Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 26:7 — captive Jews after they had seen the proud city of Babylon taken, and after God had come forth to restore them to their own land. The word ‘uprightness’ in the original is in the plural number, but is often used in the sense of straightness Proverbs 23:31; Song of Solomon 7:10; of sincerity, or uprightness Song of Solomon 1:4; or of righteousness as a judge Psalms 9:9; Psalms 58:2; Psalms 99:4.Thou most upright - Evidently an address to God, as being most just, and as having now evinced his uprightness

Isaiah 33:17 — Thine eyes - The eyes of the righteous, described in Isaiah 33:15.Shall see the king in his beauty - Some understand this of the Assyrian king. Thus Kimchi understands it, and supposes it means that they shall see him at the walls of Jerusalem; that is, shall see him destroyed. Vitringa supposes it means Yahweh himself

Isaiah 49:18 — former beauty; see the Gentiles come and yield themselves to the worship of the true God; see kings and princes approach and do thee homage.All these gather themselves - That is, from a far country, from the north, the west, and the south, Isaiah 49:12.As I live, saith the Lord - The customary form of an oath when Yahweh swears It is a solemn assurance that the event shall as certainly occur as he has an existence (see the note at Isaiah 45:23; compare Jeremiah 22:24; Ezekiel 5:11; Ezekiel 14:16,

Jeremiah 4:4 — See the Deuteronomy 10:16 note. Nature, such as it is in itself, unconsecrated to God, is to be removed from our inner selves, that a new and spiritual nature may take its place.Lest my fury ... - God is long-suffering, but unless this change take place, the time of judgment

Daniel 2:20 — Scriptures, being often used to denote the person himself. It is common in the Bible to utter ascriptions of praise to God in view of important revelations, or in view of great mercies. Compare the song of Moses after the passage of the Red Sea, Exodus 15:0; the song of Deborah after the overthrow of Sisera, Judges 5:0; Isaiah 12:1-6.For wisdom, and might are his - Both these were manifested in a remarkable manner in the circumstances of this case, and therefore these were the beginnings of the song

Hosea 13:10 — under Samuel, such it remained. “Then” it mistrusted God, and looked to man for help, saying, “Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles” 1 Samuel 8:19. In choosing man they rejected God. The like they did, when they chose Jeroboam. In order to rid themselves of the temporary pressure of Rehoboam’s taxes, they demanded anew “king and princes.” First they rejected God as their king; then

Micah 4:9 — . Very remarkably he speaks of their “King and Counsellor” as one, as if to say, “When all beside is gone, there is One who abides. Though thou be a captive, God will not forsake thee. When thou hadst no earthly king, “the Lord thy God was thy King” 1 Samuel 12:12. He is the First, and He is the Last. When thou shalt have no other, He, thy King, ceaseth not to be.” Montanus: “Thou shouldest not fear, so long as He, who counselleth for thee, liveth; but He liveth forever.” Thy “Counsellor,” He, who

Nahum 2:9 — the amount of many talents, to Agbatana, the Median capital . “For there is none end of the store.” Nineveh had stored up from her foundation until then, but at last for the spoiler. “When thou shalt cease to spoil, thou shalt be spoiled” Isaiah 33:1. Many “perish and leave their wealth to others” Psalms 49:10. “The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just” Proverbs 13:22. “And glory out of all the pleasant furniture,” (literally as in the margin, “glory out of all vessels of desire”) i. e.,

Habakkuk 2:10 — to the law of God, whereby, according to Exodus 20:5, He “visits the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Him,” i. e., until by righteousness and restitution the curse is cut off. Proverbs 15:27 : “he that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house.” So Jeremiah says Jeremiah 7:19 : “Thus saith the Lord, Is it Me they are vexing? Is it not themselves, for the confusion of their faces?” i. e., with that end and object. Holy Scripture overlooks

Zechariah 9:14 — with them and will fight in serried array with them and will with them subdue those who resist them.” It is as if he would say, “When they go forth and preach everywhere, the Lord shall work with them and confirm the word with signs following” Mark 16:20. “And His arrow shall go forth as the lightning.” Habakkuk directly calls the lightnings the arrows of God: “at the light of Thine arrows they went” . Here it is probably of an invisible agency, and so compared to that awful symbol of His presence,

Matthew 5:17 — to do away or destroy the authority of the Old Testament.But to fulfil - To complete the design; to fill up what was predicted; to accomplish what was intended in them. The word “fulfill” also means sometimes “to teach” or “to inculcate,” Colossians 1:25. The law of Moses contained many sacrifices and rites which were designed to shadow forth the Messiah. See the notes at Hebrews 9:0. These were fulfilled when he came and offered himself a sacrifice to God, “A sacrifice of nobler name. And richer

Matthew 5:42 — general rule. It is better to give sometimes to an undeserving person than to turn away one who is really in need. It is good to be in the habit of giving. At the same time, the rule must be interpreted so as to be consistent with our duty to our families 1 Timothy 5:8 and with other objects of justice and charity. It is seldom, perhaps never, good to give to a person who is able to work, 2 Thessalonians 3:10. To give to such is to encourage laziness, and to support the idle at the expense of the industrious.

Matthew 6:30 — times they frequently baked in the sand, warmed with the heat of the sun. They constructed, also, movable ovens made of clay, brick, or plates of iron. But the most common kind, and the one here probably referred to, was made by excavating the ground 2 1/2 feet in diameter, and from 5 to 6 feet deep. This kind of oven still exists in Persia. The bottom was paved with stones. It was heated by putting wood or dry grass into the oven, and, when heated, the ashes were removed and the bread was placed on

Mark 9:39 — likeness to the Saviour would lead us to rejoice in all the good accomplished. by whomsoever it may be done - to rejoice that the kingdom of Christ is advanced, whether by a Presbyterian, an Episcopalian, a Baptist, or a Methodist. Compare Philippians 1:18.

Luke 16:14-15 — splendid vices, and all the wickedness that people contrive to “gild” and to make appear like virtue - external acts that “appear” well while the heart is evil - are abominable in the sight of God, and “should be” in the sight of people. Compare Luke 18:11-14; 1 Samuel 16:7.

Luke 16:6 — A hundred measures - The measure here mentioned is the “bath” which contained, according to Dr. Arbuthnot’s tables, 7 12 gallons, or, according to the marginal note, about 9 gallons and 3 quarts.Oil - Oil of olives, or sweet oil. It was much used for lamps, as an article of food Exodus 29:2, and also for anointing, and, of course, as an article of commerce, 1 Kings 5:11.

Luke 22:3 — - This word properly means an adversary or an accuser. It is the name which in the Scriptures is commonly given to the prince or leader of evil spirits, and is given to him because he is the “accuser or calumniator” of the righteous (see Revelation 12:10; compare Job 1:6-9), as well as because he is the “adversary” of God.Being of the number of the twelve - One of the twelve apostles. This greatly aggravated his crime. He should have been bound by most tender ties to Jesus. He was one of his family

John 1:5 — The light shineth in darkness - Darkness, in the Bible, commonly denotes ignorance, guilt, or misery. See Isaiah 9:1-2; Matthew 4:16; Acts 26:18; Ephesians 5:8, Ephesians 5:11; Romans 13:12. It refers here to a wicked and ignorant people. When it is said that “the light shineth in darkness,” it is meant that the Lord Jesus came to teach an ignorant, benighted, and

John 3:9 — stumbling at one of the plainest doctrines of religion, and unwilling to admit a truth because he could not understand “how” it could be, when he daily admitted the truth of facts in other things which he could as little comprehend. And we may learn: 1.That people will often admit facts on other subjects, and be greatly perplexed by similar facts in religion. 2.That no small part of people’s difficulties are because they cannot understand how or why a thing is. 3.That people of rank and learning are

John 6:68 — aright; and, though the doctrines of Jesus were mysterious, yet they were the only doctrines that could instruct and save them.Thou hast ... - The meaning of this is, thou teachest the doctrines which lead to eternal life. And from this we may learn: 1.That we are to expect that some of the doctrines of the Bible will be mysterious. 2.That, though they are difficult to be understood, yet we should not therefore reject them. 3.That nothing would be gained by rejecting them. The atheist, the infidel