Bible Commentaries

2 Chronicles 23:4 — (4) This is the thing that ye shall do.—2 Kings 11:5 : “And he charged them saying, This is the thing,” (&c. There he charges the captains of the guard as being the leaders of the conspiracy. A third.—The third. So 2 Chronicles 23:5. “The third of you

Matthew 10:23 — (23) When they persecute you The counsel is noteworthy as suggesting at least one form of the wisdom of the serpent. Men were not to imagine that they were “enduring to the end “when, in the eagerness of their zeal, they courted martyrdom; but were

Matthew 25:1 — XXV. (1) Then shall the kingdom of heaven . . .—The three parables of this chapter appear here as in closest sequence to the great discourse of Matthew 24:0, and are as its natural conclusion. On the other hand, no trace of such parables being then

Matthew 26:26 — (26) As they were eating.—Again we must represent to ourselves an interval of silence, broken by the act or words that followed. The usual “grace” or blessing had been spoken at the beginning of the feast. Now, taking one of the cakes of unleavened

Matthew 5:12 — (12) Rejoice, and be exceeding glad.—The second word implies a glorious and exulting joy. The same combination is found, possibly as an actual echo of its use here, in 1 Peter 1:8; 1 Peter 4:13; Revelation 19:7. Your reward.—The teaching of Luke 17:10

Matthew 5:18 — (18) Verily.—The first occurrence in the Gospel of the word so common in our Lord’s teaching seems the right place for dwelling on its meaning. It is the familiar Amen of the Church’s worship—the word which had been used in the same way in that of the

Matthew 7:13 — (13) Enter ye in at the strait gate.—The figure was possibly suggested by some town actually in sight. Safed, the “city set on a hill,” or some other, with the narrow pathway leading to the yet narrower gate, the “needle’s eye” of the city, through

Luke 24:48 — (48) Ye are witnesses of these things.—Here again we have a link connecting the Gospel with the Acts, the key-note of which, especially in the earlier chapters, is that the disciples are to be “witnesses” of their Lord’s work and teaching, and above

John 10:24 — (24) Then came the Jews round about him.—The words mean literally, they encircled Him. It is again the impression of one who saw what he records. He remembers how they stood in a circle round our Lord, and watched Him with eager eyes as they asked their

John 13:8 — (8) Thou shalt never wash my feet.—For the word “never,” comp. Note on John 8:51. The incidental touches of character where individual apostles are named in this Gospel are in striking agreement with the more fully-drawn character of the other evangelists,

Acts 16:15 — (15) And when she was baptized, and her household.—It does not follow from St. Luke’s condensed narrative that all this took place on the same day. The statement that “her household” were baptised has often been urged as evidence that infant baptism

Acts 2:27 — (27) Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.—Literally, in Hades. (See Note on Matthew 11:23.) As interpreted by St. Peter’s words in his Epistle (1 Peter 3:19), the words conveyed to his mind the thought which has been embodied in the article of the “Descent

Acts 21:27 — (27) When the seven days were almost ended.—Literally, were on the point to be completed. St. Luke speaks of “the seven days” as a definite or known period. They cannot refer, as some have thought, either to the duration of the vow, which was never

Acts 25:13 — (13) King Agrippa and Bernice.—Each of the characters thus brought on the scene has a somewhat memorable history. (1) The former closes the line of the Herodian house. He was the son of the Agrippa whose tragic end is related in Acts 12:20-23, and was

Acts 7:2 — (2) Men, brethren, and fathers.—The discourse which follows presents many aspects, each of special interest. (1) It is clearly an unfinished fragment, interrupted by the clamours of the by-standers (Acts 7:51)—the torso, as it were, of a great apologia.

2 Thessalonians 1:8 — (8) In flaming fire.—Most critics agree to change the punctuation here, by omitting the comma after “angels” and inserting it after “fire.” The flaming fire here is not the instrument of the vengeance—i.e., hell-fire—but the common pictorial attribute

2 Thessalonians 2:3 — (3) Let no man . . . by any means.—“Whatever device they may adopt—spirit, letter, or what not—they are deceivers or deceived; do not be duped by them.” The form of warning is a mark of St. Paul’s style. (Comp. 1 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 5:6) For

Hebrews 11:4 — (4) A more excellent.—The Greek literally means that Abel’s sacrifice was “more than” Cain’s (comp. Hebrews 3:3, “more glory”; Matthew 6:25; Luke 11:32, et al.). The word “sacrifice” (which, as is the case with very many words in this chapter, is taken

James 3:6 — (6) And the tongue is a fire.—Better thus, The tongue—that world of iniquity—is a fire, to burn and destroy the fairest works of peace. The tongue is in our members that which defileth the whole body, and setteth the world aflame, and is set on fire

Revelation 14:4-5 — (4, 5) These are they . . .—The characteristics of the servants of the Lamb are given in this verse and the following. The first is purity: they are virgins. The expression can hardly be limited to the unmarried, as the 144,000 represent the wide society