Bible Commentaries

2 Kings 1:15 — ELIJAH’S DEFIANCE OF AHAZIAH ‘And the angel of the Lord said unto Elijah, Go down with him.’ 2 Kings 1:15 I. Ahab was succeeded by his son Ahaziah, and Ahaziah is one of those shadowy monarchs who make little impression upon history. In Jewish history the name of Ahaziah has little charm or brightness for the student. There are bad kings who impress

2 Kings 19:1 — HELP FROM THE SANCTUARY ‘When king Hezekiah heard it … he … went into the house of the Lord.’ 2 Kings 19:1 The first thing is that we should accept the Mastery of Jesus. It is to His disciples that He brings peace. Are we disciples? And the second thing is the resolution to live one day at a time. ‘Be not anxious for the morrow,’ for, after all, it is

2 Kings 19:37 — THE DEATH OF SENNACHERIB ‘As he was worshipping in the house of Nisroch his god … his sons smote him with the sword.’ 2 Kings 19:37 If we consider (1) the character of Sennacherib’s life, and compare with that (2) the character of his death, we shall discover both the reason and the instruction of the text. I. The character of his life.—Two things had distinguished it towards

2 Kings 4:40 — host. They gave him their best, full of death. He gave them life in return. Nor does the principle fail of any one who really receives Christ in his heart. ‘I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me.’ —Rev. W. S. Lewis. Illustrations (1) ‘Death in the pot! It is often with spiritual food as it is with bodily food; it looks as if it were healthful and nourishing, i.e. the words are beautiful and attractive, and yet there is soul-poison in it, which is destructive, if we are not on our

Psalms 23:4 — whole life is ‘hid with Christ in God.’ And where He is I must be. How safe! ‘Bound in the bundle of life!’ And what can ever divide us? Some things will fade, and some will go; but this is for ever and ever. —The Rev. Jas. Vaughan. Illustrations (1) ‘A counterpart to Psalms 6, as the waters of Siloah that go softly to the well of Marah. It has a long history where it sparkles to the open daylight, and it would have a longer still if we could follow it into all its quiet resting-places in hidden

Psalms 63:1 — MAN’S RELATION TO GOD ‘O God, Thou art my God.’ Psalms 63:1 Wherever man is found he builds two things—he builds a hearth, the centre of his social and individual life, and he builds an altar, the symbol of that tendency in him which directs his thoughts and his heart towards God. Wherever you touch the history

Jeremiah 8:7 — of Christ. He teaches that we come, the glories of dawn tinging the soul’s wings, from God, into the shadowed house of life, and thence emerge into the sun’s noontide splendour. Birds of passage are we all; yes, but we follow the sun. Illustrations (1) ‘If we behold such examples in nature we ought surely to be ashamed that irrational creatures are so willing and obedient, and do that for which they are created, but we men (who were made in His image and sealed with the Holy Ghost on the day of redemption)

Lamentations 3:38-40 — hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens, he reminds us of the proper method to be observed in prayer, namely, sincere confession of sin and repentance must precede our petitions. For we know that God does not hear impenitent sinners (St. John 9:31). This method God Himself also has taught us to observe, since He says in Isaiah 1:15, If ye make many prayers, I will not hear you. Why! For your hands are full of blood. But He immediately adds good counsel: Wash and make yourselves clean, put away

Hosea 14:8 — EPHRAIM FORSAKING IDOLS ‘Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have beard him, and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From Me is thy fruit found.’ Hosea 14:8 These are the last words of Hosea’s prophecy. They sum up his whole hopes for his people. They are somewhat difficult of understanding, from the perplexity in which the frequent occurrence of the word ‘I’ involves us. But it is quite clear, I think,

Matthew 19:16 — THE CALL TO YOUTH ‘Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?’ Matthew 19:16 Even the most superficial reader of the New Testament can scarcely fail to remark the attitude adopted by our Blessed Lord towards all young people. I. The young man’s characteristics.—Our Blessed Lord’s whole heart is filled with a yearning love

Matthew 22:37 — count their business, their position, their holiday, their appearance, their schemes as the important things. These absorb their thoughts. Triviality hides God, triviality is the modern equivalent word for worldliness. —Canon Barnett. Illustrations (1) ‘Mazzini, alone—as he tells us in his autobiography—with the two greatest things in nature, the sky and the sea, felt the presence of God, whose will was the redemption of Italy. Mazzini, in the strength of that knowledge, gave himself to serve his

Mark 1:13 — THE MINISTRY OF ANGELS ‘And the angels ministered unto Him.’ Mark 1:13 The doctrine of the Ministry of Angels is one which appeals strongly to our religious sentiment. We delight to think that ‘God’s Messengers of Love’ are always about us; that—it may be—each individual soul is the special care of one particular heavenly

Mark 10:14 — THE FRIEND FOR LITTLE CHILDREN ‘Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.’ Mark 10:14 This is inexpressibly touching; it is one of the most beautiful passages in the life of our Blessed Lord. I. Jesus loves little children.—Rightly has the Church inserted this narrative into her service for the Public Baptism of Infants as her

Mark 9:2 — Transfiguration has been called the dividing line in the life of Jesus Christ. From that mountain He descended with painful steps into the valley of the dark shadow. But was He not more royal upon Calvary than upon Hermon? —Bishop Welldon. Illustrations (1) ‘There are incidents in the Divine story which cannot be satisfactorily explained except by supposing that it was the Divinity bursting forth which compelled the immediate result. It was so in the instant obedience which the first followers of our

Luke 1:10 — THE CHURCH’S POWER ‘And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.’ Luke 1:10 Both the parents of John, Zacharias and Elizabeth, were of the family of the Hebrew priesthood. For a long time the ministrations of this great sacerdotal order in the Temple service at Jerusalem had been distributed among twenty-four courses of

Luke 12:15 — A MAN’S LIFE ‘A man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.’ Luke 12:15 A man’s life! What a marvellous gift! Wherefore should a living man complain, though he be stripped of everything else, if there is left to him that wonderful thing called life? I. In itself.—A man’s life, capable of almost infinite happiness,

Luke 3:1-2 — THE WORD OF GOD ‘Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar … the word of God came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness.’ Luke 3:1-2 Jewish religionism, as expressed in its decadent representatives, had opportunity afterwards of expressing what they thought of John, and a Herod killed him. And yet here with John in the desert, and not there with the great ones of the earth, was

Luke 8:12 — SATAN’S EVIL WORK ‘Then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.’ Luke 8:12 Let us translate the parable a little into modern circumstances. Here is, let us say, a worthy, respectable person—regular in public worship, whatever he may be in private. He has joined, or seemed to join, more or less attentively, in a thoroughly

1 Samuel 6:4 — THE TALISMANS ‘Five golden emerods, and five golden mice.’ 1 Samuel 6:4 Instead of reading, ‘Ye shall make images of your emerods and images of your mice,’ we ought to read, ‘Ye shall make talismans of your emerods and talismans of your mice.’ We get the word ‘talisman’ from the Arabic. The original meaning

2 Samuel 15:6 — THE STEALER OF HEARTS ‘Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.’ 2 Samuel 15:6 I. Absalom shows us the wickedness of selfish ambition.—Ambition is right when one seeks honestly to excel in the way of duty. An artist may strive to be the best artist in the world. A merchant may seek to be the best merchant in his town. A farmer