Bible Commentaries

Genesis 8:5 — 5. And the waters decreased continually—The decrease of the waters was for wise reasons exceedingly slow and gradual—the period of their return being nearly twice as long as that of their rise.

Job 14:21 — 21. One striking trait is selected from the sad picture of the severance of the dead from all that passes in the world (Ecclesiastes 9:5), namely, the utter separation of parents and children.

Psalms 28:2 — 2. lift up my hands—a gesture of prayer (Psalms 63:4; Psalms 141:2). oracle—place of speaking (Exodus 25:22; Numbers 7:89), where God answered His people (compare Psalms 5:7).

Psalms 33:21 — 21. his holy name—(Compare Psalms 5:12; Psalms 22:22; Psalms 30:4). Our faith measures mercy (Matthew 9:29); and if of grace, it is no more of debt (Matthew 9:29- :).

Psalms 34:21 — 21, 22. Contrast in the destiny of righteous and wicked; the former shall be delivered and never come into condemnation (John 5:24; Romans 8:1); the latter are left under condemnation and desolate.

Psalms 55:23 — 23. bloody . . . days—(compare Psalms 5:6; Psalms 51:14), deceit and murderous dispositions often united. The threat is directed specially (not as a general truth) against the wicked, then in the writer's view.

Psalms 74:5 — 5, 6. Though some terms and clauses here are very obscure, the general sense is that the spoilers destroyed the beauties of the temple with the violence of woodmen. was famous—literally, "was known."

Psalms 90:5 — 5, 6. Life is like grass, which, though changing under the influence of the night's dew, and flourishing in the morning, is soon cut down and withereth (Psalms 103:15; 1 Peter 1:24).

Proverbs 2:1 — 1-5. Diligence in hearing and praying for instruction must be used to secure the great principle of godliness, the fear of God. hide . . . with thee—lay up in store (compare Proverbs 7:1).

Isaiah 54:7 — 7. small moment—as compared with Israel's coming long prosperity (Isaiah 26:20; Isaiah 60:10). So the spiritual Israel (Psalms 30:5; 2 Corinthians 4:17). gather thee—to Myself from thy dispersions.

Ezekiel 14:13 — 13. staff of . . . bread—on which man's existence is supported as on a staff (Ezekiel 4:16; Ezekiel 5:16; Leviticus 26:26; Psalms 104:15; Isaiah 3:1). I will send a famine.

Ezekiel 32:4 — 4. leave thee upon the land—as a fish drawn out of the water loses all its strength, so Pharaoh (in Ezekiel 32:3, compared to a water monster) shall be (Ezekiel 29:5).

Ezekiel 7:5 — 5. An evil, an only evil—a peculiar calamity such as was never before; unparalleled. The abruptness of the style and the repetitions express the agitation of the prophet's mind in foreseeing these calamities.

Numbers 19:7 — 7. the priest shall be unclean until the even—The ceremonies prescribed show the imperfection of the Levitical priesthood, while they typify the condition of Christ when expiating our sins (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Zechariah 14:15 — 15. The plague shall affect the very beasts belonging to the foe. A typical foretaste of all this befell Antiochus Epiphanes and his host at Jerusalem (1 Maccabees 13:49; 2 Maccabees 9:5).

Matthew 5:6 — meaning of "righteousness" here? Lutheran expositors, and some of our own, seem to have a hankering after that more restricted sense of the term in which it is used with reference to the sinner's justification before God. (See Jeremiah 23:6; Isaiah 45:24; Romans 4:6; 2 Corinthians 5:21). But, in so comprehensive a saying as this, it is clearly to be taken—as in 2 Corinthians 5:21- : also—in a much wider sense, as denoting that spiritual and entire conformity to the law of God, under the want of which

Luke 2:4 — 4, 5. Not only does Joseph, who was of the royal line, go to Bethlehem ( :-), but Mary too—not from choice surely in her condition, but, probably, for personal enrollment, as herself an heiress.

1 Corinthians 11:26 — remembrance" of Him. show—announce publicly. The Greek does not mean to dramatically represent, but "ye publicly profess each of you, the Lord has died FOR ME" [WAHL]. This word, as "is" in Christ's institution (1 Corinthians 11:24; 1 Corinthians 11:25), implies not literal presence, but a vivid realization, by faith, of Christ in the Lord's Supper, as a living person, not a mere abstract dogma, "bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh" (1 Corinthians 11:25- :; compare Genesis 2:23); and ourselves

2 Corinthians 3:6 — 6. able—rather, as the Greek is the same, corresponding to :-, translate, "sufficient as ministers" (Ephesians 3:7; Colossians 1:23). the new testament—"the new covenant" as contrasted with the Old Testament or covenant (1 Corinthians 11:25; Galatians 4:24). He reverts here again to the contrast between the law on "tables of stone," and that "written by the Spirit on fleshly tables of the heart" (2 Corinthians 3:3). not of the letter—joined with "ministers"; ministers not of the mere

2 Samuel 8:18 — 18. Cherethites—that is, Philistines (Zephaniah 2:5). Pelethites—from Pelet (1 Chronicles 12:3). They were the valiant men who, having accompanied David during his exile among the Philistines, were made his bodyguard.