Bible Commentaries

Exodus 25:10-22 — holiness of God as violated by sin." [Note: Unger’s Bible Dictionary, s.v. "Cherub," by Merrill F. Unger, p. 192.] They may have looked like winged human-headed lions. [Note: Youngblood, p. 122; cf. Kaiser, "Exodus," p. 455.] Josephus wrote that Moses saw these creatures around God’s throne when he was on Mt. Sinai. [Note: Josephus, 3:6:5. See John T. Bunn, "The Ark of the Covenant," Biblical Illustrator 9:4 (Summer 1983):50-53. Geoffrey Kind, "Where

1 Chronicles 22:1-19 — Chronicles 29:1-9. The writer provided another reason God did not permit David to build the temple himself. God wanted a man characterized by peace to build His house (1 Chronicles 22:8). David not only shed blood in obedience to God (1 Chronicles 14:10; 1 Chronicles 19:13), but he had also been guilty of excessive violence (cf. 2 Samuel 8:2; 2 Samuel 11:4; 2 Samuel 11:15). Solomon not only ruled in peaceful times, after David had subdued Israel’s enemies, but his name even relates to the

2 Chronicles 21:1-20 — E. Jehoram ch. 21 The events from Jehoram’s reign that the Chronicler selected present a classic example of the consequences that follow departing from Yahweh. The king violated God’s will by murdering his brothers (2 Chronicles 21:4) and practicing idolatry (2 Chronicles 21:6). "Jehoram is the first king of the Davidic line of whom the Chronicler’s judgment is totally negative." [Note: Williamson, 1 and 2 . . ., p. 303.] "There is both irony and retributive

2 Chronicles 9:29-31 — 4. Solomon’s death 9:29-31 The Chronicler omitted any reference to Solomon’s apostasy that resulted in the division of the kingdom (cf. 1 Kings 11:9-11). By doing so, he was not trying to whitewash Solomon’s record. The Book of Kings

Ezra 6:6-12 — Persian. ". . . Darius [the Persian] himself was a monotheist and an adherent of the new faith of Zoroastrianism, but it is not known whether this religious orientation had any effect on his policies this early in his reign." [Note: Vos, p. 49.] Impaling (Ezra 6:11) was a common method of execution in the Persian Empire (cf. Esther 7:9-10), and Darius practiced it. After he subdued a rebellion in Babylon, Darius impaled 3,000 rebels there. [Note: Herodotus, 2:3:159.] "Impalement was

Esther 9:1-19 — 105.] The absence of explicit reference in the text to God helping His people does not deny His help. Instead, it reflects the attitude of the Jews who chose to ignore God’s commands, through Isaiah and Jeremiah, to return to the land (Isaiah 48:20; Jeremiah 29:10; Jeremiah 50:8; Jeremiah 51:6; cf. Deuteronomy 28). They had pushed God aside in their lives, as Mordecai and Esther apparently had done to some extent. Nevertheless, God remained faithful to His promises, in spite of His people’s

Job 36:1-26 — dealings with man 36:1-26 The first four verses of chapter 36 introduce this speech. In them, Elihu again urged Job to pay attention to what he would say. He claimed that his words were true and that he himself was "perfect in knowledge" (Job 36:4). "In his defence [sic] of the righteousness of God, Elihu now develops his thought on the disciplinary meaning of suffering. God is great, but he does not despise men. The incorrigibly wicked he does not preserve, but in mercy he afflicts the

Psalms 119:9-16 — cleansing power of God’s Word 119:9-16 A person can cleanse his or her conduct by obeying the Word of God (Psalms 119:9). The writer testified that he had internalized and delighted in God’s Word to maintain moral purity (Psalms 119:10-14). He made it a practice to think about God’s revelation continually (Psalms 119:15-16). "The act of ’hiding’ God’s word is not to be limited to the memorization of individual texts or even whole passages but extends to a

Leviticus 19:19-32 — it; see Leviticus 19:19.)" [Note: Douglas Stuart, Ezekiel, p. 181.] God probably intended these practices to distinguish the Israelites from the Canaanites too. [Note: See Calum Carmichael, "Forbidden Mixtures," Vetus Testamentum 32:4 (September 1982):394-415.] "As God separated Israel from among the nations to be his own possession, so they must maintain their holy identity by not intermarrying with the nations (Deuteronomy 7:3-6)." [Note: Wenham, The Book . . ., pp.

Song of Solomon 1:1 — I. THE SUPERSCRIPTION 1:1 The writer of this book claimed to be Solomon. [Note: See Delitzsch, pp. 11-12, et al.] Solomon wrote 1,005 songs (1 Kings 4:32), and this book appears to be one of them (cf. Psalms 72; Psalms 127). "Which is Solomon’s" has led many interpreters to conclude that Solomon was the writer. Another interpretation follows. ""Here Solomon, as the king and

Numbers 11:1-3 — Israel’s rebellions against God; obdurate people tend to repeat the sins of the past. The first rebellion of the redeemed people came on the third day of marching toward the Mount of God after their miraculous crossing of the Sea of Reeds (Exodus 15:22-24). Now, three days out on their triumphal march to Canaan from Mount Sinai, they fall back into their complaining behavior. The pattern of ’three days’ in both cases shows both similarity of actions as well as an intemperate, impatient attitude

Numbers 19:1-10 — priest was to observe the slaying making sure the person in charge did it properly. This was a very important sacrifice. The sprinkling of the blood shows that this slaying was a sin offering. The animal died for the sin of the congregation (Numbers 19:4). The offerers burned every sin offering for the whole congregation, including this one, outside the camp (Numbers 19:5). This one provided cleansing from the contamination of death that the nation had contracted through the death of its people. The

Deuteronomy 25:5-10 — he ought to have occupied in relation to her and to his deceased brother, or to his paternal house; and the disgrace involved in this was still further heightened by the fact that his sister-in-law spat in his face." [Note: Keil and Delitzsch, 3:423.] The Israelites were to practice levirate marriage only in cases where the brothers had lived together (Deuteronomy 25:5) and the remaining brother was not already married. Living together meant living in the same area, not necessarily residing

Acts 15:16-18 — (during the Millennium) under which the Gentiles would seek the Lord. We should understand the "and" in Acts 15:17 in the sense of "even" (the epexegetical use of this conjunction). "A close examination of this passage [Acts 15:14-17] reveals that there is a progression of thought leading to James’ conclusion. First, God visits the Gentiles, taking from them a people for His name. In other words, God has promised to bless the Gentiles as well as Israel, but each in his

Judges 3:1-6 — 3:1-6 The purposes for which God allowed the Canaanites to live among the Israelites were four. He wanted to punish Israel for her apostasy (Judges 2:3), and He wanted to test the Israelites’ faithfulness to and love for Himself (Judges 2:22; Judges 3:4). He also wanted to give the new generation of Israelites experience in warfare (Judges 3:2), namely, how to conduct war (by depending on Yahweh), not just how to fight. Furthermore, God allowed some Canaanites to remain in the land so it would not

Revelation 6:17 — This "great day of their wrath" is the Tribulation, Daniel’s seventieth week (cf. Jeremiah 30:7; Daniel 12:1; Joel 2:2; Matthew 24:21). These people will not turn to God in repentance but from Him in terror (cf. Isaiah 2:19; Isaiah 2:21; Hosea 10:8; Luke 23:30). By the end of the sixth seal judgment, they will know that what they are experiencing is the outpouring of His wrath.

Ruth 2:8-13 — her. ". . . Boaz’s kindness toward Ruth simply reciprocated hers toward Naomi. He was, indeed, a true son of Israel: he treated foreigners kindly because Israel itself knew the foreigner’s life in Egypt." [Note: Hubbard, pp. 164-65. Cf. Atkinson, pp. 67-68.] Ruth 2:12 makes clear that Ruth was trusting in Yahweh and that her trust had become public knowledge in Bethlehem. Boaz used a figure of speech called a zoomorphism, comparing an aspect of God to an animal. The Hebrew

1 Samuel 11:1-5 — Estate owners never worked the land themselves. [Note: Marvin Chaney, "Systemic Study of the Israelite Monarchy," Semeia 37 (1986):61.] Furthermore he was willing to work hard. Thus he was not self-centered at this time (cf. 2 Corinthians 4:5).

1 Samuel 26:21-25 — David’s trust in God 26:21-25 Saul again confessed that he had sinned, as he had done when he had sacrificed at Gilgal (1 Samuel 26:21; cf. 1 Samuel 15:24; cf. 1 Samuel 15:30) and when David had spared his life in the cave (1 Samuel 24:17). Nevertheless he seems to have failed again to follow through with genuine repentance (cf. 1 Samuel 27:1). He also admitted that he had played the fool (similar to

1 Samuel 26:6-12 — also the symbol of Saul’s rule, similar to a scepter (cf. 1 Samuel 22:6). Abishai’s viewpoint was carnal. He concluded that because God had given David the upper hand he should use it to do away with his rival (1 Samuel 26:8; cf. 1 Samuel 24:4). David had used similar words when he promised to kill Goliath (cf. 1 Samuel 17:46), as had Saul in describing how he would kill David with his spear (cf. 1 Samuel 18:11). David believed, however, that since God had anointed Saul it was not his place