Bible Commentaries

Genesis 1:26-28 — decision to create man. John 1:1, which affirms that the Word was God, and in the beginning with God, and that without Him there was nothing made that hath been made, supports the thought that both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit (revealed in Genesis 1:2 as active in the creation) should be understood as included in "us" and "our" here. Thus, it appears from the very beginning that God is represented as a compound unity. "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" It is the kinship of humanity

Exodus 1:19-22 — ludicrous fathead. The joke is on the king, and everybody knows it but him! So, while they laugh the king right out of his court, God wins another round and moves victoriously on."Ralph H. Langley, Teacher's Commentary, Exodus (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1972), p. 54. "Because the midwives feared God, he made them households" The meaning of this is that, "He blessed them with marriage and many descendants."J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 50. Exactly

Exodus 34:29-35 — (God)." "When Moses came down" The previous verses reveal that Moses had no food or water during the forty days and nights, this being the second such fast that Moses had endured. Similar fasts were made by Elijah (1 Kings 19:8) and by our Lord (Matthew 4:2). "The skin of his face shone" The verb for "shine" in this place very closely resembles another Hebrew word to be hornedF. C. Cook, op. cit., p. 94. and from this came the error in the Vulgate which renders the place as, "Moses had horns." It was because

Psalms 40 overview — abundantly clear. `Lo, I come,' (Psalms 40:7) is the highlight of the Psalm."Derek Kidner, Vol. 1, p. 158. There are a number of different ways of interpreting this psalm. Barnes cited these: (1) "The psalm refers originally and exclusively to David; (2) it refers originally and exclusively to the Messiah; (3) it applies partly to David, and partly to Messiah; (4) the author of Hebrews 10:5 ff merely `applied' the psalm to Messiah, seeing that the words were capable of such an accommodation."Barnes'

Leviticus 6:1-7 — were also sins against God Himself. On that account, two kinds of penalties were incurred: (1)    there was the restoration of unlawfully-acquired property to its rightful owner, along with an additional twenty percent value, and (2)    there was the required offering of a valuable ram to God, through the priests, as the basis of atonement and forgiveness from God because of the sin against Him. The instructions for this offering were marked by the solemn formula

Isaiah 21 overview — THE BURDEN OF BABYLON; THE BURDEN OF EDOM; THE BURDEN OF ARABIA Three "burdens" are delivered by the prophet in this chapter: that of Babylon (Isaiah 21:1-10), that of Edom (Isaiah 21:11-12), and that of Arabia (Isaiah 21:13-17). THE BURDEN OF BABYLON (Isaiah 21:1-10) The critical community as a whole have decided that this prophecy applies to the fall of Babylon to Cyrus and Darius, which occurred

Isaiah 30:1-7 — eyes! Strengthening themselves in the strength of Pharaoh and taking refuge in the shadow of Egypt, in the light of all that Israel was supposed to know, appear incredible, even to us. Under God's law, rebellious children were to be put to death (Deuteronomy 21:18-20); and the charge here in the very first verse amounts to God's declaration that Israel deserved death. Moreover, when God prophesied the placement of a king over Israel (Deuteronomy 17:14-17), he specifically commanded that, (1) the king should

Isaiah 50:1-3 — never divorced the Southern Israel, namely Judah, whereas the passage teaches the opposite. Of course, God divorced Israel, as absolutely proved by the prophet Hosea in his symbolical marriage with adulterous Gomer. Read my exposition of Hosea in Vol. 2 of my series on the minor prophets; and there is utterly no way to restrict the application of the divorce that put away Gomer to the Northern Israel alone. Yes, Hosea mentioned God's triple betrothal to Jezreel, but that referred to the New Israel

Jeremiah 17:1-4 — which have made it difficult for scholars to determine the exact translation; but the broad thrust of the passage is clear enough. "Pen of iron… point of a diamond" There are two things stressed here, (1) the permanence of the record of sin, and (2) the hardness of the heart of the people, the implication being that only a diamond-pointed stylus would be able to inscribe anything on the hearts of the Israelites! "What is thus engraved upon the heart, though covered and closed for a time, can never

Daniel 10:10-17 — sent" Thomson has this comment: "In the Assyrian marbles, however lowly the obeisance made to the monarch by anyone admitted to his presence, he stands when he receives the monarch's commands. Standing implies attention."J. E. H. Thomson, op. cit., p. 292. "Unto thee am I sent" Indicates that the messenger had the authority to command Daniel in the name of God Himself. "In the latter days" Many commentators deny that this is a reference to what is called eschatological events or to the final summation

Daniel 3 overview — himself through those faithful Jews (Daniel and his companions), who in that situation were God's representatives of the Theocracy.Paraphrased from Robert Jamieson, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House), p. 626. The situation was exactly parallel to that of captive Israel in Egypt when God performed the most powerful miracles of the Old Testament to deliver the oppressed people. God did exactly the same thing here; and those unbelieving scholars who will

Habakkuk 1:12 — "Art not thou from everlasting, O Jehovah my God, my Holy One? we shall not die. O Jehovah, thou hast ordained him for judgment; and thou, O Rock, hast established him for correction." The last paragraph of Habakkuk 1 (Habakkuk 1:12-17) is to be understood in connection with what has preceded. Question: Habakkuk asked God, "How long" would the wickedness of Judea be tolerated? (Habakkuk 1:2-4). Answer: God's reply (Habakkuk 1:6-11) was the revelation that a vicious new world-state

Deuteronomy 13:1-5 — is that the question of whether or not the false prophet could actually perform such signs or wonders is treated as irrelevant! What if he did, or could? "What stamped the prophet false in this context is the doctrine!"T. Witton Davies, op. cit., p. 237. The possibility that evil men could indeed do wonders "through the power of Satan" is allowed in both Old Testament and New Testament. Paul spoke of the "lying miracles" which would be displayed by the apostate church (2 Thessalonians 2:9), and it

Mark 4:10-12 — "Nowhere in the New Testament does this term (mystery) correspond to esoteric knowledge and rites as in the so-called mystery religions of the Roman Empire."Henry E. Turlington, The Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1946), p. 298. "Mystery" in the New Testament sense refers to a glorious truth long concealed but now revealed (Romans 16:25-26). Cranfield described the mystery as the fact "that the kingdom of God has come in the person, words, and works of Jesus."C.

Joshua 22 overview — final major division of the Book of Joshua begins here. The Trans-Jordanic tribes, having discharged their duty, are sent home, with the compliments and encouragement of their great commander, who also gave a solemn warning against apostasy (Joshua 22:1-9). On the way home, the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh constructed an impressive altar near the Jordan (Joshua 22:10-12); the remainder of Israel were greatly disturbed and demanded an explanation (Joshua 22:13-20); the eastern

Joshua 7:16-21 — of my tent, and the silver under it." "Brought Israel near" The repeated use of "bring near" for the casting of the lots indicates that these proceedings, "took place at the sanctuary, i.e., the tabernacle of Israel."Maxten H. Woudstra, op. cit., p. 127. "My son" (Joshua 7:19). "This is no mere hypocritical affectation by Joshua, who really feels for the criminal, (although the Commander is already under orders from God Himself to execute Achan). In our own times, we have seen a judge melted to tears

Colossians 3:1 — were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Seek ye the things that are above … As Neilson said, "If then ye were raised parallels if ye died with Christ in Colossians 2:22. John B. Nielson, Colossians in Beacon Bible Commentary, Vol. IX (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press, 1965), p. 410. Both of course, refer to Christian baptism. Macknight affirmed that the meaning here is, "Since then ye have been raised with Christ

Revelation 1:5 — the earth. Unto him that loveth us, and loosed us from our sins by his blood. Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness … There is a powerful New Testament emphasis upon the faith of Jesus Christ, as in Paul's writings, especially in Galatians 2:16; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 3:22; Romans 3:22; Romans 3:26; Ephesians 3:12; Philippians 3:9; etc. There is a false impression that since Christ was deity incarnate he did not need to have faith; but in our Lord's humiliation as a man, faith in the

1 Samuel 21:1-6 — destruction of Shiloh. It is also possible that the ark of the covenant had been brought to Nob from Kiriath-jearim by Saul in the early part of his reign. Nob was but a village located a mile or two northeast of Jerusalem near Anathoth (Isaiah 10:32). "Ahimelech was the son of Ahitub, either a brother of Ahijah, or Ahijah himself. Ahitub was a brother of Ichabod, making Ahimelech a great grandson of Eli."The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 399. "Ahimelech and Ahijah are probably equivalent names

1 Samuel 7:5-12 — miles north of Jerusalem (Willis gave "eight miles north" as being probably correctJohn T. Willis, p. 90.). This place was the gathering point for Israel upon two other very important occasions, namely: (1) when they declared war on Benjamin (Judges 20), and (2) upon the occasion when Saul was made king (1 Samuel 10:17). According to Josephus, "Mizpah means watch-tower."Flavius Josephus, Antiquities, p. 173. "They drew water and poured it out, and fasted that day" The only other instance in the Bible