Bible Commentaries

Exodus 26:7-14 — and a covering of sealskins above." The four coverings are all mentioned in these verses, but no instructions whatever are recorded regarding the last two: (1) The fine linen woven with the cherubim; (2) the goats' hair, which may have been black; (3) the covering of rams' skins dyed red; and (4) the covering of sealskins are all mentioned; and it is usually thought that the goats' hair covering was the outermost of the four. All of these were properly installed, thus providing a "tent" of remarkable

1 Kings 18:1-2 — Zarephath, and this reckoning is shown to be true by Luke 4:25 and James 5:17, where Christ and James both say, that in the time of Ahab it did not rain for three years and six months."C. F. Keil, Keil and Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries, Vol. 3a, p. 241. LaSorThe New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 342. and GatesThe Wycliffe Bible Commentary, Kings, p. 331 alike find no fault with Keil's reason on this. The fact that his position is confirmed by no less an authority than that of Christ himself

2 Kings 2:15-18 — leader of the prophets. He then added that, "The two following miracles recorded in this chapter were also intended to accredit Elisha in the eyes of the people as a man endowed with the Spirit and power of God, as Elijah had been."C. F. Keil, Vol. 3a, p. 298. "Till he was ashamed" "The New English Bible renders this `had not the heart to refuse.'" "Elijah's work was done; it was a fierce work of judgment that became symbolic (Malachi 4:5-6), even idealized (John 1:21) and seen again at the end

2 Kings 5:5-7 — Benhadad (the probable king of Syria) who sent Naaman to Samaria sought a quarrel with him, was not altogether unreasonable. "It will be remembered that Benhadad, seeking the subjugation of Ahab, had made unreasonable demands of Joram's father (1 Kings 20:3-6)."The Pulpit Commentary, op. cit., p. 93.

2 Kings 9:11-13 — respect tinctured, if ever so lightly, with aversion and contempt."The Layman's Bible Commentary, Vol. 7, p. 90. As George DeHoff expressed it, "Irreligious men always think that God's children are a bunch of fools."George DeHoff's Commentary, Vol. 2, p. 317. "They… took every man his garment and put it under him on the top of the stairs" We would need a picture or drawing of the headquarters building where all this happened to be able to explain exactly what is meant by "the top of the stairs."

1 Chronicles 1:51-54 — chief Jetheth, chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon, chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar, chief Magdiel, chief Iram. These are the chiefs of Edom." "All of these genealogies are given in Genesis, as follows: (1 Chronicles 1:1-4) are in Genesis 5:3-22, and Genesis 10:1; (1 Chronicles 1:5-23) are in Genesis 10:2-4; Genesis 10:6-8; Genesis 10:13-18 a,22-29; (1 Chronicles 1:24-27) are in Genesis 11:10-26 (cf. 17:5); (1 Chronicles 1:28-34) are in Genesis 25:12-16 a, 1-4,19-26 (cf. Genesis 16:15; Genesis

2 Chronicles 11:13-17 — Levites who were deposed could still have kept their lands, but they relinquished them in order to live in Judah where they could carry on their calling. They were accompanied by laymen who shared their disillusionment."Broadman Bible Commentary, Vol. 3, p. 378. Moses told us what this worship of the he-goats was like, when he forbade it to Israel. "They shall no more sacrifice their sacrifices unto the goats, after which they play the harlot" (Leviticus 17:7). There can be little doubt that the golden

2 Chronicles 17:7-9 — book of the law of Jehovah is the Pentateuch, not merely a collection of Mosaic laws, since in Jehoshaphat's time the Mosaic Book of the Law (the Pentateuch) had been long in existence."C. F. Keil, Keil and Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries, Vol. 3b, p. 374. We shall not take the space to repeat the vociferous denials of critics, except to cite one knee-jerk remark that characterizes all of them, "Such action was not taken in Jehoshaphat's time."The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 3, p. 488. What is

Nehemiah 10:28-31 — debt." In this paragraph, four provisions of the covenant are given: (1) A strict promise to abide by all the divine commandments as revealed in the Law of Moses (Nehemiah 10:29); (2) the prohibition against mixed marriages with the pagans (Nehemiah 10:30); (3) strict observance of the sabbath day (Nehemiah 10:31); and (4) the honoring of the seventh year and its requirement of forgiving all debts (Nehemiah 10:31). "Restriction against marriage with pagans." Ezra had dealt with this problem (Ezra 9-10);

Nehemiah 12:31-37 — the text here flatly declares that they marched atop the wall. This is to be trusted as the way it happened. Excavations by Kathleen Kenyon in Jerusalem have indicated that, "Nehemiah's wall was nine feet wide."Kathleen Kenyon, Jerusalem, Excavating 3,000 Years of History (New York: McGraw-Hill,1967), p. 111. As Hamrick noted, "That was ample room for a procession to move along the top of it."Broadman Bible Commentary, Vol. 3, p. 502. (Our map, p. 138, will show how the processions proceeded.) These

Nehemiah 13:19-22 — Nehemiah acknowledges that his salvation is dependent upon the greatness of God's lovingkindness, and not upon the multiplicity of his good deeds. The doctrine of God's grace in the O.T. is often tragically overlooked."Broadman Bible Commentary, Vol. 3, p. 505.

Psalms 50:22-23 — (Psalms 50:16) are used here in the reverse order of their appearance in the psalm. These two verses have the advantage of further clarifying the question of who will participate in the Final Judgment. Psalms 50:22 speaks of the lost; and Psalms 50:23 speaks of the saved. THE DOCTRINE OF THE JUDGMENT One of the six fundamental doctrines of the Christian religions is that of the `eternal judgment' (Hebrews 6:2); and it is a mark of the apostasy of our current age that preachers of God's word seldom

Psalms 51:10-13 — fate which he nevertheless feels that he deserves. "Take not thy Holy Spirit from me" We know that David indeed was in possession of the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit inspired him in writing the Psalms, as Jesus himself testified (Matthew 22:43). The New Testament speaks of several things that men may do to the Holy Spirit. (1) They can resist Him; (2) they can grieve him; (3) they can lie to Him; (4) they can insult Him; and (5) they can quench Him (1 Thessalonians 5:19). Certainly the conduct

Leviticus 1:5-9 — Commentary, Leviticus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), p. 216. "Shall burn the whole on the altar" Meyrick informs us that the Hebrew here carries the meaning of: "the whole substance is made to ascend unto the Lord";F. Meyrick, op. cit., p. 3. and Orlinsky rendered the passage as "turn… into smoke."Harry M. Orlinsky, Notes on the New Translation of the Torah (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society of America, 1969), p. 205. This, of course, is scientifically accurate. Smoke

Leviticus 23:1-3 — Appearance at the tabernacle to hold the holy convocations was not regarded as necessary either in the law itself or in later orthodox custom."C. F. Keil, Commentary on the Old Testament, Vol. 1 (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), p. 439. As a matter of fact, and of history, religious meetings for the purpose of conducting worship were held every sabbath day WHEREVER Jews lived; and, "It was out of these that the synagogues arose."Ibid. The sabbath itself is here mentioned somewhat

Leviticus 8:10-13 — part of any of those priests, however, for the Holy Spirit would not come until after Jesus' Ascension into heaven. The lesser priests did not have the oil "poured" upon them, but merely "sprinkled" upon them. The Jewish interpretation of Leviticus 8:30, below, is that, "It constituted the anointing of the priests, while the High Priest was distinguished by having oil poured on his head (Leviticus 8:12)."Bernard J. Bamberger, Torah, a Commentary (New York: The Union of American Hebrew Congregations,

Numbers 9:4-8 — even" (Numbers 9:5). "This is literally `between the two evenings',"Ibid. and was understood differently in different ages. About the first century A.D., it meant, "the time between three and five o'clock in the evening."Ibid. Since our Lord died at 3:00 p.m., this fact regarding the True Lamb makes it likely that this was the intended hour from the first. As frequently observed in Numbers, additional instruction regarding some previous regulation resulted from some emergency need for further clarification;

Judges 2:11-15 — name was hyphenated with many different places, such as Baal-peor, etc. (For those who might be interested in the nature of his worship, reference is here made to a full description of it in connection with our commentary on Leviticus-Numbers (Vol. 3 of the Pentateuchal series), pp. 489-496).)

Judges 3:26-30 — oppression."International Critical Commentary, p. 99. It should be noted that Ehud gave all the glory to God. When he rallied Israel behind his call for fighters against Moab, he said, "Jehovah hath delivered your enemies the Moabites into your hand" (Judges 3:28). Who can doubt it? If there was ever an example of providential intervention in an earthly conflict, this is surely an example of it. The essential element in the whole deliverance was the amazing deception of the protectors of the king of Moab.

1 Samuel 28:1-2 — special providence that caused Achish to accept David's words here as a pledge of loyalty to the Philistine king. The second special providence was in the fact that the contemporaries of Achish overruled his order for David to accompany them (1 Samuel 29:3-5).