Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 16:8 — For the fields of Heshbon - (See the note at Isaiah 15:4.)Languish - They are parched up with drought. The ‘fields’ here evidently mean “vineyards,” for so the parallelism demands. So in Deuteronomy 32:32 : Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, And of the fields of Gomorrah.And the vine of Sibmah - Sibmah,

Isaiah 36:12 — surrender to Sennacherib, they would be subjected to all the horrors of a siege, when they would be reduced to the most deplorable state of necessity and want. The idea in the whole verse is clearly expressed in the parallel place in 2 Chronicles 32:11 : ‘Doth not Hezekiah persuade you to give over yourselves to die by famine and by thirst, saying, The Lord our God shall deliver us out of the hand of the king of Assyria?’ In regard to the indelicacy of this passage, we may observe:1. That the Masoretes

Isaiah 44:12 — The smith with the tongs - The prophet proceeds here to show the folly and absurdity of idolatry; and in order to this he goes into an extended statement Isaiah 44:12-19 of the manner in which idols were usually made. Lowth remarks, ‘The sacred writers are generally large and eloquent on the subject of idolatry; they treat it with great severity, and set forth the absurdity of it in the strongest light. But this

Isaiah 49:26 — internal discord, and the desire of mutual revenge. They shall destroy themselves by mutual conflicts, until they are gorged with slaughter, and drunk with blood.And they shall be drunken with their own blood - A similar expression occurs in Revelation 16:6 : ‘For they have shed the blood of the prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink.’ This expression describes a state of internal strife, where blood would be profusely shed, and where it would be, as it were, the drink of those who were contending

Isaiah 49:8 — his petition had not been offered in vain.In an acceptable time - Hebrew, ‘In a time of delight or will,’ that is, a time when Yahweh was willing, or pleased to hear him. The word רצין râtsôn means properly delight, satisfaction, acceptance Proverbs 14:35; Isaiah 56:7; will, or pleasure Esther 8:1; Psalms 40:9; Daniel 8:4-11; then also goodwill, favor, grace Proverbs 16:15; Proverbs 19:12. The Septuagint renders this, Καιρῷ δεκτῷ Kairō dektō - ‘In an acceptable time.’ So Jerome, Gesenius, and

Isaiah 59:15 — Yea, truth faileth - That is, it is not to be found, it is missing. The word used here (from עדר ‛âdar) means “to be left, to remain” 2 Samuel 17:22; then “to be missing or lacking” 1 Samuel 30:19; Isaiah 40:26. Here it means that truth had no existence there.And he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey - Margin, ‘Is accounted mad.’ Noyes renders this, ‘And he that departeth from evil

Isaiah 59:5 — They hatch cockatrice’ eggs - Margin, ‘Adders’.’ On the meaning of the word rendered here ‘cockatrice,’ see the notes at Isaiah 11:8. Some poisonous serpent is intended, probably the adder, or the serpent known among the Greeks as the basilisk, or cerastes. This figurative expression is designed to show the evil nature and tendency of their works. They were as if they should carefully

Isaiah 64:2 — furnish an illustration of what would be exhibited by the flowing down of the mountains at the presence of Yahweh, and may serve to show the force of the language which the prophet employs in these verses. It is a description of an eruption of Vesuvius in 1779, by Sir William Hamilton. ‘Jets of liquid lava,’ says he, ‘mixed with stones and scoriae, were thrown up to the height of at least 10,000 feet, having the appearance of a column of fire.The falling matter being nearly as vividly inflamed as that

Jeremiah 20:7-18 — In the rest of the chapter we have an outbreak of deep emotion, of which the first part ends in a cry of hope Jeremiah 20:13, followed nevertheless by curses upon the day of his birth. Was this the result of feelings wounded by the indignities of a public scourging and a night spent in the stocks? Or was it not the mental agony of knowing that his ministry had (as it seemed)

Daniel 7:2 — the sacred poets and the prophets, hosts of armies invading a land are compared to overflowing waters, and mighty changes among the nations to the heaving billows of the ocean in a storm. Compare Jeremiah 46:7-8; Jeremiah 47:2; Isaiah 8:7-8; Isaiah 17:12; Isaiah 59:19; Daniel 11:40; Revelation 13:1. The classic reader will be reminded in the description here of the words of Virgil, AEn. I. 82, following: “Ac venti, velut agmine facto Qua data porta ruunt, et terras turbine perflant. Incubuere mari,

Hosea 2:2 — by her were the sons.”“Ye who believe in Christ, and are both of Jews and Gentiles, say ye to the broken branches and to the former people which is cast off, “My people,” for it is your brother; and “Beloved,” for it is “your sister.” For when Romans 11:25-26 the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in, then shall all Israel be saved. In like way we are bidden not to despair of heretics, but to incite them to repentance, and with brotherly love to long for their salvation” .For she is not My wife

Zephaniah 2:3 — inseparably, that so they may be heard by Him, not for themselves only, but for others?” It is then the same Voice as at the close of the Revelation, “the righteous, let him be still more righteous; the holy, let him be still more holy” Revelation 22:11. They are the “meek,” who are exhorted “diligently” to “seek meekness,” and they who had “wrought His judgment,” who are “diligently” to “seek Righteousness.” And since our Lord saith, “Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart” Matthew 11:29,

Zechariah 11:12 — commanded them. “He sent His servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of the vineyard; and the husbandmen took His servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Last of all, He sent unto them His Son” Matthew 21:34-37, to ask for those fruits, the return for all His bounteous care and His unwearied acts of power and love. o “Give Me,” He would say, “some fruits of piety, and tokens of faith.”Osorius: “What? Does He speak of a price? Did the Lord of all let

Zechariah 11:14 — outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim” Isaiah 11:12-13; and Hosea, “Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and shall appoint themselves one Head” Hosea 1:11; and Jeremiah, “In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel.” Jeremiah 3:18.

Matthew 24:21 — There shall be great tribulation - The word “tribulation” means calamity or “suffering.” Luke Luke 21:24 has specified in what this tribulation would consist: “They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled.”

Matthew 25:1 — similitude of a marriage, the church being represented as his spouse or bride. The marriage relation is the most tender, firm, and endearing of any known on earth, and on this account it suitably represents the union of believers to Christ. See Matthew 9:15; John 3:29; Revelation 19:7; Revelation 21:9; Ephesians 5:25-32.Ten virgins - These virgins, doubtless, represent the church - a name given to it because it is pure and holy. See 2 Corinthians 11:2; Lamentations 1:15; Lamentations 2:13.Which took their

Acts 14:23 — apart afterward to this office is certainly possible, but it is not implied in the word employed here, and did not take place in the transaction to which this word refers. The word occurs in only one other place in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 8:19, where it is applied to Luke, and translated, “who was also chosen of the church (that is, appointed or elected by suffrage by the churches) to travel with us, etc.” The verb properly denotes “to stretch out the hand”; and as it was customary to elect

Acts 6:9 — Jerusalem. The common estimate is, that there were four hundred and eighty in the city (Lightfoot; Vitringa).Of the Libertines - There has been very great difference of opinion about the meaning of this word. The chief opinions may be reduced to three:1. The word is Latin, and means properly a “freedman,” a man who had been a slave and was set at liberty. Many have supposed that these persons were manumitted slaves of Roman origin, but who had become proselyted to the Jewish religion, and who had a

Romans 10:15 — they be sent - That is, except they are divinely commissioned, and sent forth by God. This was an admitted doctrine among the Jews, that a proclamation of a divine message must be made by one who was commissioned by God for that purpose; Jeremiah 23:21; Jeremiah 1:7; Jeremiah 14:14-15; Jeremiah 7:25. He who sends a message to people can alone designate the proper persons to bear it. The point of the objection, therefore, was this: People could not believe unless the message was sent to them; yet God

Romans 8:3 — Because.It was weak - It was feeble and inefficacious. It could not accomplish it.Through the flesh - In consequence of the strength of sin, and of the evil and corrupt desires of the unrenewed heart. The fault was not in the Law, which was good Romans 7:12, but it was owing to the strength of the natural passions and the sinfulness of the unrenewed heart; see Romans 7:7-11, where this influence is fully explained.God, sending his own Son - That is, God did, or accomplished, that, by sending his Son,