Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 11:5 — signifies actual idolatry (see Deuteronomy 11:28; Deuteronomy 13:2; Deuteronomy 28:14, etc.).For Ashtoreth, or Astarte, the goddess of the Zidonians, see Exodus 34:13, note; Deuteronomy 16:21, note. On the tomb of a Phoenician king, discovered in 1855, on the site of Sidon, mention is made of a temple of Astarte there, which the monarch built or restored; and his mother is said to have been a priestess of the goddess.Milcom or Molech 1 Kings 11:7 are variants of the term ordinarily used for “king”

1 Kings 12:4 — twofold. The Israelites no doubt complained in part of the heavy weight of taxation laid upon them for the maintenance of the monarch and his court 1 Kings 4:19-23. But their chief grievance was the forced labor to which they had been subjected 1 Kings 5:13-14; 1 Kings 11:28. Forced labor has been among the causes leading to insurrection in many ages and countries. It helped to bring about the French Revolution, and it was for many years one of the principal grievances of the Russian serfs. Jeroboam’s

1 Kings 22:39 — Prosperity, it is plain, may for a while co-exist with causes - such as, the decay of religions - which are sapping the vital power of a nation, and leading it surely, if slowly, to destruction.The book of the chronicles ... - See above, 1 Kings 14:19; 1Ki 15:31; 1 Kings 16:5, 1 Kings 16:14, 1Ki 16:20, 1 Kings 16:27.

Ezra 2:1 — are the Israelites who returned to Palestine, as distinct from those who remained in Babylonia and Persia.Every one unto his city - That is, to the city whereto his forefathers had belonged. Of course, in the few cases where this was not known Ezra 2:59-62, the plan could not be carried out.Two other copies of the following list have come down to us - one in Nehemiah 7:7-69, and the other in 1 Esdras 5:8-43. All seem to have been taken from the same original document, and to have suffered more or

Job 34:22 — usually take refuge in some obscure place where people cannot detect them. But Elihu says that man has no power of concealing himself thus from God.Nor shadow of death - A phrase here signifying deep darkness; see it explained in the notes at Job 3:5.Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves - That is, where they may conceal themselves so as not to be detected by God. They may conceal themselves from the notice of man; they may escape the most vigilant police; they may elude all the officers

Job 7:9 — smaller until they wholly vanish. For an illustration of a similar phrase, see the notes at Isaiah 44:22.To the grave - - שׁאול she'ôl. Septuagint, εἰς ᾅδην eis hadēn, to Hades. The word may mean grave, or the place of departed spirits; see Isaiah 5:14, note; Isaiah 14:9, note; compare the notes at Job 10:21-22. Either signification will apply here.Shall come up no more - Shall no more live on the earth. It would be pressing this too far to adduce it as proving that Job did not believe in the doctrine

Psalms 107:19 — instances in their own lives, when they seemed to all human appearance to be drawing near to the gates of death, and when, in connection with prayer, their disease took a favorable turn, and they were restored again to health. Compare the notes at James 5:14-15.

Psalms 71:17 — O God, thou hast taught me from my youth - See Psalms 71:5-6. That is, God had guided and instructed him from his earliest years. He had made known to him his own being and perfections; he had made his duty plain; he had led him along the dangerous path of life.And hitherto have I declared - I have made known.

Psalms 78:35 — And they remembered that God was their Rock - See Deuteronomy 32:4, Deuteronomy 32:15, Deuteronomy 32:31. Compare the notes at Psalms 18:2. That is, they were brought to reflect that their only security and defense was God. They were made to feel that they could not rely on themselves, or on any human power, and that their only trust

Psalms 79:1 — O God, the heathen are come into thine inheritance - The nations; a foreign people. See Psalms 2:1, note; Psalms 2:8; note; Psalms 78:55, note. The term is one that would be applicable to the Chaldeans, or Babylonians, and the probable allusion here is to their invasion of the holy land under Nebuchadnezzar. 2 Chronicles 36:17-21.Thy holy temple have they defiled - They have polluted

Isaiah 37:26 — power. Yet I have done it; that is, I have purposed, planned, arranged it long ago (compare Isaiah 22:11).That thou shouldest be to lay waste - I have raised you up for this purpose, and you have been entirely under my control (see the note at Isaiah 10:5).

Jeremiah 39:3 — seven years of madness. Two years after his death Neriglissar murdered Evil-Merodach, Nebuchadnezzars son, and seized the crown, but after a reign of four years was slain in battle against Cyrus, when disputing with him the crown of Media. See Daniel 5:1 note.The middle gate - Probably that which separated the city of Zion from the lower town.

Ezekiel 5:1 — inhabitants - its ornament and glory - the “hair cut from the head” the exiles cast forth from their homes. It adds to the force of the representation that “to shave the head” was a token of mourning Job 1:20, and was forbidden to the priests Leviticus 21:5. Thus, in many ways, this action of Ezekiel “the priest” is significant of calamity and ruin. The sword indicates the avenging power; the shaving of the head the removal of grace and glory; the scales and weights the determination of divine justice.

Daniel 8:1 — In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar - In regard to Belshazzar, see Intro. to Daniel 5:0 Section II.A vision appeared unto me - This vision appears to have occurred to him when awake, or in an ecstasy; the former one occurred when he was asleep, Daniel 7:1. Compare Daniel 8:17-18, where the prophet represents himself as overpowered, and

Nahum 3:7 — through terror, lest they should share her plagues, as Israel did, when the earth swallowed up Korah, Dathan and Abiram; and they who “had been made rich by Babylon, stand ajar off, for the fear of her torment. All they who look on thee” Revelation 18:15. She was set as a thing to be “gazed at.” He tells the effect on the gazers. “Each one who so gazed” at her should flee; one by one, they should gaze, be scared, flee (compare Psalms 31:11; Psalms 64:8). Not one should remain. “Who will bemoan her?”

Deuteronomy 33:2 — arena upon which the glorious manifestation of the Lord in the giving of the covenant took place.With ten thousands of saints - Render, from amidst ten thousands of holy ones: literally from myriads of holiness, i. e., holy Angels (compare Zechariah 14:5). God is represented as leaving heaven where He dwells amidst the host of the Angels 1 Kings 22:19 and descending in majesty to earth Micah 1:3.A fiery law - more literally as in the margin, with perhaps an allusion to the pillar of fire Exodus 13:21.

Luke 7:46 — the head was universal among the Jews. The oil used was sweet oil or oil of olives, prepared in such a way as to give an agreeable smell. It was also used to render the hair more smooth and elegant. See Ruth 3:3; 2Sa 12:20; 2 Samuel 14:2; Psalms 23:5.With ointment - This “ointment” was a mixture of various aromatics, and was therefore far more costly and precious than the “oil” commonly used for anointing the head. Her conduct, compared with that of Simon, was therefore more striking. “He” did not

Judges 16:14 — loom and the pin fastened to his hair.The beam - Rather, the “loom,” or “frame.” The beam is the wooden revolving cylinder, on which the cloth is rolled as fast as it is woven, the Hebrew word for which 1Sa 17:7; 1 Chronicles 11:23; 1 Chronicles 20:5 is quite different from that here used.

1 Samuel 31:10 — temple of Ashtaroth was a counterpart to the placing Goliath’s sword in the tabernacle 1 Samuel 21:9. In 1 Chronicles 10:10 it is added that they “fastened Saul’s head in the temple of Dagon,” probably either in Gaza Judges 16:21, or in Ashdod 1 Samuel 5:1-3. This was, perhaps, in retaliation for the similar treatment of Goliath’s head 1 Samuel 17:54. The variations seem to imply that both this narrative and that in 1 Chronicles 10:1-14 are compiled from a common and a fuller document.

2 Samuel 19:13 — Of my bone ... - Render as in preceding verse, “art thou not my bone and my flesh?” It is curious to note how the phrase is used in 2 Samuel 5:1 of common descent from Israel, in 2 Samuel 19:12 of the closer kindred of the tribe of Judah, and in this verse of the yet nearer kindred between David and Amasa his sister’s son.Captain ... in the room of Joab - It is very plain that David felt the