Bible Commentaries

Genesis 26:3 — both inspiring and solemnising that I am the heir of such a heritage. Sparta is my birthplace—nay, not Sparta, but Zion; let me adorn it. It is a great responsibility, as well as a great benediction, to be the child of a good father. Illustration (1) ‘How varied are the contents of this chapter! It begins with the Divine voice and manifestation, and it seems as though Isaac also was to live on a great level, to the honour of God and the blessing of succeeding generations. But within a few verses

Genesis 26:5 — both inspiring and solemnising that I am the heir of such a heritage. Sparta is my birthplace—nay, not Sparta, but Zion; let me adorn it. It is a great responsibility, as well as a great benediction, to be the child of a good father. Illustration (1) ‘How varied are the contents of this chapter! It begins with the Divine voice and manifestation, and it seems as though Isaac also was to live on a great level, to the honour of God and the blessing of succeeding generations. But within a few verses

Exodus 13:18 — A ROUNDABOUT WAY ‘But God led the people about.’ Exodus 13:18 In the song of Moses we are reminded that God led His people about, instructed them, and kept them as the apple of His eye ( Deuteronomy 32:10); and in this we have a beautiful example of His tender consideration for His own. ‘He knoweth our frame;

Exodus 15:25 — BITTER WATERS SWEETENED ‘The waters were made sweet.’ Exodus 15:25 We have in our text a parable of the deep things of Christ. I. Israel was in those days fresh, from their glorious deliverance out of Egypt, they had sung their first national song of victory; they had breathed the air of liberty. This was their

Exodus 31:12-13 — SABBATH KEEPING ‘And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep,’ etc. Exodus 31:12-13 From the moment in which He created man, God required that one day in seven should be consecrated to Himself; and however this requisition may have formed the basis for much that is peculiar in the Jewish economy, the requisition itself must

Exodus 34:10 — THE RENEWED COVENANT ‘Behold, I make a covenant.’ Exodus 34:10 I. God undertook to do certain things for His people, ‘I will do marvels.’ What were they? Among these marvels were the passage of Jordan in face of the enemy, the taking of Jericho, and all those other supernatural signs by which God proved that

1 Kings 22:6-8 — DIVINE ENLIGHTENMENT AND GUIDANCE NEEDED ‘Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, about four hundred men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I forbear?’ etc. 1 Kings 22:6-8 As against Benhadad, Ahab was in the right when he sought to capture Ramoth-gilead. But he had also to reckon with God. Face to face with God, Ahab’s real position at this period of his life was that of a condemned criminal, and he therefore

2 Kings 17:23 — ‘O ISRAEL, THOU HAST DESTROYED THYSELF!’ ‘The Lord removed Israel out of His sight.’ 2 Kings 17:23 Why did this disaster befall the Northern kingdom? How was it Israel came by its overthrow? It is possible to answer thus—because Assyria was a conquering nation, and Israel lay in the path of its conquering advance, and as the weaker power it

Ezra 10:6 — VICARIOUS PENITENCE ‘He mourned because of the transgression of them.’ Ezra 10:6 I. An innocent yet penitent leader.—It is certainly worthy of remark that it is not narrated of Ezra that he, as we should expect, expressly and severely denounced the men married to strange wives, but that we are only told of his prayer and confession

Ezra 9:5 — only attitude in which any man can become a mediator. The passion of the whole movement is evidence of its reality. No man can really know the righteousness of God, and in its light see sin, and be quiet and calculating and unmoved. Illustrations (1) ‘Ezra speaks as the true priest. During the years which had passed since the first detachment of exiles had returned, though there had been no return to idolatry, there had been a large amount of intermarriage between the Jews and the people whom Nebuchadnezzar

Nehemiah 5:15 — VETO POWER ‘So did not I, because of the fear of God.’ Nehemiah 5:15 I. A new difficulty now presented itself.—This time it arose among the people themselves. The rich among them exacted usury from their poorer brethren to such an extent as to oppress and impoverish them. Perhaps nowhere in the story does the nobility

Job 6:1 — A TORTURED HEART ‘But Job answered and said,’ etc. Job 6:1 I. Job tries to justify the strong expressions he had made use of by describing the sharpness and bitterness of his pain.—As the animals only cry aloud when they are ill at ease from hunger, so his cryings were justified by his anguish. There is no

Leviticus 20:7-8 — of us; it is His Presence, by the Holy Spirit, within us. He made the Sabbath holy by resting in it; the Tabernacle holy by filling it; the Bush holy by shining in it; and He will make us holy by entering our hearts, and filling them. Illustration (1) ‘The holiness of saints depends upon no outward condition, requires no special gift of nature or of Providence, of understanding or wisdom, nay, I may say, of grace. It need not be shown in any one form; it does not require the largeness of any one

Numbers 14:11 — A PROVOKING PEOPLE ‘And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke Me? and how long will it be ere they believe Me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?’ Numbers 14:11 Nothing is more surprising to us at first reading than the history of God’s chosen people: it seems strange that they should have acted as they did, age after age, in spite of the miracles which were vouchsafed to them. I. Hard as it is to believe,

Deuteronomy 28:47-48 — independent of them. We may have this joy, though the body is racked with pain; we may have fulness of joy. In fact the joy of the Holy Ghost is quite distinct from natural joy. Henry Martyn, in his diary, bids us distinguish between these two. In Psalms 124, we read that the tongue of God’s people was filled with singing—the Hebrew is ‘with shouting.’ ‘Then said they’—when they heard the shouting—‘then said they among the heathen, The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.’ When

Deuteronomy 3:25 — herein: it was to be the theatre of the highest and holiest human association, under conditions most favourable to the most perfect development, and in an atmosphere of life which God’s benediction should make an atmosphere of bliss. Illustration (1)‘ “Let it suffice thee; speak no more; This Jordan thou shalt not pass o’er.” And yet, upon the Mount, these three, Moses, Elias, Christ, I see! Two roads to Canaan Thou hast given, One over Jordan, one from heaven.’ (2) ‘It looks so fair,

Judges 10:4 — UNEVENTFUL TIMES ‘Thirty sons that rode on thirty ass = colts.’ Judges 10:4 I. There were no serious questions, no thrilling problems, to engage Israel at this time: and therefore the people took notice of this trivial incident about the ass-colts. It was surely a sign of the monotony, the commonplace, the absence of high

1 Samuel 12:24 — A FORGOTTEN DUTY ‘Consider how great things He hath done for you.’ 1 Samuel 12:24 One of the great difficulties in the present day is to make time to consider. How are we to get at the truth about ourselves and our standing before God and men? Our text asks us to consider and see where we are. What is the test? How

2 Samuel 12:14 — OCCASION TO BLASPHEME ‘This deed.’ 2 Samuel 12:14 I. When we read the history of David’s fall, what surprises and perhaps somewhat perplexes us at the first is the apparent suddenness of it.—There seems no preparation, no warning. But if we look back to the first verse of the chapter preceding,

2 Samuel 15:19-21 — A SPECIMEN OF NOBLENESS ‘Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us? return to thy place, and abide with the king; for thou art a stranger, and also an exile,’ etc. 2 Samuel 15:19-21 I. We have in this passage a remarkable instance of the spirit of true patriotism, all the more remarkable because, in one sense, patriotism is not quite the word to apply to Ittai, for he was a stranger and an alien, though a naturalised Israelite.