Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 45:2 — and secured by strong gates, which were not unfrequently made of brass. To Babylon there were one hundred gates, twenty-five on each side of the city, which, with their posts, were made of brass. ‘In the circumference of the walls,’ says Herodotus (i. 179), ‘at different distances, were a hundred massy gates of brass, whose hinges and frames were of the same metal.’ It was to this, doubtless, that the passage before us refers.The bars of iron - With which the gates of the city were fastened. ‘One method

Isaiah 47:9 — destroyed. It would not decay slowly, and by natural causes, but it would not decay slowly, and by natural causes, but it would be suddenly and unexpectedly destroyed. How strikingly this was fulfilled, it is not needful to pause to state (see Isaiah 13:0, note; Isaiah 14:1, note) In the single night in which Babylon was taken by Cyrus, a death-blow was given to all her greatness and power, and at that moment a train of causes was originated which did not cease to operate until it became a pile of

Isaiah 48:9 — creatures depends on the maintaining of the honor of God, and of his government, and on the manifestation of his perfections to the universe (see the treatise of President Edwards on The end for which God created the world, in Works, vol. iii. New York Ed. 1830).Will I defer mine anger - That is, I will spare you, and restore you again to your own land (see the note at Isaiah 48:11).And for my praise will I refrain for thee - Will I refrain my anger in reference to you as a nation. The word used here (חטם

Isaiah 50:2 — hand, in the Scriptures, is an emblem of strength, as it is the instrument by which we accomplish our purposes. To shorten the hand, that is, to cut it off, is an emblem of diminishing, or destroying our ability to execute any purpose (see Isaiah 59:1). So in Numbers 11:23 : ‘Is the Lord’s hand waxed short?’That it cannot redeem? - That it cannot rescue or deliver you. The idea is, that it was not because he was less able to save them than he had been in former times, that they were sold into captivity,

Isaiah 51:1 — unto me - That is, to the God of their fathers, who now addresses them. They are regarded as in exile and bondage, and as desponding in regard to their prospects. In this situation, God, or perhaps more properly the Messiah (compare the notes at Isaiah 1:0), is introduced as addressing them with the assurances of deliverance.Ye that follow after righteousness - This is addressed evidently to those who sought to be righteous, and who truly feared the Lord. There was a portion of the nation that continued

Isaiah 54:15 — phrase seems to mean that they should ‘fall to them,’ that is, that they should lay aside their opposition, break up their alliances against the church, and come over to it. In proof of this interpretation, Rosenmuller appeals to the following places: 1 Chronicles 12:19-20; 2 Chronicles 15:9; Jeremiah 21:9; Jeremiah 39:9. The passage, therefore, looks to the future conversion of the enemies of the church to the true faith. It has, doubtless, been partially fulfilled in the conversion of nations that

Isaiah 54:17 — No weapon that is formed - No instrument of war, no sword, or spear; no instrument of persecution or torture that is made by the smith, Isaiah 54:16.Shall prosper - On the meaning of this word, see the notes at Isaiah 52:13. The sense here is, that it shall not have final and ultimate prosperity. It might be permitted for a time to appear to prosper - as persecutors and oppressors have done; but

Isaiah 57:15 — though he, in fact, dwelt in eternity, yet he also had his abode in the human heart. Many of the ancient pagans supposed that God was so lofty that be did not condescend to notice human affairs. This was the view of the Epicureans (see the notes at Acts 17:18); and the belief extensively prevailed in the Oriental world, that God had committed the management of the affairs of people to inferior beings which he had created. This was the basis of the Gnostic philosophy. According to this, God reposed far

Isaiah 57:9 — perfumes, in order to be acceptable to the idol; that is, had decorated themselves as harlots did.Grotius supposes that it means that they had imitated foreign kings, and copied the customs of other nations, and refers to the example of Ahaz 2 Kings 16:10. Others suppose that the word ‘king’ is to be taken collectively, and that it means that they had sought the alliance, and imitated the customs of foreign nations in general. It is probable that the prophet refers to some such fact. On former occasions,

Isaiah 62:10 — and they would now have liberty to depart for their own country. Thus explained, the connection is apparent. The watchmen were commanded to pray until this was done Isaiah 62:7; the prophet had said that he would not rest until it was done Isaiah 62:1; Yahweh had promised this in a most solemn manner Isaiah 62:8-9; and now those prayers are heard, and that promise is about to be fulfilled, and they are commanded to leave the city and enter upon their journey to their own land (compare the notes at

Isaiah 65:12 — Therefore will I number you to the sword - There is undoubtedly an allusion here to the idol Meni mentioned in Isaiah 65:11, and a play upon the name, in accordance with a custom quite common in the sacred Scriptures. The word מניתי mâniytiy, ‘I will number,’ is derived from מנה mânâh, the same word from which מני menı̂y, is derived. The idea is, since they worshipped

Jeremiah 5:20-31 — Against the God(1) of Creation Jeremiah 5:22, and(2) of Providence Jeremiah 5:24,They sin, not merely by apostasy, but by a general immorality extending to all classes Jeremiah 5:25-28. It is in this immorality that their idolatry has its root.Jeremiah 5:22The sea is

Daniel 11:39 — by “farming out” a conquered province; that is, by disposing of the privilege of raising a revenue in it to the one who would offer most for it, and the consequence was, that it gave rise to vast rapacity in extorting funds from the people. Compare 1 Macc. 3:35, 36, where, speaking of Lysias, whom Antiochus had “set to oversee the affairs of the king from the river Euphrates unto the borders of Egypt,” it is said of Antiochus that he “gave him (Lysias) charge of all things that he would have done,

Daniel 5:30 — In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain - On the taking of Babylon, and the consequences, see the notes at Isaiah 13:17-22; Isaiah 45:1-2. The account which Xenophon (“Cyrop.” vii. s.) gives of the taking of Babylon. and of the death of the king - though without mentioning his name, agrees so well with the statement here, that it may be regarded as a strong confirmation

Daniel 7:10 — of fire seemed to burst forth from his throne. Representations of this kind abound in the Scriptures to illustrate the majesty and glory of God. Compare Revelation 4:5, “And out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunderings, and voices.” Exodus 19:16; Habakkuk 3:4; Psalms 18:8.Thousand thousands ministered unto him - “A thousand of thousands;” that is, thousands multiplied a thousand times. The mind is struck with the fact that there are thousands present - and then the number seems as great

Hosea 11:10 — afterward shall the children of Israel return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king” Hosea 3:4-5. : “Whereas now they “fled from” God, and “walked after other gods after the imagination of their evil hearts, after their own devices” Hosea 7:13; Jeremiah 7:9; Jeremiah 3:17; Jeremiah 18:12, then he promises, they shall “walk after God the Lord,” following the will, the mind, the commandments, the example of Almighty God. As God says of David, He “kept My commandments, and walked after Me with

Hosea 14:7 — of God’s workings in nature, speaking of His workings of grace, then it is the same image, as when our Lord speaks of those “who receive the seed in an honest and true heart and bring forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty” Matthew 13:23. Or if we were to render, “shall produce life through wheat,” what were this, but that seed-corn, which, for us and for our salvation, was sown in the earth, and died, and “brought forth much fruit;” the Bread of life, of which our Lord says, “I

Hosea 6:4 — stands for all virtue and goodness toward God or man. For love to God or man is one indivisible virtue, issuing from one principle of grace. Whence it is said, “love is the fulfilling of the law. He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law” Romans 13:10, Romans 13:8. And, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God” 1 John 4:7. Of this their goodness, he says the character was, that it never lasted. The “morning cloud” is full

Amos 2:8 — cloak, which by day was wrapped over the long loose shirt , the poor man’s only dress besides, and by night was his only bedding Exodus 22:26-27. God had expressly commanded, “If the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep with his pledge” Deuteronomy 24:12-13; in any case “thou shalt deliver him the pledge again, when the sun goeth down, that he may sleep in his own raiment, and bless thee; and it shall be righteousness to thee before the Lord thy God.” Here the “garments laid to pledge” are treated

Jonah 1:14 — with an earnest submissive, cry, repeating the words of beseeching, as men, do in great earnestness; “we beseech Thee, O Lord, let us not, we beseech Thee, perish for the life of this man” (i. e., as a penalty for taking it, as it is said, 2 Samuel 14:7. “we will slay him for the life of his brother,” and, Deuteronomy 19:21. “life for life.”) They seem to have known what is said, Genesis 9:5-6. “your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it and at the hand