Bible Commentaries

Hosea 3:5 — 5. Afterward—after the long period ("many days," :-) has elapsed. return—from their idols to "their God," from whom they had wandered. David their king—Israel had forsaken the worship of Jehovah at the same time that they forsook their allegiance

Amos 5:27 — was not yet named as the place of their captivity. Stephen supplies this name. Their place of exile was in fact, as he states, "beyond Babylon," in Halah and Habor by the river Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes (2 Kings 17:6; compare here Amos 1:5; Amos 4:3; Amos 6:14). The road to Assyria lay through "Damascus." It is therefore specified, that not merely shall they be carried captives to Damascus, as they had been by Syrian kings (2 Kings 10:32; 2 Kings 10:33; 2 Kings 13:7), but, beyond that,

Amos 7:10 — Jeremiah 37:14). So the antitype Jesus was charged (Jeremiah 37:14- :); political expediency being made in all ages the pretext for dishonoring God and persecuting His servants (Jeremiah 37:14- :). So in the case of Paul (Acts 17:6; Acts 17:7; Acts 24:5). in the midst of . . . Israel—probably alluding to Amos' own words, "in the midst of . . . Israel" (Amos 7:8), foretelling the state's overthrow to the very center. Not secretly, or in a corner, but openly, in the very center of the state, so as to

Micah 1:7 — 7. all the hires—the wealth which Israel boasted of receiving from her idols as the "rewards" or "hire" for worshipping them (Hosea 2:5; Hosea 2:12). idols . . . will I . . . desolate—that is, give them up to the foe to strip off the silver and gold with which they are overlaid. she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot—Israel gathered

Habakkuk 2:1 — themselves, awaiting the revelations of Jehovah with earnest patience, to watchmen on an eminence watching with intent eye all that comes within their view (Isaiah 21:8; Isaiah 21:11; Jeremiah 6:17; Ezekiel 3:17; Ezekiel 33:2; Ezekiel 33:3; compare Psalms 5:3; Psalms 85:8). The "watch-post" is the withdrawal of the whole soul from earthly, and fixing it on heavenly, things. The accumulation of synonyms, "stand upon . . . watch . . . set me upon . . . tower . . . watch to see" implies persevering fixity

Zephaniah 1:7 — among themselves on the remains of the sacrifices [CALVIN]. English Version takes it not of the priests, but the guests bidden, who also had to "sanctify" or purify themselves before coming to the sacrificial feast (1 Samuel 9:13; 1 Samuel 9:22; 1 Samuel 16:5). Nebuchadnezzar was bidden to come to take vengeance on guilty Jerusalem (Jeremiah 25:9).

Zechariah 10:3 — used in a good sense to heighten the contrast. goats—he-goats. As "shepherds" described what they ought to have been, so "he-goats" describes what they were, the emblem of headstrong wantonness and offensive lust ( :-, Margin; Ezekiel 34:17; Daniel 8:5; Matthew 25:33). The he-goats head the flock. They who are first in crime will be first in punishment. visited—in mercy (Matthew 25:33- :). as his goodly horse—In Zechariah 9:13 they were represented under the image of bows and arrows, here under

Zechariah 11:17 — 17. the idol—The Hebrew expresses both vanity and an idol. Compare Isaiah 14:13; Daniel 11:36; 2 Thessalonians 2:4; Revelation 13:5; Revelation 13:6, as to the idolatrous and blasphemous claims of Antichrist. The "idol shepherd that leaveth the flock" cannot apply to Rome, but to some ruler among the Jews themselves, at first cajoling, then "leaving" them, nay, destroying them (Daniel

Zechariah 14:9 — 9. king over all . . . earth— Isaiah 54:5 implies that this is to be the consequence of Israel being again recognized by God as His own people (Daniel 2:44; Revelation 11:15). one Lord . . . name one—Not that He is not so already, but He shall then be recognized by all unanimously as "One."

Zechariah 7:5 — 5. Speak unto all—The question had been asked in the name of the people in general by Sherezer and Regemmelech. The self-imposed fast they were tired of, not having observed it in the spirit of true religion. seventh month—This fast was in memory of

Malachi 2:5 — 5-9. He describes the promises, and also the conditions of the covenant; Levi's observance of the conditions and reward (compare :-, Phinehas' zeal); and on the other hand the violation of the conditions, and consequent punishment of the present priests. "Life"

Matthew 4:8 — 8. Again, the devil taketh him up—"conducteth him," as before. into—or "unto" an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them—Luke (Luke 4:5) adds the important clause, "in a moment of time"; a clause which seems to furnish a key to the true meaning. That a scene was presented to our Lord's natural eye seems plainly expressed. But to limit this to the most extensive scene which the natural

Mark 7:33 — indistinct articulation arose from his deafness, our Lord addresses Himself to this first. To the impotent man He said, "Wilt thou be made whole?" to the blind men, "What will ye that I shall do unto you?" and "Believe ye that I am able to do this?" (John 5:6; Matthew 20:32; Matthew 9:28). But as this patient could hear nothing, our Lord substitutes symbolical actions upon each of the organs affected. and he spit and touched his tongue—moistening the man's parched tongue with saliva from His own mouth,

John 17:26 — thou hast loved—lovedst. me may be in them, and I in them—This eternal love of the Father, resting first on Christ, is by His Spirit imparted to and takes up its permanent abode in all that believe in Him; and "He abiding in them and they in Him" (John 15:5), they are "one Spirit." "With this lofty thought the Redeemer closes His prayer for His disciples, and in them for His Church through all ages. He has compressed into the last moments given Him for conversation with His own the most sublime and glorious

Acts 10:38 — with the insignia of the Messianic office, in which He presented Himself after His baptism to the acceptance of the people. went about doing good—holding up the beneficent character of all His miracles, which was their predicted character (Isaiah 35:5; Isaiah 35:6, c.). healing all that were oppressed of the devil—whether in the form of demoniacal possessions, or more indirectly, as in her "whom Satan had bound with a spirit of infirmity eighteen years" (Isaiah 35:6- :) thereby showing Himself

Romans 12:8 — 8. Or he that exhorteth—Since all preaching, whether by apostles, prophets, or teachers, was followed up by exhortation (Acts 11:23; Acts 14:22; Acts 15:32, c.), many think that no specific class is here in view. But if liberty was given to others to exercise themselves occasionally in exhorting the brethren, generally, or small parties of the less instructed, the reference may be to them. he that

Romans 7:24 — by which the sin of the heart finds vent in action, and as itself the seat of the lower appetites (see on :-, and :-); and he calls it "the body of this death," as feeling, at the moment when he wrote, the horrors of that death ( :-, and Romans 7:5) into which it dragged him down. But the language is not that of a sinner newly awakened to the sight of his lost state; it is the cry of a living but agonized believer, weighed down under a burden which is not himself, but which he longs to shake off

1 Corinthians 1:17 — apostle." not to baptize—even in Christ's name, much less in my own. not with wisdom of words—or speech; philosophical reasoning set off with oratorical language and secular learning, which the Corinthians set so undue a value upon (1 Corinthians 1:5; 1 Corinthians 2:1; 1 Corinthians 2:4) in Apollos, and the want of which in Paul they were dissatisfied with (1 Corinthians 2:4- :). cross of Christ—the sum and substance of the Gospel (1 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 2:2), Christ crucified. be

1 Corinthians 15:34 — 34. Awake—literally, "out of the sleep" of carnal intoxication into which ye are thrown by the influence of these skeptics (1 Corinthians 15:32; Joel 1:5). to righteousness—in contrast with "sin" in this verse, and corrupt manners (1 Corinthians 15:33). sin not—Do not give yourselves up to sinful pleasures. The Greek expresses a continued state of abstinence from sin. Thus, Paul implies

2 Corinthians 2:4 — before going to you, that when I went it might not be necessary. He is easily made sorry, who is admonished by a friend himself weeping [BENGEL]. that ye might know the love—of which it is a proof to rebuke sins openly and in season [ESTIUS], (Psalms 141:5; Proverbs 27:6). "Love" is the source from which sincere reproof springs; that the Corinthians might ultimately recognize this as his motive, was the apostle's aim. which I have more abundantly unto you—who have been particularly committed to me by