Bible Commentaries

Job 10:21 — et caligine mersas. Ibant obscuri sola sub nocte per umbram, Perque domos Ditis vacuas, et inania regna: Quale per incertam lunam sub luce maligna Est iter in silvis: ubi coelum condidit umbra Jupiter, et rebus nox abstulit atra colorem Aeneid vi. 259ffA similar view of Hades was held by the Greeks. Thus, Theognis, 1007: Ὠς μάκαρ εὐδυίμων τε και ὄλβιος, ὅστις ἄπειρος Ἄθλων, εἰς ἥ δου δῶμα μέλαν κατέβη. Hōs makar eudaimōn te kai olbios, hostis apeiros Athlōn eis h' dou dōma

Job 14:10 — Expires, or dies. This is all that the word (גוע gâva‛) means. The notion of giving up the spirit or the ghost - an idea not improper in itself - is not found in the Hebrew word, nor is it in the corresponding Greek word in the New Testament; compare Acts 5:10.

Job 3:1 — renders this, “at length.” It means after the long silence of his friends, and after he saw that there was no prospect of relief or of consolation.Opened Job his mouth - The usual formula in Hebrew to denote thc commencement of a speech; see Matthew 5:2. Schultens contends that it means boldness and vehemency of speech, παῤῥησία parrēsia, or an opening of the mouth for the purpose of accusing, expostulating, or complaining; or to begin to utter some sententious, profound, or sublime maxim; and

Job 30:28 — not to what was past. The word rendered “mourning,” however (קדר qâdar), means here rather to be dark, dingy, tanned. It literally means to be foul or turbid, like a torrent, Job 6:16; then to go about in filthy garments, as they do who mourn, Job 5:11; Jeremiah 14:2; then to be dusky, or of a dark color, or to become dark. Thus, it is applied to the sun and moon becoming dark in an eclipse, or when covered with clouds, Jeremiah 4:28; Joel 2:10; Joel 3:15; Micah 3:6. Here it refers to the fact

Job 37:1 — At this also - That is, in view of the thunderstorm, for it is that which Elihu is describing. This description was commenced in Job 36:29, and is continued to Job 37:5, and should not have been separated by the division into chapters. Elihu sees a tempest rising. The clouds gather, the lightnings flash, the thunder rolls, and he is awed as with the conscious presence of God. There is nowhere to be found a more graphic

Job 38:17 — were congregated, and that his vast superiority to man was evinced by his being able thus to penetrate into, and survey those hidden regions. It is common in the Classical writers to represent those regions as entered by gates. Thus, Lucretius, i. 1105, - Haec rebus erit para janua letl, Hae se turba foras dabit omnis materai. - “The doors of death are ope, And the vast whole unbounded ruin whelms.” Good.So Virgil, Aeneid ii. 661, - Pater isti janua leto, “The door of death stands open.”Or hast thou

Job 5:10 — wonderful things - things which are fitted to lead us to put our trust in him. In this and the succeeding verses, he descends to particulars, and specifies those things which show that God is worthy to be confided in. This enunciation continues to Job 5:16, and the general scope is, that the agency of God is seen everywhere; and that his providential dealings are adapted to impress man with elevated ideas of his justice and goodness. Eliphaz begins with the rain, and says that the fact that God sends

Job 5:12 — Paraphrase refers this to the defeat of the purposes of the Egyptians: “Who made vain the thoughts of the Egyptians, who acted wisely (or cunningly - דחכימו) that they might do evil to Israel, but their hands did not perform the work of their wisdom Job 5:13, who took the wise men of Pharaoh in their own wisdom, and the counsel of their perverse astrologers he made to return upon them.” The general sense is, that artful and designing men - people who work in the dark, and who form secret purposes of

Psalms 2:11 — The word used - גיל gı̂yl - means properly to move in a circle, to revolve; and then to dance in a circle, to exult, to rejoice. Then, according to Gesenius, it means to tremble, to fear, from the leaping or palpitation of the heart Job 37:1; Hosea 10:5; Psalms 29:6. Gesenius renders it here “fear with trembling.” The common translation, however, better expresses the sense. It means that they should welcome the purposes of Yahweh, and exult in his reign, but that it should be done with a suitable apprehension

Psalms 21:9 — burned in a heated oven. Or, they shall burn, as if they were a flaming oven; that is, they would be wholly consumed. The word rendered “oven” - תנור tannûr - means either an “oven” or a “furnace.” It is rendered “furnace and furnaces” in Genesis 15:17; Nehemiah 3:11; Nehemiah 12:38; Isaiah 31:9; and, as here, “oven” or “ovens,” in Exodus 8:3; Leviticus 2:4; Leviticus 7:9; Leviticus 11:35; Leviticus 26:26; Lamentations 5:10; Hosea 7:4, Hosea 7:6-7; Malachi 4:1. It does not occur elsewhere. The

Psalms 22:14 — meaning in this expression is, that all his strength was gone. It is remarkable that we have a similar expression, which is not easily accounted for, when we say of ourselves that “we are as weak as water.” An expression similar to this occurs in Joshua 7:5 : “The hearts of the people melted, and became as water.” Compare Lamentations 2:19; Psalms 58:7. “My bones are out of joint.” Margin, “sundered.” The Hebrew word - פרד pârad - means “to break off, to break in pieces, to separate by breaking;” and

Psalms 25:10 — toward their errors; faithful to His own promises.To such as keep his covenant - To those who are His friends; to those who are faithful to Him. This expression is often used to denote those who are the true people of God, Genesis 17:9-10; Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 29:9; Psalms 132:12. The word “covenant” here is equivalent to “command or law;” and the idea is, that if they keep His laws they will find Him to be merciful and true. On the meaning of the word “covenant,” see Acts 7:8, note; Hebrews

Psalms 29:8 — anything; to twist - as with pain - or, to writhe; and then, to tremble, to quake. The forests are made to tremble or quake in the fierceness of the storm - referring still to what the thunder seems to do.The wilderness of Kadesh - As in referring Psalms 29:5-6 to the effect of the storm on lofty trees, the psalmist had given poetic beauty to the description by “specifying” Lebanon and Sirion, so he here refers, for the same purpose, to a particular forest as illustrating the power of the tempest - to wit,

Psalms 34:21 — to bear the consequences of guilt, or to be punished. This seems to be the idea here. The word is sometimes synonymous with another Hebrew word - ישׁם yâsham - meaning to be desolate; to be destroyed; to be laid waste: Ezekiel 6:6; Joel 1:18; Psalms 5:10. But the usual meaning of the word is undoubtedly retained here, as signifying that, in the dealings of Providence, or in the administering of divine government, such men will be held to be guilty, and will be treated accordingly; that is, that they

Psalms 37:36 — Yet he passed away - Compare the notes at Job 20:5. The allusion here, of course, is to the man, and not to the tree, though the grammatical construction might refer to either. The idea is that he passed out of view - “he was gone;” he had no permanent abode on earth, but with all his pomp and splendor

Psalms 45:12 — station, and properly representing the wealth of a king of so much magnificence. This is the imagery. As applied to the Messiah, it is a description of the honor which would be shown to “him” by those of highest rank and largest wealth. Compare Isaiah 60:5-7, note; Isaiah 60:9, note; Isaiah 60:11, note; Isaiah 60:13 note.Even the rich among the people - Rich men scattered among the people. Compare the notes at Psalms 22:29.Shall entreat thy favor - Margin, as in Hebrew, “thy face.” Shall desire thy smile;

Psalms 56:13 — before God - As in his presence; enjoying his friendship and favor.In the light of the living - See the notes at Job 33:30. The grave is represented everywhere in the Scriptures as a region of darkness (see the notes at Job 10:21-22; compare Psalms 6:5; Psalms 30:9; Isaiah 38:11, Isaiah 38:18-19), and this world as light. The prayer, therefore, is, that he might continue to live, and that he might enjoy the favor of God: a prayer always proper for man, whatever his rank or condition.

Psalms 69:26 — committed; they take advantage of any expressions of impatience which they may let fall in their affliction to charge them with being of a rebellious spirit, or regard it as proof that they are destitute of all true piety. See the notes at Psalms 41:5-8. It was this which added so much to the affliction of Job. His professed friends, instead of sympathizing with him, endeavored to prove that the fact that he suffered so much at the hand of God demonstrated that he was a hypocrite; and the expressions

Joshua 10:10 — Amorites were crushed by the hailstones. The main road from Jerusalem and the Jordan valley to the seacoast lay through the pass of Beth-horon; and, accordingly, both the Beth-horons were secured by Solomon with strong fortifications 2 Chronicles 8:5. It was in this pass that Judas Maccabaeus routed the Syrians under Seron (1 Macc. 3:13ff). and here also, according to Jewish traditions, the destruction of the host of Sennacherib took place 2 Kings 19:35.Azekah, which has not been as yet certainly

1 Samuel 10:5 — Gibeah to Saul, who must have been so well acquainted with it. Possibly they may be explanatory words inserted by the narrator with reference to 1 Samuel 13:2.Musical instruments were the accompaniments of the prophetic song 1Ch 13:8; 1 Chronicles 25:3. The “Psaltery” is a kind of lyre with ten strings, in the shape of an earthen wine bottle (נבל nebel, whence νάβλα nabla) which was something like a sugar-loaf or a delta. The tabret is a kind of drum or tambourine, or timbrel, usually played by