necessity figurative"; but a proverb may be "figurative, but not necessarily."E. Bickersteth. The Pulpit Commentary (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1962), Vol. 16, p. 156. The reason for Jesus' resort to the method of teaching by parables is complex: (1) He did so in order to fulfill prophecy. (2) He did so to confound the spies of the Pharisees. (3) He thus challenged his disciples to greater spiritual

Luke 11:13 — the needs of his disciples.Charles L. Childers, op. cit., p. 509. From the passage here, it is clear that God's children should not hesitate to pray to the Father for the measure of the Holy Spirit which has been promised to baptized believers (Acts 2:38), and which is called "an earnest" of our inheritance (Ephesians 1:13).

Romans 1:1 — to the Romans (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1968), p. 14. It was common among the Jews to mark some outstanding event in a person's life with a change of his name, as in the case of Abraham (Genesis 17:5), Jacob (Gen. 32:38), and Peter (John 1:42); and thus it appears that even in such a detail as this, Paul was "not a whit behind the chiefest apostles" (2 Corinthians 11:5). The first use of the name PAUL for this apostle is recorded in Acts 13:9 upon the

Romans 4:12 — Abram, get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing (Genesis 12:1-2). There are discernible three things in the steps of Abraham's faith, these being: (1) leave something, (2) enter something, and (3) become something. The same essential steps of that faith must be followed today by those who would be saved. 1.    Leave

2 Corinthians 11:6 — literature is there a more widespread and generally accepted error than the notion that the apostle Paul was deficient as a public speaker. Filson spoke of Paul's lack as a speaker, saying, "He admits it," and citing this verse along with 2 Corinthians 10:10; 1 Corinthians 1:17 and 1 Corinthians 2:4. Floyd V. Filson, op. cit., p. 394. First, we shall glance at these verses which are supposed to be Paul's admission that he was a poor speaker. The verse here: "Rude in speech" does

Philippians 2:6 — God a thing to be grasped. THE SO-CALLED HYMN Many scholars insist that "Paul here quotes a previously composed hymn"; Frances Foulkes, New Bible Commentary, Revised (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 1132. but outside the attractiveness of plausible imagination, there is no hard evidence of any kind to commend such a view. It is true, of course, that the passage is composed of balanced phrases having a kind of rhythm and that they could have been sung;

Judges 13:1 — their identity by an amalgamation with the Philistines. "And God gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years" "This forty years lasted at least unto the second battle of Ebenezer (1 Samuel 7:10 ff)."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 269. THE HISTORY OF THE PHILISTINES In the history of Israel, the Philistines appeared very early as an obstacle in the way of what Israel desired to do. When Moses led Israel out of Egypt, the Philistines were spread out along the coastal strip between