Bible Commentaries

Exodus 16:4-8 — USE. None of it to be left until the next day. A lesson against hoarding. It would be wonderful if it could be reported that Israel observed these rules regarding the manna, but the truth is: They failed at each point. They tried to hoard (Exodus 16:20). They went out to gather on the Sabbath (Exodus 16:27). They showed both disobedience and unbelief, for it had been distinctly said of the seventh day, "in it there shall be none" (Exodus 16:26)… God had miraculously supplied their wants, yet

Exodus 25:31-40 — to them, and all of the N.T. (from Acts to Revelation) pointing backward to the Gospels. This, of course leaves only three divisions of the O.T., which correspond exactly to Christ's divisions, i.e., "The Law, and the Psalms, and the Prophets" (Luke 24:44). The Jews, to whom God gave the custody of the O.T. (Romans 3:2), accepted this understanding of the divisions of the O.T., giving them the names of Torah (the Law), Nebiim (the Prophets), and Kethubhim (the Psalms).J. R. Dummelow, Commentary on

Psalms 147:12-20 — DIVISION III Briggs' summary: Jerusalem is summoned to laud Yahweh, who hath restored her prosperity (Psalms 147:12-14), whose word governs snow and frost and hail (Psalms 147:15-17). His word at the same time directs winds and waters, and gives to Israel a Law, thereby distinguishing them from other nations (Psalms 147:18-20).International Critical Commentary, op.

Psalms 81:6-16 — which guided Israel in the day-time in the wilderness. "I proved thee at the waters of Meribah" There were two instances in which God provided water for Israel at Meribah; and these are discussed fully in our Vol. II of the Pentateuch (Exodus), pp. 230-233, and in Vol. III, (Lev.-Num.), pp. 442-445. "O Israel, if thou wouldest hearken" There seems to be an emotional factor in such pleading words as these; and they remind us of the words of the Christ: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… how often would

Isaiah 47:1-4 — forever the existence of a throne in Babylon. How could any alleged Second Isaiah have known anything like this? Yet, "It is a fact that after the capture of Babylon by Cyrus she was never more the capital of a kingdom."Pulpit Commentary, Vol. II, p. 203. Furthermore, this prevailed forever, even in the face of Alexander the Great's announced intention of making Babylon his capital. He died before he could achieve that, and the Seleucidae retained the capital at Shushan (Susa); and Babylon gradually

Isaiah 53:7-9 — mob violence and the humiliation of Jesus; but in the American Standard Version it is Jesus who is taken away. We believe that both renditions are correct, because both are true. When Philip encountered the Ethiopian eunuch on the road to Gaza (Acts 8:29 ff), the portion of Isaiah which the eunuch was reading and which formed the basis of Philip's preaching Jesus unto him evidently came from the LXX. "As a lamb that is led to the slaughter" This is an agricultural simile based on the truth that a goat

Isaiah 59:15-21 — hopeless, condition of mankind; and the statement in Isaiah 59:16 that he "wondered that there was no intercessor" falls short of expressing the fullness of God's concern. The word should be rendered, "He was appalled."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 621. The utter hopelessness of mankind had reached such a state that it even appalled God. "He put on righteousness as a breastplate" God does not need, nor does He resort to physical armor. He would need such things like He needs a hole in His head! People

Ezekiel 3:16-21 — THE WATCHMAN'S RESPONSIBILITY (Ezekiel 3:16-21) "And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the

Ezekiel 5:5-12 — Mosaic Law. In fact, the references to the Book of Moses are so frequent from this chapter on to the very end of Ezekiel that some of the radical critics (S. R. Driver, for example) have advanced the theory that Ezekiel was the author of Ezekiel 17-26, sometimes called the Holiness Code, in Leviticus.John T. Bunn in the Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1871), p. 347. However, there are so many impossibilities involved in the acceptance of such a false theory that true scholars

Numbers 35:1-5 — out in a perfect square? For that matter, where is the city today that is a perfect square? So much for the critical wisdom (?) of 1903. We have cited it here only for the purpose of demonstrating how much the critics have learned about this in the 82 years since Gray wrote. Wade declared in 1924 that, "In the delimitation of the pasture grounds of the cities, there is a curious oversight; and if these instructions were followed, the city within the square is reduced to a point."George Woosung Wade,

Jonah 1:3 — act of delivering a message which he supposed would be most unwelcome to all of them. Yet, the great physical courage exhibited by the prophet in this very chapter is an effective refutation of the notion that this was what caused him to run away. (2)    National prejudice certainly entered into it, because no true Israelite could imagine such a thing as preaching to Gentiles, notwithstanding the fact that God, from the beginning, had intended for Israel to be a light to all

Matthew 13:55-56 — courage. nor logic, nor philosophy, nor honest doubt. What was it? (1) It was unworthiness. That town had justly earned an unsavory reputation. As Christ said, "Men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil" (John 3:19). (2) It was egotism. Look at the self-glory of the words, "Is not this the carpenter's son?" What ridiculous snobbery of an inflated ego is implicit in such words as those! Ah, yes; who was speaking? The burgomaster's daughter, no less, or the

Matthew 23:7-9 — authorities for the settlement of religious truth. In apostolic times, the living teachers were called "rabbis" and the ones who formerly lived were called "fathers." (The latter term even crept into the speech of Stephen, Acts 7:2). But Christ taught there is just one authority in religion, namely, God, and that which God has revealed in Christ through the apostles. Plummer expressed it: "They were to abandon the practice of appealing to `the fathers,' which had done so

Deuteronomy 16 overview — occasions of the year, i.e., the Feast of Trumpets, and the Day of Atonement are not mentioned here because they did not require the assembly of the whole nation. We have the Feast of the Passover (Deuteronomy 16:1-7), The Feast of Weeks (Deuteronomy 16:9-12), and the Feast of Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 16:13-15). Anticipating the scattering of the people in the occupation of Canaan, and discerning the need for more judges, "Moses here enacts that judges and officers were to be appointed by the people in

Deuteronomy 29:16-21 — Jehovah will blot out his name from under heaven. And Jehovah will set him apart unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law." Regarding the parenthesis in Deuteronomy 29:16-17, "These verses are not a parenthesis (as in the KJV and ASV). Deuteronomy 29:18 connects, not with Deuteronomy 29:15, but with Deuteronomy 29:17, and there should be a full stop at the end of Deuteronomy 29:15."W. L. Alexander, The Pulpit Commentary,

2 Corinthians 4:18 — unseen," even regarding the tiniest particles of it; and, in addition to that, the great fundamental laws controlling all things in space, such as gravity, centrifugal and centripetal forces, inertia, radiation, etc., are, all of them, invisible. 2.    Noah, acting upon God's instructions, preserved through the flood a new beginning for the human family. "Being warned of God concerning things not seen as yet" (Hebrews 11:7). Such a flood as God promised had never

Ephesians 1:22-23 — accept the implications of Paul's teaching on this subject, Bruce, for example, pointing out that "In those earlier epistles, Christ is not viewed as the head of the body … Paul compared an individual believer to the head (1 Corinthians 12:21)." F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 44. However, it was a physical body that Paul used as the basis of comparison in 1 Corinthians 12; and it is a spiritual body of which Paul is speaking here. It is an extra-literal, that is, not literal, body, like

Hebrews 9:7-8 — access within the veil, could enter only under the strictest rules, and that upon only one day in the whole year, the Day of Atonement. Two points of emphasis appear in these verses: (1) the services of the high priest on the Day of Atonement, and (2) the great lesson so effectively taught by the Holy Spirit in such an arrangement. THE DAY OF ATONEMENT Leviticus 16 details the duties of the high priest in making the atonement. He appeared before the door of the tabernacle with no less than four

James 5:14-15 — inherently reasonable that the very ones usually endowed by the Holy Spirit with those special gifts would have been, of course, the elders of the church. The miraculous gift of healing was the fourth in Paul's list of nine such gifts (1 Corinthians 12:9). The understanding of this place is further illuminated by the words of Roberts: Since it is clearly demonstrated from the New Testament that such miraculous aid existed in the church of that age, and since this healing would be more certain to offer

Revelation 5:10 — believe this, but the dogmatic power of this verse refutes the unbelievers. The Christians in this current dispensation reign with Christ. Their reign is exactly in the same sense as that of the apostles "reigning with Christ" (Matthew 19:28), a reign which Jesus Christ himself affirmed would occur during "the times of the regeneration"; that is, the "times of the new birth," meaning the current gospel age. Now, for some of the problems. The KJV renders this passage: