Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 18:30-40 — was just and necessary. "It was an appropriate retribution for Jezebel's slaughter of the priests of Jehovah, and at the same time it was in obedience to the sacred law of God that required the execution of the death penalty upon false prophets (Deut. 7:2f; 13:130."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 344.

2 Kings 4:1-7 — tradition and even stated that the debt which the woman's husband had acquired was contracted for the purpose of feeding the faithful prophets of Jehovah whom he had hidden in caves from the murderous wrath of Jezebel.Flavius Josephus, Antiquities, p. 279. One of the great imperfections of the Mosaic Law was its toleration of the ancient custom of seizing the family of a debtor and pressing them into slavery as payment of a debt. Of course, there was a limitation in God's law that terminated all such

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7 — casual business. It is weighted with eternal meaning and significance. Furthermore, we must not write this paragraph off as some outmoded example of Old Testament harshness. The New Testament also even more urgently warns us in the same manner (Matthew 7:21 ff; Matthew 23:16 ff; and 1 Corinthians 11:27 ff). "No amount of emphasis upon the grace of God can justify taking liberties with God. The very conception of grace demands gratitude; and gratitude can never be casual."The Bible Speaks Today, p. 53.

Isaiah 50:1-3 — truth on this passage. See footnote 3. "Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement…?" "This does not mean, however, that no divorce occurred. Israel was indeed sent away (Malachi 2:16)."Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1971), p 333. By the same token, the passage does not mean that Israel was not sold; what is meant by both of these metaphors is that "The bill of Israel's divorcement showed that Israel's shameful wickedness was the reason behind it, and not some capricious

Isaiah 6:1-5 — Throughout the Bible, this reaction on the part of any person becoming aware of God's presence is normal, indeed without exception. Examples of this are Gideon (Judges 6:22), Manoah (Judges 13:22), Job (Job 42:5-6), Peter (Luke 5:8), John (Revelation 1:17), and the thief on the cross (Luke 23:40-41). The notion that Isaiah was just as wicked as the Israelites generally were should be rejected. True, all men, in the presence of God, must inevitably be overcome with a sense of wickedness and unworthiness;

Ezekiel 23:11-21 — and that led to the final destruction of the City and the Temple! The vacillation and fickleness of Judah was a conspicuous element in all such changes "She… sent messengers unto them into Chaldea" "This refers to the act of Ahaz (2 Kings 16:7)."Albert Barnes' Commentary, 357. "Then my soul was alienated from her" God became disgusted with Oholibah (Jerusalem) because, "The love of Oholibah was not for her husband (God Himself), but for a multitude of paramours whom she received without discretion

Ezekiel 26:1-6 — 26:2) is often translated "gates"; and Keil believed that, "The plural was used to indicate the folding doors which formed `the gate.'"Carl Friedrich Keil, Keil-Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 373. However, to us, it appears that the several toll-stations on all the roads passing through Palestine is a more logical understanding of the plural. All such seats of custom were under the control of Jerusalem until its fall. The rejoicing of Tyre

Ezekiel 37:1-6 — and burned. No language could adequately describe how dead and hopeless were the peoples' dreams and ambitions. The people themselves expressed this hopelessness, saying, "Our bones are dried; our hope is lost; we feel ourselves cut off." (Ezekiel 37:11). Skinner believed that this expression by the people might have suggested the figure of the valley of the dry bones.Ibid., p. 343, Our own opinion is that God needed no help from the people in his choice of a metaphor. Scholars are divided over

Hosea 1:2 — Hosea 11:1; and Hosea 13:1. We believe, therefore, with Polkinghorne that, "At the time of the wedding, Gomer was a virgin but later proved unfaithful."G. J. Polkinghorne, The New Layman's Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), p. 928. This, of course, does not remove what some are pleased to call the "moral problem" of God's commanding Hosea to marry a woman whom God certainly knew would prove to be faithless; but, actually, there is no problem at all. There was absolutely

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

Matthew 21:28-30 — number of figures in the New Testament, such as: the wheat and the chaff (Matthew 3:12), the wheat and the tares (Matthew 13:25), the rejects and keepers (Matthew 13:48-49), the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:32), builders on rock, or on sand (Matthew 7:24-26), etc. The two sons of this parable represent the grand moral cleavage in humanity, which in God's sight forms two and only two classes, the good and the bad. THE FATHER'S INVITATION: "Son, Go work today in the vineyard," is a marvel

Deuteronomy 15:1-6 — commandment, assuming that, Philo and the Talmudists were correct in the affirmation that, "This simply meant lengthening the term for repayment!"C. F. Keil, Commentary on the Old Testament, Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 376. If this paragraph in God's Word means simply "declaring a moratorium on debts for one year," it was in no sense whatever a "release."G. Ernest Wright, The Interpreter's Bible, Deuteronomy (New York: Abingdon Press, 1954), p. 428. We are thankful that

Mark 6:3 — Joseph. The true reason for Mark's reference to "carpenter," as distinguished from Matthew's "son of a carpenter," lies in the obvious fact that the villagers freely gossiped about the Lord, using both expressions; and Mark, writing in 65-70 A.D., at a time when Joseph was dead, and having omitted from his narrative the record of the virgin birth of our Lord, consciously selected the particular form of the villagers' gossip which could not have been construed as a denial of that essential

John 1:14 — Person. Flesh … as used here simply means human nature in possession of a body but does not imply any taint of sin (Romans 8:3). This assumption of a human body by our Lord was of his own volition, as attested in Hebrews 2:16 and Philippians 2:7. "Flesh," as used by John in this verse, carries with it none of the implications of Paul's frequent usage of the term, a distinction that Paul himself carefully preserved. It means the genuine, perfect, holy, human nature of our Lord. Thus,

Romans 1:17 — recent translations (including the New English Bible of 1961) the most helpful English version of the New Testament for purposes of accurate study. F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Ephesians (Westwood, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1961), p. 7. Paul, therefore, wrote none of the phrases mentioned above, but "from faith to faith," and any paraphrase of the meaning would have to be something that does not violate that text. The Phillips New Testament has such a paraphrase, thus: "a

Romans 1:28 — that "even as" they had refused to have God in their knowledge, God delivered them over to a reprobate mind, making their reprobacy correspond to the reprobate act of forsaking the knowledge of God. The same thought is expressed in Romans 1:27 where the judgment was mentioned as one that "was due." WHEN GOD GIVES UP ON PEOPLE In the paragraph above, Paul affirmed that for just reasons God gave up on some people; but that was hardly a new concept. The psalmist noted that, My people

Joshua 6:2-7 — also used in the Feast of Trumpets. "The word from which trumpets comes here means loud trumpets or trumpets of jubilee, and is the same word found in Leviticus 25:9."J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on the Holy Bible (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), p. 145. Critics have been frustrated trying to find something wrong with this narrative. Holmes stated that, "It is so skillfully compiled that at first sight there is not much fault to find."Samuel Holmes, op. cit., p. 251. Of course, there are peculiarities

2 Thessalonians 1:6-7 — conditional. It is a Hebrew idiomatic way of arguing from a certainty. Rest … is not a verb but a noun, being the thing that God will recompense to the just, just as affliction will be meted out to the persecutors. The thought of 2 Thessalonians 1:5-7 was summed up thus by Adam Clarke: The sufferings of the just and the triumphs of the wicked in this life are a sure proof that there will be a future judgment in which the wicked shall be punished and the righteous rewarded Adam Clarke, Commentary

Hebrews 12:28-29 — kingdom" the gospel Paul (Matthew 13:19) preached (Romans 10:8). The seven parables All seven of them of Matthew 13 have are identified with been understood for the kingdom of ages as applying to heaven the church. (Matt. 3:19,24,31, 33,44,45,47 etc.) The gospel of Christ The teachings of and his church are Christ are called called the the "mysteries of "mystery," kept in the kingdom of silence; etc. heaven" (Romans 16:25). (Matthew 13:11). Christ's church is The kingdom

Judges 10:10-16 — not deliver you," Reference is here made to no less than seven nations from whose power the Lord had delivered Israel. These are: (1) The Egyptians; (2) the Amorites; (3) the Ammonites; (4) the Philistines; (5) the Sidonians; (6) the Amalekites; and (7) "The Maonites who are otherwise unknown to this period."Ibid. It is surprising that the Midianites were not included here, but it may be, as suggested by Dalglish, that, "`Maonites' is here a reference to the Midianites."Ibid. Indeed, the Septuagint