Bible Commentaries

Job 13:15 — Though he slay me - “God may so multiply my sorrows and pains that I cannot survive them. I see that I may be exposed to increased calamities, yet I am willing to meet them. If in maintaining my own cause, and showing that I am not a hypocrite Job 13:16, it should so happen that my sufferings should be so increased that I should die, yet I will do it.” The word “slay,” or “kill,” here refers to temporal death. It has no reference to punishment in the future world, or to the death of the soul. It

Job 2:11 — “the South.” The Hebrew geographers are always represented as looking to the East, and not toward the North, as we do; and hence, with them, the right hand denotes the South. Teman or Theman was a son of Eliphaz, and grandson of Esau; see Genesis 36:15, where he is spoken of as “duke” or prince אלוּף 'alûph a head of a family or tribe, a chieftain.He is supposed to have lived on the east of Idumea. Eusebius places Thaeman in Arabia Petrara, five miles from Petra (see the notes at Isaiah 16:1), and

Isaiah 41:1 — divided into the following parts: I. God calls the distant nations to a public investigation of his ability to aid his people; to an argument whether he was able to deliver them; and to the statement of the reasons why they should confide in him Isaiah 41:1. II. He specifies that he will raise up a man from the east - who should be able to overcome the enemies of the Jews, and to effect their deliveranceIsaiah 41:2-4; Isaiah 41:2-4. III. The consternation of the nations at the approach of Cyrus, and

Isaiah 7:8 — For the head of Syria - The “capital.” The “head” is often used in this sense.Is Damascus - For an account of this city, see the notes at Isaiah 17:1; compare the notes at Acts 9:2. The sense of this passage is, ‘Do not be alarmed as if Rezin was about to enlarge his kingdom, by taking Judea and making Jerusalem his capital. The revolution which these kings contemplate cannot be accomplished.

Daniel 2:21 — revolutions as he shall see it to be best should occur, and in all of them his high hand should be regarded. The words “seasons” and “times” are of frequent occurrence in Daniel, and are sometimes used in a peculiar sense (see the notes at Daniel 7:12, Daniel 7:25), but they seem here to be employed in their usual and general signification, to denote that “all” the revolutions which occur on earth are under his control.He removeth kings, and setteth up kings - He has absolute control over all the

Hosea 12:5 — unto the children of Israel, The Lord” (literally, He is, YeHeWeH , “God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you; This is My Name forever, and this is My memorial unto all generations” Exodus 3:13-15.I am, expresses self-existence; He who alone is. I am that I am, expresses His unchangeableness, the necessary attribute of the Self-existent, who, since He is, ever is all which He is. “To Be,” says Augustine , “is a name of unchangeableness. For

Joel 1:7 — to be burnt, but to be much covered with snow, through the whiteness of the trees and the dryness of the herbs. It pleased God that the fresh crops were already gathered in.”The “vine” is the well-known symbol of God’s people Psalms 80:8, Psalms 80:14; Song of Solomon 2:13, Song of Solomon 2:15; Hosea 10:1; Isaiah 5:1-7; Isaiah 27:2; the fig too, by reason of its sweetness, is an emblem of His Church and of each soul in her, bringing forth the fruit of grace Hosea 9:10; Matthew 21:19; Luke 13:6-7.

Amos 3:2 — brought face to face with God, and to have in deed said to Him, “On Thy terms I will have none of Thee.” The angels who sinned against fullest light, had no redemption or repentance; but became devils. “He took not on Him the nature of angels” Hebrews 2:16. “The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitations, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great Day” Jude 1:6.Of the former people, when their first day of grace was past, Daniel

Micah 6:8 — Dios de ti, sino temer al Señor tu Dios, caminar en todos sus caminos, amarlo y servir al Señor? ¿Tu Dios con todo tu corazón y con toda tu alma para guardar los mandamientos del Señor y sus estatutos que yo te mando hoy para tu bien? Deuteronomio 10:12. Habían preguntado: "¿Con qué cosa exterior vendré delante del Señor?" el profeta les dice, "lo que es bueno", el hombre interior del corazón, justicia, amor, humildad. ¿Y qué requiere el Señor (busca, busca) de ti? - La misma palabra implica

Nahum 3:16 — prehistoric times, in which they alleged, that they themselves migrated from the Persian gulf. They commenced at once, they said , the long voyages, in which they transported the wares of Egypt and Assyria. The building of “Tadmor in the wilderness” 1 Kings 9:18 on the way to Tiphsach (Thapsacus) the utmost bound of Solomon’s dominions (1 Kings 5:4 1 Kings 4:24), connected Palestine with that commerce.The great route for couriers and for traffic, extending for 1,500 or 1,600 miles in later times,

Habakkuk 3:8 — the rivers? - The prophet asks the question thrice, as to the two miracles of the dividing of the Red Sea and the Jordan River, thereby the more earnestly declaring, that God meant somewhat by these acts and beyond them. He asks, as Daniel Daniel 7:16. and Zechariah asked, what was the truth of the things which they saw. God’s defilings with His former people were as much ensamples of what should be with us 1 Corinthians 10:11. as the visions shown to the prophets. Hereafter too, there shall be

Zephaniah 1:12 — God Lamentations 3:40.Jerusalem with candles - so that there should be no corner, no lurking-place so dark, but that the guilty should be brought to light. The same diligence, which Eternal Wisdom used, to “seek and to save that which was lost Luke 15:8, lighting a candle and searching diligently,” until it find each lost piece of silver, the same shall Almighty God use that no hardened sinner shall escape. Cyril: “What the enemy would do, using unmingled phrensy against the conquered, that God

Zechariah 8:21 — They were to await for Him, the Redeemer of the world, through whom and to whom they were to be first converted, and then the world through those who were of them. This mutual conversion was absolutely unknown. The prophet (see below on Zechariah 9:12) predicts certainly that it would be, and in God’s time it was. “From you,” Paul writes to a small colony in Greece, “sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread abroad”

Matthew 13:10-17 — Christ, in these verses, gives a “reason” why he used this manner of instruction. See also Mark 4:10-12; Luke 8:9-10.Matthew 13:11The mysteries of the kingdom - The word “mystery,” in the Bible, properly means a thing that is “concealed,” or that “has been concealed.” It does not mean that the thing was “incomprehensible,” or even difficult to be

Matthew 26:21-24 — As they did eat ... - The account contained in these verses is also recorded in Mark 14:18-21; Luke 22:21-23; John 13:21-22. John says that before Jesus declared that one of them should betray him, “he was troubled in spirit, and testified;” that is, he “felt deeply” in view of the greatness of the crime that Judas was about to commit,

Luke 6:20-49 — See this passage fully illustrated in the sermon on the mount, in Matt. 5–7.Luke 6:21That hunger now - Matthew has it, “that hunger and thirst after righteousness.” Matthew has expressed more fully what Luke has briefly, but there is no contradiction.Luke 6:24-26These verses have been omitted by Matthew. They seem to have been spoken

Acts 17:18 — Then certain philosophers - Athens was distinguished, among all the cities of Greece and the world, for the cultivation of a subtle and refined philosophy. This was their boast, and the object of their constant search and study, 1 Corinthians 1:22.Of the Epicureans - This sect of philosophers was so named from Epicurus, who lived about 300 years before the Christian era. They denied that the world was created by God, and that the gods exercised any care or providence over human

2 Thessalonians 2:4 — nugatorio las leyes divinas, al nombrar a otros en su lugar. Nadie puede dudar razonablemente de que todo lo que aquí se afirma puede encontrarse en las afirmaciones del Papa de Roma. Los supuestos del papado se han relacionado con las siguientes cosas: (1) A la autoridad sobre todas las órdenes inferiores del sacerdocio, sobre todo los pastores, obispos y primates. (2) Autoridad sobre todos los reyes y emperadores, "depositando a algunos y adelantando a otros, obligándolos a postrarse ante él, besarle

Titus 3:5 — no se le atendería la culpa si él debería sufrirnos a hundirnos a la ruina. nos salvó: es decir, comenzó esa salvación en nosotros que se debe completar en el cielo. Un hombre que ya está renovado y perdonado puede ser lo que se ha ahorrado, para: (1) Se inicia el trabajo de la salvación, y,. (2) cuando comenzó, sin duda se completará; Vea las notas en Filipenses 1:6. por el lavado de la regeneración - para una comprensión correcta de este importante pasaje, es necesario determinar si la frase

1 Peter 2:8 — Y una piedra de tropiezo - Una piedra sobre la cual tropiezan o contra la que chocan. La idea parece ser la de una piedra angular que se proyecta desde el edificio, contra la cual se lanzan, y por la cual se les hace caer. Vea las notas en Mateo 21:44. El rechazo del Salvador se convierte en el medio de su ruina. Se niegan a construir sobre él, y es como si uno corriera contra una sólida piedra angular de una casa, que sin duda sería el medio de su destrucción. Compare las notas en Lucas 2:34.