Bible Commentaries

1 Kings 12:15 — Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat. For the cause. — Heb., Circuit or turning about; for here was a "wheel within a wheel," as Ezekiel 1:16 . Was from the Lord. — Who useth to order the disorders of the world to his own purposes: as having an overruling providence, and a powerful hand in all occurrents.

1 Kings 12:5 — Pellican and Martyr, to give them three days’ respite; because in this time they might consult about a defection, whatsoever answer he should make. If he had pacified their wrath by a soft answer at present, as his father counselleth, Proverbs 15:1 he had hit it. “ Regnorum sub rege novo mitissima sors est. ” - Lucan.

1 Kings 18:1 — And it came to pass [after] many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. After many days, — i.e., After three years and six months’ time of famine: which to the distressed Israelites seemed a long while. In the third year. — Of his abode at Zarephath. And I will send rain. — Heb., I will give. Rain is a gracious gift of God. See on Zechariah 10:1 .

1 Kings 19:7 — And the angel of the LORD came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise [and] eat; because the journey [is] too great for thee. Because the journey is too great for thee. — Fill thee, therefore, that thou mayest the better hold out. Do we the like for our souls, when at the holy ordinances, where the Angel of the covenant seemeth to say to us, as in Song of Solomon 5:1 , "Eat, O friend: drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved!"

1 Kings 20:22 — And the prophet came to the king of Israel, and said unto him, Go, strengthen thyself, and mark, and see what thou doest: for at the return of the year the king of Syria will come up against thee. And the prophet came to the king. — The same prophet as before, likely, 1 Kings 20:13 whether Michaiah or any other. And mark and see what thou dost. — Make thy peace with God, and set thyself in a readiness for another encounter next year.

1 Kings 20:9 — Wherefore he said unto the messengers of Benhadad, Tell my lord the king, All that thou didst send for to thy servant at the first I will do: but this thing I may not do. And the messengers departed, and brought him word again. But this thing I may not do. — He saith not, This thing I will not do, which plainly discovereth his dastardliness and pusillanimity. cowardliness He had not "the spirit of power," because not "of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7

1 Kings 22:3 — And the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead [is] ours, and we [be] still, [and] take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria? Know ye that Ramoth in Gilead is ours? — A part of our promised inheritance, and one of our cities of refuge, Joshua 20:8 besides Benhadad’s promise to restore it unto us, with the rest that were taken from us by his father, 1 Kings 20:24 but he never intendeth it.

1 Kings 7:12 — And the great court round about [was] with three rows of hewed stones, and a row of cedar beams, both for the inner court of the house of the LORD, and for the porch of the house. And the great court round about. — Surrounding the king’s house. Both for the inward court of the house of the Lord, — i.e., Like that inward court, 1 Kings 6:36 . And for the porch, … — The king’s house had the like porch before it, as God’s house had.

2 Kings 17:16 — And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, [even] two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they left all the commandments of God. — So they will soon do, who take liberty to leave any; for the whole law is but one copulative, as the schools speak. All the host of heaven. — So the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and stars are called, for their (1.) number; (2.) order; (3.) obedience.

2 Kings 4:21 — And she went up, and laid him on the bed of the man of God, and shut [the door] upon him, and went out. And laid him on the bed of the man of God. — She had heard, belike, how Elijah had restored to life a widow’s dead child. 1 Kings 17:21 This therefore that she here did was an act of her faith, whereby also she "received her dead raised to life again." Hebrews 11:35 Faith is the best lever at a dead lift.

2 Kings 6:10 — And the king of Israel sent to the place which the man of God told him and warned him of, and saved himself there, not once nor twice. And saved himself there. — It was the king himself whom they aimed at, as 1 Kings 22:31 ; - and as that officer of the cuirassiers, A horse soldier wearing a cuirass. The proper name of a certain type of heavy cavalry in European armies. who, pistoling the late victorious king of Sweden, said, This is the right bird.

2 Kings 8:19 — Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, [and] to his children. To give him alway a light. — i.e., A successor, till Shiloh should come. Luke 1:31 For although the Maccabees, who were of another tribe, bore sway for a season; yet at the same time, as Calvin well observeth, sat the Synedrium, who were of David’s posterity, exercised chief authority, and lasted till Christ’s nativity in great power.

1 Chronicles 1:20 — Almodad and Sheleph, … — These thirteen sons of Joktan were captains of those colonies that went out of the land of Shinar, upon the dispersion of the nations into various parts of the world, according to their different languages. Genesis 11:1-9 Whether they fell from the true religion professed by their grandfather Heber is uncertain; but from them is supposed to descend the people of East India, and of America also.

1 Chronicles 23:24 — These [were] the sons of Levi after the house of their fathers; [even] the chief of the fathers, as they were counted by number of names by their polls, that did the work for the service of the house of the LORD, from the age of twenty years and upward. From the age of twenty years and upward. — The reason whereof followeth: 1 Chronicles 23:25 the people were increased and in peace; and consequently God’s service much increased in the labour of it.

1 Chronicles 28:4 — Howbeit the LORD God of Israel chose me before all the house of my father to be king over Israel for ever: for he hath chosen Judah [to be] the ruler; and of the house of Judah, the house of my father; and among the sons of my father he liked me to make [me] king over all Israel: To be king over Israel for ever. — That is, For a long time; and in regard of Christ, for ever. See Luke 1:32-33 .

1 Chronicles 7:22 — was the greater, if they went against the Gittites without his consent, as many young men are headlong and headstrong, … And his brethren came to comfort him. — The Benjamites also set upon the men of Gath, and took their city from them. 1 Chronicles 8:13 Atque sic ulti sunt fratres suos Ephraemitas.

1 Chronicles 7:40 — All these [were] the children of Asher, heads of [their] father’s house, choice [and] mighty men of valour, chief of the princes. And the number throughout the genealogy of them that were apt to the war [and] to battle [was] twenty and six thousand men. Chief of the princes. — Duces ducum, to whom the princes were to give an account. See Daniel 6:1-2 . Was twenty and six thousand. — So happy was Asher, according to Moses’s blessing left with him. Deuteronomy 33:24-25

2 Chronicles 18:3 — And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Wilt thou go with me to Ramothgilead? And he answered him, I [am] as thou [art], and my people as thy people; and [we will be] with thee in the war. I am as thou art. — See 1 Kings 22:4 . Jehoshaphat was too facile. It was noted as a fault in Henry IV of France that he was aeque male ac bono reconciliabilis, of too good a nature, as we say of some.

2 Chronicles 34:1 — Josiah [was] eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. Josiah was eight years old. — Woe to that land whose prince is a child, saith Solomon; Ecclesiastes 10:16 but Josiah was an extraordinary child, and a great blessing to his people. So was our Edward VI, that second Josiah, who began early likewise, and lived much in a little time, in brevi vitae spacio tempora virtutum multa replevit. Jerome. See 2 Kings 22:1 .

2 Samuel 15:27 — The king said also unto Zadok the priest, [Art not] thou a seer? return into the city in peace, and your two sons with you, Ahimaaz thy son, and Jonathan the son of Abiathar. Art not thou a seer? — i.e., A prophet. 1 Samuel 9:9 And is it not, therefore, fit that thou shouldst abide with the people to teach and instruct them in the will of God according to thine office especially, since in so doing, thou mayst also do me singular good service?