Bible Commentaries

Exodus 13:17-22 — that that is the reason that God took them into Canaan by some other route settles the matter for Christians. Even Davies admitted that, "The early settlement of Philistines before their main invasion may account for the reference."G. Henton Davies, 20th Century Commentary (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1932), p. 135. Any premise that includes the proposition that there is available today anything more than a mere smattering of knowledge of ancient history known by modern man, is a monstrous misassumption!

Exodus 20:1-6 — and great commandment of God, having an expanded meaning as given by Christ, "The Lord our God, the Lord is one: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength" (Mark 18:29-30). "The Lord is one" Jewish scholars take this as a denial of the doctrine of the Trinity, but the word for "one" here is [~'echad], which means a compound unity, being used here and in such statements as "the people are one." The word for an absolute

1 Kings 6:1 — Christians. The interest that focuses on this first verse, however, is acute and sustained because of its bearing upon the date of the Exodus. The Encyclopaedia Britannica gives the date of Solomon's enthronement as 974 B. C.;Encyclopdeia Britannica, Vol. 20, p. 952. and thus the fourth year of his reign would have been in the year 970 B.C. Adding 480 years prior to that would therefore place the Exodus in the year 1450 B.C., a date which corresponds almost exactly with the date of 1446 B.C. (which this

Job 2:7-10 — sore boils" "Modern medical opinion is not unanimous in the diagnosis of Job's disease."Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 463. Driver and Gray, like many others, identified the disease as Elephantiasis,International Critical Commentary, Job, p. 23. basing their conclusion upon many symptoms of the disease mentioned subsequently in the Book of Job, such as, his fetid breath (Job 19:17), maggots breeding in the sores (Job 7:5), the falling off of the skin (Job 30:30), feelings of terror (Job 3:25;

Psalms 18:18-24 — David, in any sense whatever, was here claiming to be absolutely perfect and sinless in the sight of God, but that he had been forgiven of all sins he had committed and that, at the moment of his deliverance, he was "clean" in "God's eyesight" (Psalms 18:24). Of course, all forgiveness during the dispensation of the Mosaic Covenant was dependent, in the final analysis, upon the ultimate sacrifice of the Christ upon Calvary. However, in the practical sense, "God passed over the sins done aforetime" (Romans

Psalms 97:8-12 — righteous; And give thanks to his holy memorial name." "Zion heard and was glad… daughters of Judah rejoiced" The Anchor Bible renders this, "Let Zion hear… let the daughters of Judah rejoice."Mitchell Dahood in The Anchor Bible, Vol. II, p. 362. It appears to us that the passage is true either way it reads, the "righteous remnant" alone being the portion of Zion that heard and obeyed God. "Daughters of Judah" is Hebraic for the towns and villages surrounding Jerusalem."Ibid. The big thought

Isaiah 63:1-6 — Edomites represent the world-power; and the `day of vengeance' may be one still future."Pulpit Commentary, Vol. II, p. 441. Cheyne represented the "victorious warrior" here as "Jehovah";T. K. Cheyne's Commentary, Vol. II, p. 100. and, of course, Isaiah 63:2 of the text shuts us up to just two options. The "mighty one," traveling in the greatness of his strength, must positively be one or the other, either Jehovah himself, or the blessed Lord Jesus Christ. Only one of these could have declared, "I that

Lamentations 4:1-10 — of all this. "The stones of the sanctuary" "This refers to the precious gems which decorated the breastplate of the High Priest."C. F. Keil, Keil-Delitzsch's Old Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company), Vol. 8, p. 432. Their mention here is metaphorical, and they are parallel with the fine gold. "The jackals… give suck to their young ones" The wild animals could nurse their young, but Jerusalem's starving women could not. Nothing, in all the horrors of warfare,

Ezekiel 9:8-11 — things as Israel's worshipping other gods, or their defiling the temple, or of their neglect of sacrifices, despite the fact of such sins being the source of all their wickedness. The wickedness mentioned here was, (1) the land was filled with blood; (2) the city is full of injustice, and (3) they do not believe in an omniscient, personal God to whom every man must give an account. "These terrible conditions were the end result of the peoples' false religion."John T. Bunn in the Broadman Bible Commentary

Daniel 1:17-21 — that it is utterly impossible to suppose that this book was written to encourage the Jews and to provide examples of how Jews should act in the days of their dealings with the vicious beast of a ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes.E. H. Thomson, op. cit., p. 26 Also, "The mention of visions and dreams is an accurate reflection of the Babylonian background of the Book of Daniel."Edward J. Young, The New Bible Commentary, Revised, Daniel (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 690 "The

Jonah 4:11 — Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1970), p. 751. "No man has the right to question or resent the outpouring of God's love in saving man, any man, from sin and destruction."G. Herbert Livingston, Wycliffe Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1962), p. 850. "Sixscore thousand persons who cannot discern between their right and their left hand" Efforts to apply these words to the entire population of Nineveh are fruitless, being usually for the purpose of showing that Nineveh, after all, was not

Micah 3:12 — already ascribed the whole prophecy to the Spirit of Jehovah, and to God's message, which "he saw." Furthermore, a century after Micah, and at a time yet significantly prior to the fulfillment of it, Jeremiah proclaimed the very words of this Micah 3:12 as the word of God. "Thus saith Jehovah" (Jeremiah 26:18). Thus, what the prophet said, all of it, whether he so designated a certain line of it or not, was from Jehovah, God's Word, a "thus saith Jehovah," not the simple word of Micah. (2)    Others

Zechariah 12:11-14 — their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites, and their wives apart. All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart." The effect of this passage is best seen by keeping all of it in mind. Note the triple "mourning" (Zechariah 12:11-12), and especially the recurrence of the word "apart," eleven times in three verses! This emphasis upon the word "apart" makes it impossible to see this passage as depicting any kind of a great national celebration of mourning in which everybody

Zechariah 6:11 — the speculations of critics who boldly claim that, "Zerubbabel and not Joshua, must be the subject of the address in Zechariah 6:11; for it is he who was building the Temple."J. E. McFadyen, Abingdon Bible Commentary (New York City: Abingdon Press, 1929), p. 823. It is hard to imagine a more erroneous perversion of the sacred text. First of all, such a notion is founded upon a total misunderstanding of what temple Messiah would build. Indeed Zerubbabel was building a second temple; but the temple

Matthew 6:9-13 — is that this very prayer should have become the very thing it was designed to prevent, namely a rote prayer! Surely, the very mystery of iniquity is evident in such a development. And what is the "manner of this prayer"? It is: (1) short, (2) spontaneous, (3) God-oriented, the first three petitions being for things of God rather than for things of men, (4) extemporaneous, being given in two forms by Christ himself as evidenced by the Matthew and Luke accounts, (5) to the point, and (6)

Mark 11:11 — And he entered into Jerusalem, into the temple; and when he had looked round about upon all things, it being now eventide, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve. Luke recorded that Jesus went "every night" to the mount of Olives (Luke 12:37), but, of course, Bethany was on the mount of Olives. All such variations are due to the independence of the narratives. THE WITHERING OF THE FIG TREE This is one of the most interesting of Jesus' great wonders, exceedingly rich with moral significance,

Mark 7:21-23 — Sanner pointed out that in the Received Greek text the first six of these terms are plural and the last six are singular. "The former possibly refers to evil acts, the latter to moral defects, or vices."A. Elwood Sanner, op. cit., Vol. VI, p. 332. This list is somewhat like similar lists in the Pauline writings, but Cranfield was doubtless correct in his repudiation of the idea that they were derived from that source. He stated that there are "no adequate grounds for thinking that this

Luke 9:51-56 — interpolation"Anthony Lee Ash, op. cit., II, p. 7. is emphatically rejected. It is also untrue that in these chapters, "Jesus is always on the way but is no closer to Jerusalem at the last than at the first."Ibid. Only three times (here, in Luke 13:22, and Luke 17:11) is our Lord's purpose of going to Jerusalem mentioned; and the commentators who call this section "Journeyings to Jerusalem"H. D. M. Spence, op. cit., 244. are by no means accurate. See under Luke 17:11 for further comment

2 Corinthians 9:7 — creation; and when man was introduced, he appeared, not as an owner, but as a gardener in Eden. Every beast of the forest, every bird of the mountains, and every beast of the field, even "the world and its fullness" belong to God (Psalms 50:10-12). Society's permission to certain people to occupy God's earth, or to hold its estates, does not contravene the divine ownership. Title deeds and legal grants always have regard to social custom, not divine authority. No man "owns" any of

Hebrews 11:17-20 — in the words of Albert Barnes, "It is the strongest illustration of faith, undoubtedly, which has ever been evinced in our world." Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1963), Vol. Hebrews, p. 272. Abraham, being tried is a reference to the remarkable test of his faith recorded in Genesis 22:1 ff. It is said there that God did "tempt" Abraham, but the word "tried" is the true meaning. Although the word here rendered "tried"