Bible Commentaries

Genesis 13:7 — (7) The Perizzite.—We find mention in the Bible both of Perazites, translated villages, in 1 Samuel 6:18, Esther 9:19; and of Perizzites, who are sometimes opposed to the Canaanites, as here and in Genesis 34:30, and sometimes described as one of the

1 Kings 4:9 — (9) The second division included the territory in the maritime plain to the north-west of Judah; assigned to Dan, but in all the earlier history held, with perhaps a few exceptions, by the Philistines. The cities Shaalbim, Elon, and Beth-shemesh, or

1 Chronicles 1:13-16 — THE CITY ZIDON AND THE TEN RACES OF CANAAN (1 Chronicles 1:13-16). (13) Canaan begat Zidon his firstborn.—Or, in modern phrase, Zidon is the oldest city of Canaan. It is usually mentioned along with Tyre, the ruling city in later times. Sennacherib

1 Chronicles 26:28 — (28) And all that Samuel the seer.—The enumeration of those who had dedicated spoil is resumed from 1 Chronicles 26:26. The seer (rô’èh), the ancient term for prophet (nâbî’). 1 Samuel 9:9. And whosoever had dedicated any thing.—These words point to

1 Chronicles 28:20 — (20) And David said to Solomon his son.—The conclusion of the speech begun in 1 Chronicles 28:9-10, and interrupted by the transfer of the plans and designs (1 Chronicles 28:11-19). Be strong and of good courage.—So 1 Chronicles 22:13. “And do” is added

1 Chronicles 4:4 — (4) And Penuel the father of Gedor.—Penuel occurs as a trans-Jordan town in Judges 8:8, and elsewhere. Here a Judean town or clan is meant. Gedor.—See 1 Chronicles 2:51, and Note; Joshua 15:58. Now the ruin called Jedur. Ezer the father of Hushah.—Ezer

1 Chronicles 4:5-7 — FAMILIES THAT CAME OF ASH-HUR (1 Chronicles 4:5-7). (5) And Ashur the father of Tekoa.—See 1 Chronicles 2:24, and Notes. If Ashur means the Hurites, the two wives, Helah and Naarah, may designate two settlements of this great clan. (6) Hepher.—A district

2 Chronicles 21:7 — (7) The Lord would not destroy the house of David . . .—An exegetical (not arbitrary, as Thenius asserts) expansion of “The Lord would not destroy Judah, for the sake of David his servant” (Kings). The covenant that he had made with David.—Literally,

Isaiah 56:6 — (6) Also the sons of the stranger . . .—Proselytes also were to share in the blessings of the wider covenant. The words “to serve him” have been referred to some menial offices like that of the Nethinim, “hewers of wood and drawers of water” (Joshua

Jeremiah 40:8 — (8) Then they came to Gedaliah.—Of the captains thus named, Ishmael, “of the seed royal” (we have no date for determining his precise position in the line of successors) (Jeremiah 41:1), is prominent in the history of the next chapter, Johanan (the

Jeremiah 7:31 — (31) High places.—Not the same word as in Jeremiah 7:29, but bamoth, as in the “high places” of Baal, in Numbers 22:41; Numbers 23:3, the Bamoth-baal of Joshua 13:17. The word had become almost technical for the mounds, natural or (as in this passage)

Ezekiel 9:1 — (1) He cried also . . . with a loud voice.—The pronoun refers to the same Being as throughout the previous chapter. His nature is sufficiently shown by the prophet’s address to Him in Ezekiel 9:8 : “Ah, Lord God!” The “loud voice” was to give emphasis

Numbers 1:53 — (53) That there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel.—The word kezeph (wrath) is used to denote some immediate visitation of the hand of God, as, e.g., the plague. Thus, after the plague which broke out in consequence of the sin

Deuteronomy 31:9-13 — Deuteronomy 31:9-13. MOSES RESIGNS HIS CHARGE AS LAWGIVER TO THE PRIESTS. (9-11) And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests . . . And . . . commanded them, saying . . . thou shalt read.—This must be distinguished from the deliverance

Deuteronomy 8:15 — (15) The rock of flint.—The rock in Horeb is called tsûr; the rock smitten in Kadesh, selagh. The first word conveys the idea of “hardness”; the other is rather a “cliff,” or “height,” and suggests the idea of inaccessibility. In Numbers 20:10, the

John 9:24 — (24) Then again called they the man that was blind.—He had not been present during the interview with his parents. They now wish him to believe that they have ascertained from his parents either that he was not their son, or that he was not really born

Joshua 15:5 — (5) Their border in the north quarter.—This can be followed with the Ordnance Survey of Palestine, and is described by Conder in the following way:—“It started from the Jordan mouth, but did not apparently follow the river, as Beth Arabah (unknown)

Judges 12:8 — (8) Ibzan.—Nothing more is known of Ibzan than is detailed in these three verses. The notion that Ibhtsam (אבצו) is the same as Boaz (בֹּ֫עַז) has nothing to support it. Of Beth-lehem.—Usually assumed, as by Josephus (Antt. v. 7, § 13), to be Bethlehem

Judges 17:7 — (7) A young man.—Later on in the story we, as it were incidentally, make the astonishing discovery that this young man was no other than a grandson of Moses. Out of Beth-lehem-judah.—So called to distinguish it from the Bethlehem in Zebulon (Joshua

Judges 6:11 — (11) There came an angel of the Lord.—It is obviously absurd to suppose, as some have done, that a prophet is intended, like the one in Judges 6:8. There the word is Nabi, here it is Maleak-Jehovah, as in Judges 2:1. Josephus, when he says that “a phantasm