Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 3:12 — AN UNSPEAKABLE GIFT ‘Lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart.’ 1 Kings 3:12 As He is wont, God gave Solomon more than he asked. There is a difference between the favour that was sought and the boon which was granted. ‘The heart’ is the affections; ‘the understanding’ is the intelligent knowledge of any subject;

Nehemiah 1:4 — A PATRIOT’S PRAYER ‘I … fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven.’ Nehemiah 1:4 It was an evidence of Nehemiah’s piety that the news from Judah troubled him deeply. His mourning continued for four months. He fasted, as did also Daniel, Esther, Ezra. Distance from the city of Jerusalem did not lessen his grief. He had probably

Nehemiah 7:2 — faithful in a very little. You cannot, therefore, be put into positions where great faithfulness is required. What an epitaph to be written by the Spirit of God on this man’s tomb, ‘A faithful man, and one that feared God above many’! Illustrations (1) ‘Conscience plays a very important part in the affairs of men. We must shun an argument with our conscience as we would shun an argument with our judge. Bear in mind the old story of Dr. Adam Clarke, the famous commentator. When a lad he was apprenticed

Esther 6:1 — WHAT CAME OF A SLEEPLESS NIGHT ‘On that night could not the king sleep.’ Esther 6:1 I. It is hardly affirming too much to say that on the sleepless night of the Persian king was made to depend our rescue from everlasting death; at least, and undeniably, the restlessness of the king was one of those instruments through which God wrought

Job 40:1 — THE DIVINE ANSWER ‘The Lord answered Job.’ Job 40:1 I. Again Jehovah proceeds, and as at the commencement of the last, so now He charges Job to ‘gird up’ his ‘loins like a man.’—In each case there is in this introductory word the suggestion of God’s consciousness of man’s dignity. The things which He

Psalms 101:2 — THE HALLOWING OF FAMILY LIFE ‘When wilt Thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.’ Psalms 101:2 David’s subject in this psalm is the ordering and hallowing of family life by bringing it under the influences and sanctions of religion. I. That which strikes us first of all in this psalm is that the qualifications for continuing in the household

Psalms 123:2 — GOD’S FAITHFUL SERVANTS ‘Even so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God.’ Psalms 123:2 (Prayer Book Version) I. Whenever we see a master with a family of servants, we see a living parable of Almighty God and His Church; and out of their duties and behaviour to one another we may obtain much good instruction regarding our own behaviour

Psalms 16:3 — HIS DELIGHTS ARE WITH THE SONS OF MEN ‘All my delight is upon the saints, that are in the earth: and upon such as ercel in virtue.’ Psalms 16:3 (Prayer Book Version) The history of mankind, whether secular or religious, resolves itself ultimately into the history of a few individuals. God carries out His work of continuous redemption by the energy of the chosen few. Into their hearts He

Psalms 18:28 — LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS ‘The Lord my God shall make my darkness to be light.’ Psalms 18:28 (Prayer Book Version) There are three dark shadows which fall across every human life. I. There is, first of all, the shadow of sin.—It falls dark and thick upon the life of human beings. Sin is the transgression in will or in fact of the eternal

Psalms 44:14 — WHY DO GOD’S SAINTS SUFFER? ‘A byword among the heathen.’ Psalms 44:14 I. The contrast between the Old Testament position and the New—‘ For Thy sake we are slain’ ( Psalms 44:22). Here was the sting. It was in His service, and as His servants, that they suffered; and still He left them to their foes! So they argued

Psalms 84:10 — DELIGHT IN GOD’S HOUSE ‘A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand.’ Psalms 84:10 The psalm is probably one of those used by the pilgrims on their way to the Holy City on some festival occasion. Men had not learned the truth that God is a Spirit, and could be worshipped in spirit. Jerusalem was the place where men ought to worship,

Ezekiel 1:24-25 — LISTENING TO GOD IN THE SILENCE ‘They let down their wings. And there was a voice from the firmament.’ Ezekiel 1:24-25 I. Even the rustle of the wings of the cherubim must be silent when God speaks to us.—To listen to Him the sounds of heaven as well as those of earth need to be hushed. We fail to hear His message because of our multifarious attention to other

Amos 9:9 — His own hand, and pledges His word that not the least grain shall fall on the earth. I am so glad of that word, ‘not the least’ ; not even me, though less than the least of all saints, though having only the claim of being a sinner. Illustrations (1) ‘This prophecy about the sifting of Israel among the nations is the story of eighteen centuries of the Christian era. God seems to have cast away His people whom He foreknew. As the farmer throws up the grain against the wind, so has God sifted them,

Luke 1:74-75 — DELIVERANCE AND SERVICE ‘That He would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life.’ Luke 1:74-75 This promise is meant for us, and is to last all our life. God has sworn to give this blessing to those who have been delivered out of the hand of their enemies. Who are our enemies? I would sum them up under the five titles of sin, the flesh,

Luke 13:11-14 — THE UPLIFTING POWER OF THE GOSPEL ‘And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.… Immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.’ Luke 13:11-14 Luke dwells with peculiar sympathy on the tenderness of Christ. Our text is an illustration of the verse, ‘I am found of them that sought Me not.’ Here is grace, amazing grace, sovereign grace, grace much more abounding, as St. Paul would say.

Luke 17:1-2 — disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.’ Luke 17:1-2 Notice one or two applications of our Lord’s words— I. A life of selfish enjoyment can hardly escape being a life through which offence comes.—It is hard to live before others a life which is easier than theirs—more guarded and furnished with

Luke 2:13 — THE CHRISTMAS SONG ‘And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God.’ Luke 2:13 I. The heavenly host.—In making the great announcement one angel does not suffice. The soothing words of the herald angel being uttered, ‘Fear not,’ the assurance being given that he was a bearer to the shepherds of good tidings; the joy of the heavenly

1 Corinthians 11:31 — SELF-JUDGMENT ‘If we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.’ 1 Corinthians 11:31 God is the unerring Judge, but He would rather that men took the work of judgment into their own hands. I. Man’s heart and life must be judged.—That is taken for certain. The judge may be one or other, but judgment must be passed. (

1 Corinthians 15:57 — A SONG OF TRIUMPH ‘Thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.’ 1 Corinthians 15:57 It is in this high strain of triumph that the Apostle concludes his magnificent Hymn of the Resurrection. He had spoken of the Resurrection of Christ; first as a fact in history, and next as a moral and spiritual power; first, as

Joshua 4:20 — the feet of the priests had stood. It was to remind Israel from whence they had come, and the hole of the pit from which they had been digged. Ah! it is well to remember what the grace of God has done for us. ‘Such were some of you …’ Illustrations (1) ‘The rude circle of unhewn stones without inscription was, no doubt, exactly like the many prehistoric monuments found all over the world, which forgotten races have raised to keep in everlasting remembrance forgotten fights and heroes. It was a comparatively