Bible Commentaries

Genesis 31:4-13 — supplementary information to that given in Genesis 30, and it appears that the parti-colored cattle were due to a providential act of God, and not in any way connected with the peeled rods (except, possibly, by their being some kind of test of Jacob's faith). The key thing in his enrichment was the fore-knowledge afforded by the divine dream that lay behind his choice of wages. "And changed my wages ten times" This is said to mean, merely "numerous times," after the customary Hebrew usage. "The number

Genesis 40:20 — into his soul." Such a statement is an alternate reading of Psalms 105:18, but it is a very expressive comment on Joseph's experience. The full bitterness of life's unjust and vicious blows made its full impact upon the heart of this noble man; but his faith did not fail. We feel somewhat apologetic for such frequent mention in this chapter of the false criticism current in today's Biblical literature, but the doing so has been founded upon the conviction that to understand those criticisms is to destroy

Genesis 47:29-31 — shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their dwelling place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. And he said, Swear unto me: and he swore unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head." In his death, Jacob would bear witness to his faith in God by requesting burial with Abraham and Isaac in the cave of Machpelah. He had the utmost confidence in the Word of God which had assured him that his posterity would not remain in Egypt. Joseph honored this promise when his father actually

2 Kings 19:1-4 — alliance with Egypt, in spite of Isaiah's continual warnings that God alone was the source of Judah's protection, but in the extremity of this situation, Hezekiah turned to Isaiah. His reference to Jehovah as "thy God" was not a denial of Hezekiah's faith, but a confession that he had not been as faithful as had Isaiah. Although this is the first mention of Isaiah in Kings, we learn from Isaiah himself that he had prophesied even in the days of Hezekiah's father Ahaz (Isaiah 7:10-17), but that ruler

Ezra 8:31-34 — Bennuni, the Levites) - the whole by number and by weight: and all the weight was written at that time." "After four months of traveling (Ezra 7:9), they came to Jerusalem; the fact of their having been unmolested on the way (Ezra 7:31) vindicated their faith in God's protection; and the treasures were weighed in with the proper temple authorities, indicating that none had been misappropriated."The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 531. "We departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the month"

Job 1:20-22 — belligerent couple who, having lost a beloved child in death, loudly condemned God for allowing it, vowing never to worship him again! "The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away! Blessed be the name of the Lord" How priceless are these ringing words of faith! Christians of all ages have stood by the cold bodies of their beloved dead and repeated through falling tears these holy words. What a victory over his malicious enemy, Satan, did Job register in these words of sorrowful resignation! There are

Psalms 106:6-12 — reference, reads, "as through pastureland." The RSV renders it, "as through a desert." "Through the depths," therefore, means "where the deep waters had been."H. C. Leupold, p. 746. "Then believed they his words; They sang his praise" Israel's fleeting faith mentioned here, was no permanent thing at all; the first little inconvenience they suffered stirred up again their murmuring unbelief.

Psalms 139 overview — Aramaic expressions in it, but, upon the principles of criticism now in vogue, it would be extremely easy to prove that John Milton did not write Paradise Lost. Knowing to what wild inferences the critics have run in other matters, we have lost nearly all faith in them. We prefer to believe that David is the author of this Psalm from internal evidences of style and matter, rather than to accept the opinions of men whose modes of judgment are manifestly unreliable."Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Vol. II, 283. As

Psalms 77:10-15 — God has done in the past for Israel. "Thy way is in the sanctuary" Later versions render this, "Thy way is holy," but that seriously weakens the passage. God's way is always in and through the institution which he has created to establish and nourish faith. It was true of the ancient sanctuary for Israel, and it is true in the Church of God today. Psalms 77:10 here is the turning point in the psalm. The psalmist's recognition of the fact that the fault was with himself, not with God, and his resolution

Isaiah 51:4-8 — "nation" here instead of "nations," the latter word meaning "Gentiles," and the former leaving the impression that the old fleshly nation of the Jews were God's chosen people. That was never the case. The chosen were then, and always, the persons of like faith and character of Abraham. Both Lowth and Adam Clarke who quoted him correctly rendered the word here "O my peoples." adding that, "The address here is not to Jews but to Gentiles."Robert Lowth's Commentary, p. 355. Two additional meanings of "righteousness"

Jeremiah 25:15-16 — view on the part of God's prophets, because the pagans ascribed all evil to members of their pagan pantheon. The Great Truth proclaimed by the prophets was that God is the First Cause, and the Last Cause, and the Only Cause. As Cheyne stated it: "The faith of the Prophets compared to ours was as an oak tree to a sapling; and therefore they could express the truth of the Universal Causation of Jehovah with perfect tranquillity."T. K. Cheyne, Jeremiah in the Pulpit Commentary, p. 551. "The sword that

Ezekiel 32:31-32 — B.C."John Skinner in the Expositor's Bible Commentary, p. 282. We have included these quotations here, not for true believers who do not need to have historical confirmation of what is taught in the scriptures, but in the hope of aiding those whose timid faith might be sustained and strengthened by them.

Matthew 16:14 — in conflict with John's gospel. As Robertson stated it: They hold that the other gospels here utterly conflict with John, who represents the first disciples as believing that Jesus was the Messiah. … But it is easy to suppose that their early faith in his Messiahship was shaken by his continued failure to gather armies and set up the expected temporal kingdom.A. T. Robertson, Harmony of the Gospels (New York and London: Harper and Brothers, 1922), p. 99. Dummelow made the same analysis: This

Romans 2:1 — cheap and easy salvation unrelated to any requirements of righteous living. The same temptation exists today when people think to be saved through membership in some group, or the acceptance of some theological doctrine, as for example, salvation by faith alone, or because they have been baptized, or because they attend church, or partake of the Lord's supper — or upon any grounds whatever apart from obedient faith in Christ's teaching and that holiness invariably identified with membership

Romans 6:5 — that new life, for not all will be planted in the likeness of Christ's death, that is, not all will be baptized. This verse is a connective between two focal points of the Christian message. First, Christ died for us, having lived a perfect life of faith and obedience to God's will, and through this means creating the ground of justification for sinful people, and containing within himself after his resurrection the only perfect righteousness ever known on earth, and without which no one can be

1 Corinthians 7 overview — (1 Corinthians 7:39-40). Like many other chapters which are sometimes labeled "difficult," this one contains some of the most instructive teaching in the New Testament, and affords glimpses of the apostolic method which add greatly to one's faith in the integrity of the apostles.

Hebrews 2:3 — Spirit in the apostles contravened this, for it was declared by Christ of the work of the Spirit that he should "not speak from himself" (John 16:13) but aid their "remembrance" (John 14:26) of the things Christ had spoken. The true faith was Christ-delivered; and Christ is the only source of the words of life (John 6:68). The bearing of this exceedingly significant truth upon the religious problems of these times is seen in the fact that such a vast body of man-originated doctrines,

1 Peter 1:4 — them; none other shall preempt it or take it away from them. Notice the emphasis upon heaven. Peter had heard the Master say, "Great is your reward in heaven" (Matthew 5:10-12). The essential "other-worldliness" of the Christian faith shines in a passage like this, where the pilgrims, sojourners, and citizens of heaven are called to contemplate the eternal nature of their ultimate reward, the glory of the everlasting inheritance.

Revelation 18:19 — and delay that day. As Morris pointed out, it is the working class, the sailors, who carry their mourning the furthest by casting dust on their heads. Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 221. And, as in the case of the other mourners, it is not weeping for lost faith, but for lost jobs. There is here the evident truth that laboring humanity will suffer first and longest. The godless labor unions that have led the world in their defiance of true religion as well as every other form of it shall suddenly discover

Revelation 22:21 — Bible should be GRACE!" William Barclay, op. cit., p. 232. Revelation is written for the saints, to them alone it is spoken; they alone can keep it. Let no man think that if he has not already found Christ that he may find him here. Here indeed, faith and love are the key to knowledge. Charles H. Roberson, Studies in Revelation (Tyler, Texas: P. D. Wilmeth, P.O. Box 3305, 1957), p. 198. Strauss made the similar observation that, "Revelation is not for the curiosity seeker or for religious