Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 61:6 — service were performed by others; and as if they were to be entirely free from the necessity of toil, and were permitted to devote themselves exclusively to the services of religion.Ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles - (See the notes at Isaiah 60:5-11).And in their glory - In what constitutes their glory, or what they regard as valuable; that is, their wealth, their talents, and their power.Shall you boast yourselves? - There has been considerable variety of interpretation in regard to the meaning

Isaiah 62:5 — united to her. If it be objected that the word is in the ‘plural (בניך bonayı̂k) it may be observed thai the word commonly applied to God (אלהים 'ĕlohı̂ym) is also plural, and that an expression remarkably similar to the one before us occurs in Isaiah 54:5, ‘For thy Maker is thy husband’ (Hebrew, בעליך bo‛ălayk, ‘Thy husbands.’) It is not uncommon to use a plural noun when speaking of God. It should be remembered that the points in the Hebrew are of no authority, and that all the change demanded here

Ezekiel 20:32-44 — will not allow them to become as the pagan, but this will only subject them to severer trial and stricter rule.Ezekiel 20:33The expressions “a mighty hand, stretched out arm” carry back the thoughts to Egyptian bondage Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 5:15; but then it was for deliverance, now for judgment “with fury poured out.”Ezekiel 20:35The wilderness of the people - A time of probation will follow, as before in the wilderness of Sin, so in the “wilderness of the nations” among whom they will

Daniel 2:16 — monarch, but that he went into the palace, and through the interposition of some high officer of court who had access to the sovereign, desired of him that he would give him time, and that he would make it known. It would rather appear, from Daniel 2:24-25, that the first direct audience which he had with the king was after the thing was made known to him in a night vision, and it would scarcely accord with established Oriental usages that he should go immediately and unceremoniously into the royal presence.

Daniel 7:3 — usually by some animal which was in a manner peculiar to the land that was symbolized, or which abounded there. Thus in Isaiah 27:1, leviathan, or the dragon, or crocodile, is used to represent Babylon. See the note at that passage. In Ezekiel 29:3-5, the dragon or the crocodile of the Nile is put for Pharaoh; in Ezekiel 32:2, Pharaoh is compared to a young lion, and to a whale in the seas. In Psalms 74:13-14, the kingdom of Egypt is compared to the dragon and the leviathan.So on ancient coins,

Hosea 14:4 — neither continued they steadfast in His covenant. They turned back and tempted God. They kept not His testimonies, but turned back and fell way like their forefathers, starting aside like a broken bow” Psalms 78:12, Psalms 78:37, Psalms 78:42, Psalms 78:57-58. Steadfastness to the end is the special gift of the Gospel. “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” Matthew 28:20; Matthew 16:18. And to individuals, “Jesus, having loved His own,

Hosea 9:13 — frequent punishment of sins of the flesh. Pride too brought Peninnah, the adversary of Hannah, low, even as to that which was the ground of her pride, her children. “The barren hath born seven, and she that hath many children is waxed feeble” 1 Samuel 2:5. So as to the soul, “pride deprives of grace.”

Hosea 9:6 — receive them, and shall gather them together, but only to one common burial, so that none should escape. So Jeremiah says, “They shall not be gathered nor buried” Jeremiah 8:2; and Ezekiel, “Thou shalt not be brought together, nor gathered” Ezekiel 29:5. “Memphis” is the Greek name for the Egyptian “Mamphta,” whence the Hebrew “Moph” ; or “Manuph,” whence the Hebrew “Noph” (Isaiah 19:13; Jeremiah 2:16; Jeremiah 44:1; Jeremiah 46:14; Ezekiel 30:13 ff). It was at this time the capital of Egypt, whose

Amos 7:8 — city. It is the strength and defense of the whole people, whatever held it together, and held out the enemy. As in the vision to Belshazzar, the word “Tekel,” He “weighed,” was explained, “Thou art weighed in the balances and art found wanting” Daniel 5:27, so God here applies the plumbline, at once to convict and to destroy upon conviction. In this Judgment, as at the Last Day, God would not condemn, without having first made clear the justice of His condemnation. He sets it “in the midst of” His

Nahum 1:7 — “The Lord knoweth them that are His” 2 Timothy 2:19. God speaks of this knowledge also in the past, of His knowledge, when things as yet were not, “I have known thee by name;” or of loving kindness in the past, “I knew thee in the wilderness” Hosea 13:5, “you alone have I known of all the families of the earth” Amos 3:2, its contrariwise our Lord says, that He shall say to the wicked in the Great Day, “I never knew you” Matthew 7:23. That God, being what He is, should take knowledge of us, being what

Zephaniah 3:12 — world and the things despised” 1 Corinthians 1:27-28 who bore the very title of their Master, “the poor and needy; poor in Spirit” Psalms 41:1; poor also in outward things, since “they who had lands, sold them and they had all things common” Acts 2:44-45; Acts 4:32, Acts 4:35. They were afflicted above measure outwardly in the (Acts 8:1; Acts 9:2, Acts 9:13-14; Acts 12:1-2; Acts 13:50; Acts 14:5, Acts 14:22; Acts 22:0; etc. Romans 8:17, Romans 8:35-36; Romans 12:14; 1Co 9:19; 2 Corinthians 1:8-9; 2

Zechariah 10:11 — “When thou walkest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not oveflow thee. And shall smite the waves in the sea” Isaiah 43:2, as in Isaiah, “The Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea” Isaiah 11:15. The image is from the deliverance of Egypt: yet it is said, that it should not be any exact repetition of the miracles of Egypt; it would be as the Red Sea Exodus 14:10, Exodus 14:12, which would as effectually shut them in, and in presence of which

Zechariah 10:6 — corpse.” God will not clothe with a righteousness, which He does not impart. He restores to the penitent all his lost graces, as though he had never forfeited them, and cumulates them with the fresh grace whereby He converts him (see vol. i. on Joel 2:25, pp. 192, 193). It is an entire re-creation. “They shall be, as though I had not cast them off.” “I will settle you as in your old estates, and will do good, more than at your beginnings, and ye shall know that I am the Lord” Ezekiel 36:11.For I am

Zechariah 10:8 — confession at their yearly prosperity, the offering of the basket of first-fruits; “A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went into Egypt and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous” Deuteronomy 26:5. The Psalmist dwelt upon it. “He increased His people greatly, and made them stronger than their enemies” Psalms 105:24. It became then one of the resemblances between the first deliverance and the last. Dionysius: “For the Apostles and others converted

Matthew 5:3 — quarter it may come.Poor in spirit - Luke says simply, Blessed are the poor. It has been disputed whether Christ meant the poor in reference to the things of this life, or to the humble. The gospel is said to be preached to the poor, Luke 4:18; Matthew 11:5. It was predicted that the Messiah would preach to the poor, Isaiah 61:1. It is said that they have special facilities for being saved, Matthew 19:23; Luke 18:24. The state of such persons is therefore comparatively blessed, or happy. Riches produce

Mark 12:28-34 — information. Jesus answered it in the spirit of kindness, and commended the conduct of the man.Mark 12:29Hear, O Israel! - This was said to call the attention of the Jews to the great importance of the truth about to be proclaimed. See Deuteronomy 6:4-5.The Lord our God ... - Literally, “Yahweh, our God, is one Yahweh.” The other nations worshipped many gods, but the God of the Jews was one, and one only. יהוה Yahweh was undivided; and this great truth it was the design of the separation of the Jewish

John 3:16 — Man had no claim on him; it was a gift - an undeserved gift. He gave him up to extreme sufferings, even the bitter pains of death on the cross. It was for all the world. He tasted “death for every man,” Hebrews 2:9. He “died for all,” 2 Corinthians 5:15. “He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world,” 1 John 2:2. That he gave - It was a free and unmerited gift. Man had no claim: and when there was no eye to pity or arm to save, it pleased God to give his Son into the hands of men to die

Acts 2:15 — following:(1) It was the hour of morning worship, or sacrifice. It was highly improbable that, at an hour usually devoted to public worship, they would be intoxicated.(2) It was not usual for even drunkards to become drunk in the daytime, 1 Thessalonians 5:7, “They that be drunken are drunken in the night.”(3) The charge was, that they had become drunk with wine. Ardent spirits, or alcohol, that curse of our times, was unknown. It was very improbable that so much of the weak wine commonly used in Judea

Acts 2:32 — who were present, and who were ready to attest it in any manner. The matter which was to be proved was that Jesus was seen alive after he had been put to death. The apostles were appointed to bear witness of this. We are told by Paul 1 Corinthians 15:6 that he was seen by more than five hundred brethren, that is, Christians, at one time. The 120 assembled on this occasion were doubtless part of the number, and were ready to attest this. This was the proof that Peter alleged; and the strength of

Acts 5:5 — the charge came upon him unexpectedly and terribly, like a bolt of thunder.Fell down - Greek: Having fallen down.Gave up the ghost - This is an unhappy translation. The original means simply “he expired,” or “he died.” Compare the notes on Matthew 27:50. This remarkable fact may be accounted for in this way:It is evidently to be regarded as a “judgment” of God for the sin of Ananias and his wife. It was not the act of Peter, but of God, and was clearly designed to show his abhorrence of this sin.