Bible Commentaries

Proverbs 16:33 — depends upon the lot. The lots were thrown into the gathered folds of a robe, and then drawn out. Where everything seemed the merest chance, there the faithful Israelite teacher recognized the guidance of a higher will. Compare the case of Achan Joshua 7:18, and of Jonathan 1 Samuel 14:37-42. The process here described would seem to have been employed ordinarily in trials where the judges could not decide on the facts before them (compare Proverbs 18:18).

Isaiah 13:18 — Their bows also - Bows and arrows were the usual weapons of the ancients in war; and the Persians were particularly skilled in their use. According to Xenophon, Cyrus came to Babylon with a great number of archers and slingers (Cyrop. ii. 1).Shall dash the young men ... - That is, they shall dash the young men to pieces, or kill them by their bows and arrows. Vulgate, ‘And with their arrows shall they slay the young.’ The meaning of the word here rendered ‘dash to pieces,’ is to smite

Isaiah 33:12 — And the people - In the army of Sennacherib.As the burnings of lime - As if placed in a burning lime-kiln, where they must certainly be destroyed (see Isaiah 30:33; compare Amos 2:1).As thorns cut up - As thorns, or small brushwood, that has been long cut up and perfectly dried are speedily consumed, so shall it be with the Assyrian army. This is an image like many that are employed, denoting that the destruction of the army of the Assyrians would be sudden and entire.

Isaiah 45:16 — They shall be ashamed and confounded - That is, they shall find all their hopes fail, and shall be suffused with shame that they were ever so senseless as to trust in blocks of wood and stone (see the notes at Isaiah 1:29; Isaiah 20:5; Isaiah 30:5; Isaiah 43:17).They shall go to confusion - They shall all retire in shame and disgrace. That is, when they have gone to supplicate their idols, they shall find them unable to render them any aid, and they shall retire with shame.

Isaiah 48:17 — Thy Redeemer - (see the notes at Isaiah 41:14; Isaiah 43:1).Which teacheth thee to profit - Teaching you what things will most conduce to your welfare. The reference hero is chiefly to the afflictions which they suffered in Babylon.Which leadeth thee - I am thy conductor and guide. God taught them, as he does his people now, by his Providence, his revealed word, and his Spirit, the way in which they ought to go. It is one of his characteristics that he is the guide and director of his people.

Jeremiah 1:2 — Came - literally, was (and in Jeremiah 1:4); the phrase implies that Jeremiah possessed God’s word from that time onward, not fitfully as coming and going, but constantly.The thirteenth year of his reign - According to the ordinary reckoning, this would be 629 b.c., but if the Ptolemaic canon

Jeremiah 6:21 — is the natural consequence of their conduct. Their service of Yahweh was a systematic hypocrisy: how then could they walk uprightly with their fellow-men? When God lays stumblingblocks in men’s way, it is by the general action of His moral law James 1:13-14, by which willful sin in one point reacts upon the whole moral nature James 2:10.

Jeremiah 6:23 — Spear - Properly, a javelin for hurling at the enemy (see 1 Samuel 17:6 note): an ordinary weapon of the Babylonians.Cruel - ruthless, inhuman. In the Assyrian monuments warriors put the vanquished to death; rows of impaled victims hang round the walls of the besieged towns; and men collect in heaps hands cut

Ezekiel 1:11 — four formed a whole, yet the upper parts of each, the heads and the wings (though touching), rose distinct from one another. Two wings of each, as in the case of Isaiah’s Seraphim, were folded down over the body: and two were in their flight Ezekiel 1:9 “stretched upward” parted) so as to meet, each a wing of the neighboring living creature, just as the wings of the cherubim touched one another over the mercy-seat of the ark.

Ezekiel 45:7-8 — On either side of the 25,000 reeds a strip of land, running westward to the sea, eastward to the Jordan, formed the possession of the prince (see Ezekiel 46:18 note). For the other tribes the limits from west to east are the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan Ezekiel 48:8.Ezekiel 45:7And the length shall be over against - Or, “and” in length “over against.”The definition of the prince’s territory was to prevent

Zechariah 3:10 — Under the vine and under the fig tree - Micah had already made the description of the peaceful days of Solomon 1 Kings 4:25, a symbol Micah 4:4 of the universal fearless peace of the time of Christ. Lap.: “Christ by His passion shall not only take away iniquity, but also bring peace, delight, free communication of all things, so that all things among Christians

Matthew 1:18 — birth.Was on this wise - In this manner.Espoused - Betrothed, or engaged to be married. There was commonly an interval of ten or twevle months, among the Jews, between the contract of marriage and the celebration of the nuptials (see Genesis 24:55; Judges 14:8; Deuteronomy 20:7), yet such was the nature of this engagement, that unfaithfulness to each other was deemed adultery. See Deuteronomy 22:25, Deuteronomy 22:28.With child by the Holy Ghost - See the note at Luke 1:35.

Matthew 23:18 — The altar - The altar of burnt-offerings, in the court of the priests. See the notes at Matthew 21:12. It was made of brass, about 30 feet in length and breadth, and 15 feet in height, 2 Chronicles 4:1. On this altar were offered all the beasts and bloody oblations of the temple.The gift that is upon it - The gift or offering made to God, so called because it was devoted or “given” to him. The gift upon this altar was always beasts and birds.

Matthew 24:17 — Him which is on the house-top - The roofs of the houses in Eastern countries were made flat, so that they were favorable places for walking and retirement. See the notes at Matthew 9:1-8. The meaning here is, that He who should be on the house-top when this calamity came upon the city “should flee without delay;” He should not even take time to secure any article of apparel from his house. So sudden would be the calamity, that by attempting to do this He would endanger his life.

Matthew 27:8 — The field of blood - The field purchased by the price of blood. The name by which this field was called was “Aceldama,” Acts 1:19. It was just without the walls of Jerusalem, on the south of Mount Zion. It is now used as a burying-place by the Armenian Christians in Jerusalem, who have a magnificent convent on Mount Zion - Missionary Herald, 1824, p. 66. See the plan of Jerusalem.To this day - That is, to the day when Matthew wrote this gospel, about 30 years after the field was purchased.

Mark 8:1-9 — See this passage explained in the notes at Matthew 15:32-39.Mark 8:1In those days - While in the wilderness, where he had cured the deaf-mute man.Having nothing to eat - Having come unprovided, or having consumed what they had brought.Mark 8:2I have compassions - I pity their condition. I am disposed to relieve them.Mark 8:9Four thousand - Four thousand “men,” besides women and children. See Matthew 15:38. See this passage explained in the notes at Matthew 15:32-39.

Luke 1:70 — His holy prophets ... - All the prophets are said to have referred to the Messiah, from the beginning of the world. The most striking of these were Jacob Genesis 49:10; Moses Deuteronomy 18:15; Isaiah Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 53:1-12.Since the world began - This is not to be taken literally, for there were no prophets “immediately after” the creation. It is merely a general expression, designed to denote that all the

Luke 10:35 — Two pence - About 27 cents, or 1 shilling, 2d. This may seem a small sum, but we are to remember that that sum was probably ten times as valuable then as now - that is, that it would purchase ten times as much food and the common necessaries of life as the same sum would now. Besides, it is probable that all the man wanted was “attention” and kindness, and for all these it was the purpose of the Samaritan to pay when he returned.The host - The innkeeper.

Luke 14:16 — designed to represent God; the supper, the provisions which he has made for the salvation of people; and the invitation, the offers which he made to people, particularly to the Jews, of salvation. See a similar parable explained in the notes at Matthew 22:1-14.

Luke 2:9 — The glory of the Lord - This is the same as a “great” glory - that is, a splendid appearance or “light.” The word “glory” is often the same as light, 1 Corinthians 15:41; Luke 9:31; Acts 22:11. The words “Lord” and “God” are often used to denote “greatness” or “intensity.” Thus, “trees of God” mean great trees; “hills of God,” high or lofty hills, etc. So “the glory of the Lord” here means an exceedingly great or bright luminous appearance perhaps not unlike what Paul saw on the way to Damascus.