Bible Commentaries

Genesis 4:17-24 — The descendants of Cain 4:17-24 "By virtue of being Cain’s descendants, the people named in the genealogy all inherit his curse. Thus the Cainite genealogy becomes part of the Yahwist’s account of man’s increasing sin." [Note: R. R. Wilson, Genealogy

Isaiah 15:5-9 — The Lord also expressed His grief over Moab’s coming judgment through the prophet (cf. Isaiah 21:3-4; Isaiah 22:4; Jeremiah 9:1). Isaiah took up God’s words in his own mouth and represented God’s thoughts and words by using the first person singular (cf. Isaiah 16:9). The Moabite refugees would move from place to place trying to find security.

Isaiah 23:11-12 — The Lord had stretched His hand over the sea in judgment, as He had over Egypt long ago (cf. Exodus 14:16; Exodus 15:4-6; Exodus 15:12). The sea was His province, not Tyre’s (cf. Jonah 1:3-4). He had made all kingdoms tremble by condemning the whole Gentile Canaan region to judgment. The Phoenician coastal cities would have no more joy, peace,

Jeremiah 3:1-4 — Yahweh’s call for His people’s repentance 3:1-4:4 A passionate plea for repentance follows logically and textually the indictment of God’s people for their sins (ch. 2). "There is a problem with free forgiveness. If you can always wipe the slate clean, how much does it matter what you

Ezekiel 3:12-15 — 4. The conclusion of the vision 3:12-15 "Ezekiel’s vision of God’s glory had provided the needed perspective for his task (Ezekiel 1:4 to Ezekiel 2:7). The message he was to deliver was provided by God (Ezekiel 2:8 to Ezekiel 3:11). Then

Acts 3:1-2 — was Herod’s temple, and the Jewish hour of prayer in view was 3:00 p.m., the other key prayer time for the Jews being 9:00 a.m. (cf. Acts 10:9; Acts 10:30; Daniel 6:10; Daniel 9:21; Judith 9:1). [Note: Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, 14:4:3.] The early Jewish Christians continued to follow their former habits of worship in Jerusalem. The lame man had been in his condition for over 40 years (Acts 4:22). Furthermore he had to be carried by others. His was a "hopeless case." The

Acts 8:5 — Stephen. This was Philip the evangelist who was one of the Seven (cf. Acts 6:5), not the Philip who was one of the Twelve. He travelled north from Jerusalem to Samaria and followed Jesus’ example of taking the gospel to the Samaritans (cf. John 4). The other Jews did not like the people who lived in this area and had no dealings with them (John 4:9). They regarded them as racial and religious half-breeds. They did so since their ancestors were Jews who had intermarried with the Gentiles whom

Ephesians 6:17 — The second main verb in this long sentence (Ephesians 6:14-20) is "take" or, better, "receive" or "accept" (Gr. dexasthe). In addition to standing firm, having received and having already put on four pieces of armor, we also need to receive and put on two more. Since Christians

Joshua 21:1-8 — The casting of lots 21:1-8 Probably the leaders identified the towns first and then assigned the various groups of Levites to particular cities by lot (Joshua 21:3-4). The priests (Aaron’s descendants) received 13 cities within the tribal territories of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin (Joshua 21:4). The rest of the Kohathites-Aaron was a descendant of Kohath-obtained 10 cities in Ephraim, Dan, and western Manasseh

Colossians 2:6 — particular, Paul encouraged his readers to continue following Christ in harmony with the sound teaching that had resulted in their conversion. [Note: See H. Wayne House, "The Christian Life according to Colossians," Bibliotheca Sacra 151:604 (October-December 1994):440-54.] His point was not that as the Colossians had become Christians by faith in Christ they should continue to walk by faith. This is clear from Paul’s word translated "received." It usually refers to the

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 — B. The Rapture 4:13-18 Paul next turned to another subject on which his readers needed instruction in view of their newness in Christ (cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:10). He outlined the immediate hope of his readers. He did this to explain that those of their number who had

2 Timothy 1:3-4 — basis of Paul’s encouragement in the first half of the epistle and are woven throughout the second half. They provide a personal look into Paul’s heart and reveal his love and concern for his good friend Timothy." [Note: Mounce, p. 468.] Paul undoubtedly prayed for Timothy often, and when he did he thanked God for his friend. Timothy had been one of Paul’s closest associates, and he was evidently still laboring in Ephesus (cf. 2 Timothy 4:19-20), the city where Paul had spent

James 5:12 — [James] means is that of all the manifestations of impatience in times of stress and affliction the most frequent is the taking of the Lord’s name in vain by the use of explosive utterances and hasty and irreverent oaths." [Note: Tasker, p. 124. Cf. Mayor, p. 167.] When we become impatient and lose self-control we tend to say things better left unspoken. These include swearing, abusing the Lord’s name, and appealing to heaven, earth, or whatever as confirmation that we are speaking

1 Peter 5:6 — affliction to touch Peter’s readers. The apostle urged them to submit to God’s working in their lives as to the skillful hand of a surgeon. He assured them that God would raise them up eventually better off for their suffering (cf. Luke 14:11; James 1:2-4). Peter had learned to submit to God’s hand on his own life, though at times he had not been as submissive as he should have been. The Old Testament writers used God’s hand as a symbol of discipline (Exodus 3:19; Exodus 6:1;

1 John 1:4 — "we" is probably editorial. "These things" refers to what John wrote in this epistle. Not only would his readers experience full joy, but so would John as the readers entered into and continued in intimate fellowship with God (cf. 3 John 1:4). Joy is the product of fellowship with God. When there is no joy, there is no fellowship (cf. John 15:11; John 16:24). In summary, John wrote as an apostolic eyewitness. He identified two dangers to readers that are still prevalent in the church today.

1 John 2:4 — profession in view, in the light of the context (1 John 1:6; 1 John 1:8; 1 John 1:10), is evidently another claim to having a close relationship with God, not a claim to being saved. [Note: See Zane C. Hodges, "Is God’s Truth in You? 1 John 2:4b," Grace Evangelical Society News 5:7 (July 1990):2-3.] If a person says he knows God intimately but is not obedient to the revealed will of God, he is a liar; he does not know God intimately, does not have a close relationship with God. Furthermore,

Revelation 13:14 — This power will make many earth-dwellers erroneously conclude that his authority is supreme. He will be able to produce some type of convincing likeness of Antichrist (cf. Revelation 13:15; Revelation 14:9; Revelation 14:11; Revelation 15:2; Revelation 16:2; Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:4), perhaps a statue (cf. Daniel 3:4-6) or even an android (cf. Revelation 13:15). The false prophet will be the beast’s "Minister of Propaganda."

Revelation 17:15 — The angel next helped John understand the identity of the waters (Revelation 17:1). Water is a common symbol for people in the Old Testament (e.g., Psalms 18:4; Psalms 18:16; Psalms 124:4; Isaiah 8:7; Jeremiah 47:2). The harlot exercises a controlling influence over the population of the world, both the faithful (cf. Revelation 5:9; Revelation 7:9) and the rebellious (cf. Revelation 10:11; Revelation 11:9;

Ruth 4:1-6 — A. The nearer kinsman’s decision 4:1-6 The gate of cities like Bethlehem was the place where people transacted official business (cf. Genesis 19:1; 2 Samuel 15:2-6; 1 Kings 22:10; Amos 5:10; Amos 5:12; Amos 5:15). "In ancient cities the ’gate’ was a short passageway

1 Samuel 23:24-29 — David in the wilderness of Maon 23:24-29 Maon stood about five miles south of Ziph in the wilderness of Judah. The "Arabah" describes the low-lying area that extends from Mt. Hermon to the Red Sea, including the Jordan Valley and Dead Sea regions. Jeshimon means "desert"