Bible Commentaries

Psalms 139:15-16 — far from human view as if he were in the depths of the earth. His "unformed substance" is his embryo. The Lord’s book is the book of the living. David said God predetermined the length of his life before birth. In view of Psalms 139:1-4, this probably included his activities as well. God’s knowledge of all things actual and possible-His omniscience-does not mean mankind’s choices are only illusions. God knows what we will do, even though He gives us freedom to make decisions

Proverbs 9:13-18 — 9:13-18 Proverbs 9:1-6 personify wisdom in the figure of a lady preparing a feast and issuing invitations. Proverbs 9:13-18 personify folly in the guise of a harlot doing the same thing. The contrasts between these sections are full of nuances. Proverbs 9:4; Proverbs 9:16 are almost identical invitations. The end of this book contains another picture of a wise woman (Proverbs 31:10-31). In view of what God has revealed so far about wisdom, any person can determine just how wise or how foolish he or she

Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 — 4. Wise behavior in view of the uncertain future 11:1-6 "At last the Teacher is approaching the climax of his book. We cannot see God’s whole plan, and there is nothing in this world that we can build on so as to find satisfaction or the key

Isaiah 14:1-2 — The focal point of this oracle against Babylon is Israel’s security and future after this judgment. These verses summarize what Isaiah later recorded in more detail in chapters 40-66. Earlier Isaiah predicted that Israel would experience defeat and captivity. After that Yahweh would have compassion on her, choose her again for blessing, as He had following the Exodus (Exodus 19:4-6), and resettle her in her own land. Consequently

Isaiah 14:3-4 — Isaiah now related the coming destruction of Babylon’s king. After Yahweh gave Israel rest following her captivity, she would taunt (Heb. mashal, bring to light the truth about) Babylon’s proud ruler who had formerly taunted her (Isaiah 14:3-4 a; cf. Revelation 18). His death would be an occasion for joy, not sorrow. In view of the description that follows, Isaiah evidently did not describe one particular past king of Babylon, but ascribed traits of many kings of Babylon to this representative

Isaiah 38:1 — in order, because he would not recover from his illness but die (cf. 2 Samuel 17:23; 1 Kings 2:1-9). Sometimes what God announced through His prophets seemed inevitable, but when His people prayed it became negotiable (cf. Genesis 32:26; Exodus 32:7-14; James 4:2).

Isaiah 42:19 — It is the servant of the Lord, and of all people-Israel (cf. Isaiah 41:8-16)-that was blind and deaf. How ironic it was that God’s messenger to the world, the one that He had brought into covenant relationship with Himself, was blind and deaf, blinder and deafer than any other. Israel, above all others, needed to

Isaiah 42:9 — "Behold" concludes this passage as it began it, forming an inclusio (cf. Isaiah 42:1). The former things that God had predicted through the prophets-that had come to pass already-provided assurance that the new things that Yahweh just revealed, about Cyrus and Messiah, would also happen. Another view is that the former things are

Isaiah 46:3-4 — Addressing the remnant (house) of His people, Yahweh reminded the Judahites that He had carried Israel (as a burden sometimes) throughout her history (cf. Isaiah 63:9; Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 1:31; Deuteronomy 32:11; Psalms 28:9), and He would continue to do so. This, of course, is the opposite of what the Babylonians had to do to their idols (Isaiah 46:1-2). The Israelites had never carried Him, but it was He, and only He,

Isaiah 51:22 — Obviously the Jews have experienced worse persecution in recent history than they did during the Babylonian exile: the German holocaust, the Russian pogroms, etc. And they will undergo the worst trials of their history in the Tribulation (cf. Jeremiah 30:4-7). I take it that God meant that He would not punish them as He had because He would provide the Servant to drink the cup of His wrath for His people. They would not have to suffer in the future as they had in the past because God would provide a Savior

Isaiah 56:1 — say to Isaiah’s audience: "Thus says the LORD." Since His salvation was about to appear, in return from captivity and in the atoning work of the Servant, His people should practice justice and righteousness (cf. Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; Titus 3:8). They had a responsibility beyond just believing His promises (chs. 54-55). Notice that practicing justice and righteousness does not accomplish salvation. They should be its consequence; they cannot be its cause (cf. Romans 12:1-2). "We

Isaiah 6:13 — tenth of the nation would survive. The Lord would take His tithe from among the people. But the land would again face judgment. This tenth probably refers to the remnant left in the land when Nebuchadnezzar took the majority captive to Babylon (2 Kings 24:14). When the nation was thoroughly cut down and burned, there would be a little spiritual life in it that would eventually sprout. This happened when a small number of godly exiles under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and Ezra returned to

Isaiah 62:5 — Himself would be Israel’s bridegroom and would rejoice over her as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride. "In all that Israel was to endure, what a source of comfort God’s pet name for them: ’My-Delight-Is-in-Her’ (Isaiah 62:4) must have been. It is still true today. When circumstances and failure and blighted hopes combine to convince us that our name is ’Forsaken,’ that is the hour to hear the whisper of the Bridegroom to his Bride (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians

Jeremiah 25:15 — instructed Jeremiah to take from His hand, figuratively, a cup (or flagon) of His wrath, and to cause all the nations-to whom the Lord would send him-to drink from it. The cup is a common figure for the wrath of God in Scripture (cf. Jeremiah 13:12-14; Jeremiah 49:12; Jeremiah 51:7; Job 21:20; Psalms 60:3; Psalms 75:8; Isaiah 51:17; Isaiah 51:21-22; Lamentations 4:21; Ezekiel 23:31-34; Habakkuk 2:16; Mark 10:39; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42; John 18:11; Revelation 14:8; Revelation 14:10; Revelation 16:19;

Jeremiah 33:14 — coming’) is not, however, to be looked for in the immediate time of the return from the Captivity. Only in a limited and preliminary way were these promises fulfilled in Zerubbabel and Sheshbazzar after the Captivity (cf. Ezra 1:8; Ezra 2:2; also Ezra 2:40-54; Ezra 8:15-20). Ultimately, they are combined in the highest sense in Christ (cf. Psalms 110:4) and are yet to be fulfilled in the reign of Messiah on earth." [Note: Feinberg, p. 591. See also Kaiser, "Evidence from . . ." pp. 114-16;

Ezekiel 12:1-2 — Israel, were rebellious against Him (cf. Ezekiel 2:3-8). Their blindness to the things that they saw and their deafness to His words, after over a year of Ezekiel’s ministry, were the result of their rebellious condition (cf. Deuteronomy 29:1-4; Isaiah 6:9-10; Jeremiah 5:21; Matthew 13:13-15; Mark 8:18; John 12:39-40; Acts 28:26-27). "Sin blinds the heart and mind. Like Samson, who could not see that his chosen path was leading to the loss of his ministry, the sinner does not see the

Ezekiel 3:25 — there. [Note: Dyer, "Ezekiel," p. 1233.] Another explanation, which I prefer, is that binding with ropes here is a figurative expression meaning confining; God would keep him at home, though not necessarily by using physical ropes (cf. Ezekiel 4:8). [Note: C. F. Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel , 1:65; Feinberg, p. 30.] "The Jewish people ’bound’ Ezekiel in the sense that their sins made it necessary for him to remain home in silence until God gave him

Ezekiel 30:17-19 — On or Aven (Gr. Heliopolis), a major religious center in Lower Egypt, and Pi-beseth (Gr. Bubastis), another capital city 40 miles northeast of modern Cairo, would also fall in the war, and the Egyptian women would go into captivity. It would also be a dark day for Tehaphnehes (Hanes, Gr. Daphne), a fortress town and residence of the Pharaohs (Isaiah 30:4; Jeremiah 2:16;

Ezekiel 47:8-9 — The man explained that the river continued east and emptied into the Arabah, the Jordan valley, and eventually into the Dead Sea. Presently this involves a drop in elevation of over 3,700 feet (from the temple mount at 2,430 feet above sea level to the Dead Sea at 1,290 feet below sea level). These waters purified the waters of the Dead Sea and made it a live sea. The Dead Sea presently contains 24-26 percent minerals compared with normal seawater that contains 4-6 percent.

Daniel 4:19 — Daniel’s initial reluctance to tell the king the interpretation must have been due to the bad news itself, or to the potentially harmful consequences to Daniel for telling it to the king. The AV translation "for one hour" (Daniel 4:19) describes a brief period of time better rendered "for a while" (NASB, et al.). Daniel had not hesitated to interpret the king’s first dream (Daniel 2:27-28). Sensing Daniel’s uneasiness, Nebuchadnezzar encouraged the prophet