Bible Commentaries

Exodus 30:3 — (3) Thou shalt overlay it with pure gold.—Next to the Ark of the Covenant the most holy article of furniture contained either in the sanctuary or in its court was the altar of incense. It symbolised prayer in its general use (Psalms 141:2; Luke 1:10),

1 Kings 7:48 — (48) The altar of gold.—The altar of gold (1 Kings 6:20; 1 Kings 6:22) is the altar of incense. On it (see Exodus 30:1-10) incense was to be burnt morning and evening. The horns of the altar were to be touched with the blood of the sin offering (Leviticus

1 Chronicles 25:8 — (8) And they cast lots, ward against ward.—Rather, And they cast lots of charge, that is, for determining the order in which each of the twenty-four guilds, or classes, should take charge of the services. (Comp, the LXX., κλήρους ἐφημερίων, “lots of

Leviticus 19:13 — (13) Thou shalt not defraud.—Here oppression by fraud and oppression by violence are forbidden. It is probably in allusion to this passage that John the Baptist warned the soldiers who came to him: “And he said to them, Do violence to no man, neither

Nahum 2:7 — (7) And Huzzab shall be led away captive. . . .—Better, And it is decided. She is laid bare. She is removed away. And her maidens moan, as with the cry of doves, smiting on their breasts. It is decided, or established—c’est un fait accompli. The Authorised

Malachi 4:6 — (6) And he shall turn . . . to their fathers.—This does not refer to the settlement of family disputes, such as might have arisen from marriage with foreign wives. “The fathers are rather the ancestors of the Israelitish nation, the patriarchs, and

Matthew 5:37 — (37) Let your communication.—One of the few instances in which our translators seem to have preferred a somewhat pedantic Latin word for the more literal and homely English speech. (Comp. Luke 24:17.) Yea, yea.—St. James reproduces the precept in James

Luke 1:3 — (3) Having had perfect understanding of all things.—Better, having traced (or investigated) all things from their source. The verb used is one which implies following the course of events step by step. The adverb which follows exactly answers to what

Luke 14:31 — (31) What king, going to make war against another king . .?—Here also there may have been a side-glance at contemporary history. The Tetrarch’s divorce of his first wife had involved him in a war with her father Aretas, an Arabian king or ethnarch (see

Luke 16:11 — (11) If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon.—Better, if ye were not, or, became not. Here the “true riches” stand in contrast with the vain, deceitful, unrighteous mammon, and answer to the true spiritual wealth of peace, pardon,

Luke 16:15 — (15) Ye are they which justify yourselves before men.—The character described is portrayed afterwards more fully in the parable of Luke 18:9-14. The word there used, “this man went down to his house justified rather than the other,” is obviously a reference

Luke 21:5-6 — (5, 6) And as some spake of the temple.—See Notes on Matthew 24:1-2; Mark 13:1-2, where the “some” are identified with the disciples. Goodly stones.—These were probably so called, either as being sculptured, or as being of marble, or porphyry, or other

John 11:16 — (16) Then (or, better, therefore) said Thomas, which is called Didymus.—The second of these names is the Greek translation of the first, which is Hebrew. Both mean “twin.” Both are found together again in John 20:24; John 21:2. Comp. Notes on the Catalogues

John 2:22 — (22) That he had said this unto them.—The better texts omit “unto them.” For the way in which the saying, hard to be understood, fixed itself in men’s minds, comp. Matthew 26:61; Matthew 27:40; Mark 14:58; Mark 15:29; Acts 6:13. It becomes in the mouth

Acts 5:9 — (9) To tempt the Spirit of the Lord—i.e., to try, or test, whether the Spirit that dwelt in the Apostles was really a discerner of the secrets of men’s hearts. The “Spirit of the Lord” is probably used in its Old Testament sense, as the Spirit of Jehovah.

Acts 9:2 — (2) And desired of him letters to Damascus.—We learn from 2 Corinthians 11:32-33, that Damascus was at this time under the government of Aretas, the king of Arabia Petræa. How it came to be so, having been previously under Vitellius, the Roman president

Colossians 4:10 — (10) Aristarchus my fellowprisoner.—Apparently a Jew, one “of the circumcision” But he is “of Thessalonica,” and is first named (in Acts 19:22) as dragged with Gaius into the theatre in the tumult at Ephesus; thence he accompanied St. Paul (Acts 20:4),

Hebrews 11:5 — (5) See death.—See Luke 2:26; Psalms 89:48 (John 8:51). And was not found . . . translated him.—An exact quotation from the LXX. (Genesis 5:24). The word rendered “translated” is a very simple one, denoting merely change of place; but nothing can equal

Judges 6:22 — (22) When Gideon perceived.—The last sign gave him a deeper sense than before of the grandeur of the messenger who had come to him. Alas !—There is no need to supply “I shall die” at the end of the clause, but that this was the apprehension in Gideon’s

2 Peter 3:2 — (2) By the holy prophets.—Appealed to before in 2 Peter 1:19. (Comp. Jude 1:17.) The coherence of the Epistle as a whole comes out strongly in this last chapter: 2 Peter 3:1 recalls 2 Peter 1:12-13; 2 Peter 3:17 recalls 2 Peter 1:10-12; 2 Peter 3:18