Bible Commentaries

Psalms 58:3 — be strange,” or “a stranger.” The proper idea in the word is that one is a stranger, or a foreigner, and the word would be properly applied to one of another tribe or nation, like the Latin “hostis,” and the Greek ξείνος xeinos. Exodus 30:33; Isaiah 1:7; Isaiah 25:2; Isaiah 29:5; Psalms 44:20. The meaning of the term as thus explained is, that, from earliest childhood, they are “as if” they belonged to another people than the people of God; they manifest another spirit; they are governed by other

Isaiah 21:5 — alarmed at an unexpected attack, to arise and anoint the shield, and to prepare for a defense. The “table” here refers to a feast - that impious feast mentioned in Daniel 5:0 in the night in which Babylon was taken, and Belshazzar slain. Herodotus (i. 195), Xenophon (“Cyr.” 7, 5), and Daniel Daniel 5:0 all agree in the account that Babylon was taken in the night in which the king and his nobles were engaged in feasting and revelry. The words of Xenophon are, ‘But Cyrus, when he heard that there was

Isaiah 66:5 — Epiphanes. Vitringa supposes that the address is to the apostles, disciples, and followers of the Lord Jesus; and that it refers to the persecution which would be excited against them by the Jewish people. This seems to me to be the most probable opinion:1. Because the whole structure of the chapter (see the analysis) seems to refer to the period when the Messiah should appear.2. Because the state of things described in this verse exactly accords with what occurred on the introduction of Christianity.

Jeremiah 49:7-22 — why fled to them for refuge.Of the prophecies against Edom the first eight verses of Obadiah are also found in Jeremiah (see the marginal references). As Jeremiah wrote before the capture of Jerusalem, and Obadiah apparently after it (see Jeremiah 49:13-14), it might seem certain that Obadiah copied from Jeremiah. Others held the reverse view; while some consider that the two prophets may both have made common use of some ancient prediction. See the introduction to Obadiah.The prophecy is divisible

Daniel 10:20 — Then said he, Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? - This was known by what the angel had said in Daniel 10:14. He seems to have called his attention to it, and to have proposed the question, because Daniel had been so overcome by his fright that it might be doubtful whether he had understood him distinctly when he had told him the object of his coming.

Hosea 1:2 — only, but manifold and continual, throughout His whole life. She must, then, amid the manifold corruption of Israel, have been repeatedly guilty of that sin, perhaps as an idolatress, thinking of it to be in honor of their foul gods (see the Hosea 4:13, note; Hosea 4:14, note). She was not like those degraded ones, who cease to bear children; still she must have manifoldly sinned. So much the greater was the obedience of the prophet. Nor could any other woman so shadow forth the manifold defilements

Hosea 11:1 — When Israel was a child, then I loved him - God loved Israel, as He Himself formed it, ere it corrupted itself. He loved it for the sake of the fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as he saith, “Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” Malachi 1:2. Then, when it was weak, helpless, oppressed by the Egyptians, afflicted, destitute, God loved him, cared for him, delivered him from oppression, and called him out of Egypt. : “When did He love Israel? When, by His guidance, Israel regained freedom,

Hosea 11:4 — So do thou too come to Christ. Do not conceive of long journeyings. When thou believest, then thou comest. For to Him who is everywhere, people come by loving, not by traveling.” So the Bride saith, “draw me and I will run after Thee” Song of Solomon 1:4. “How sweet,” says Augustine, when converted, “did it at once become to me, to want the sweetnesses of those toys; and what I feared to be parted from, was now a joy to part with. For Thou didst cast them forth from me, Thou true and highest Sweetness.

Hosea 6:3 — “Then shall we know, shall follow on to know the Lord,” i. e., we shall not only know Him, but we shall grow continually in that knowledge. Then, in Israel, God says, “there was no knowledge of Him;” His “people was destroyed for lack of it” Hosea 4:1, Hosea 4:6. In Christ He promises, that they should have that inward knowledge of Him, ever growing, because the grace, through which it is given, ever grows, and “the depth of the riches of His wisdom and knowledge is unsearchable, passing knowledge.”

Amos 1:2 — fertility, perhaps “a land of vine and olive yards.” In Jerome’s time, it was “thickly studded with olives, shrubs and vineyards.” “Its very summit of glad pasturcs.”It is one of the most striking natural features of Palestine. It ends a line of hills, 18 miles long, by a long bold headland reaching out far into the Mediterranean, and forming the south side of the Bay of Acco or Acre. Rising 1,200 feet above the sea , it stands out “like some guardian of its native strand;” yet withal, it was rich with

Jonah 1:7 — lot elected to the apostolate, since the privileges of individuals cannot form a common law.” “Lots,” according to the ends for which they were cast, were for:i) dividing;ii) consulting;iii) divining.i) The lot for dividing is not wrong if not used,1) “without any necessity, for this would be to tempt God:”2) “if in case of necessity, not without reverence of God, as if Holy Scripture were used for an earthly end,” as in determining any secular matter by opening the Bible: 3) for objects which ought

Jonah 4:11 — Should I not spare? - literally “have pity” and so “spare.” God waives for the time the fact of the repentance of Nineveh, and speaks of those on whom man must have pity, those who never had any share in its guilt, the 120,000 children of Nineveh, “I who, in the weakness of infancy, knew not which hand, “the right” or “the left,” is the stronger and fitter for every use.” He who would have spared Sodom “for ten’s sake,” might well be thought to spare Nineveh for the

Micah 1:7 — provision which (as she thought) were gained by fornication with her idols, shall go to another harlot, Nineveh; so that, as they went a whoring in their own land, they should go to another land of idols and fornication, the Assyrians.” They Romans 1:23 turned their glory into shame, changing the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like unto corruptible man; and so it should turn to them into shame. It sprung out of their shame, and should turn to it again. “Ill got, ill spent.” Evil

Zephaniah 2:12 — not subject only but loyal to himself. This is quite consistent with the reason which he assigns; “The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and He hath charged me to build Him an house at Jerusalem which is in Judah” Ezra 1:2-3; and with the statement of Josephus, that he was moved thereto by “reading the prophecy which Isaiah left, 210 years before.”It is, alas! nothing new to Christians to have mixed motives for their actions: the exception is to have a single motive,

Matthew 13:18-23 — See also Mark 4:13-20; Luke 8:11-15. “Hear ye, therefore, the parable of the sower.” That is, hear the “explanation” or the “spiritual meaning” of the narrative given before. Mark adds Mark 4:13, “Know ye not this parable? And how, then, shall ye know all parables?”

Matthew 9:14-17 — Then came the disciples of John ... - This narrative is found also in Mark 2:18-22; Luke 5:33-39. The reference here is to John the Baptist. It is probable that they had understood that John was the forerunner of the Messiah; and if such was the case, they could not account for the fact that there was such a difference between

John 14:2-3 — interpreters understand this of heaven, as the special dwelling-place or palace of God; but it may include the universe, as the abode of the omnipresent God.Are many mansions - The word rendered “mansions” means either the act of dwelling in any place (John 14:23, “we will make our abode with him”), or it means the place where one dwells. It is taken from the verb to remain, and signifies the place where one dwells or remains. It is applied by the Greek writers to the tents or temporary habitations which

Acts 15:31 — council has been usually appealed to as the authority for councils in the church as a permanent arrangement, and especially as an authority for courts of appeal and control. But it establishes neither, and should be brought as authority for neither. For:(1) It was not a court of appeal in any intelligible sense. It was an assembly convened for a special purpose; designed to settle an inquiry which arose in a particular part of the church, and which required the collected wisdom of the apostles and elders.(2)

Acts 20:35 — infirmed.”And to remember - To call to mind for encouragement, and with the force of a command,The words of the Lord Jesus - These words are nowhere recorded by the evangelists. But they did not pretend to record all his sayings and instructions. Compare John 21:25. There is the highest reason to suppose that many of his sayings which are not recorded would be treasured up by those who heard them; would be transmitted to others; and would be regarded as a precious part of his instructions. Paul evidently addresses

1 Corinthians 11:25 — the word διαθήκη diathēkē, a will, or a testament, as a translation of the Hebrew word, where there is a reference to the covenant which God is represented as making with people. The word συνθηκη sunthēkē is used by them but three times Isaiah 28:15; Isaiah 30:1; Daniel 11:6, and in neither instance with any reference to the covenant which God is represented as making with man. The word διαθήκη diathēkē, as the translation of בּרית berı̂yth (Berith), occurs more than two hundred times. (See