Recent Commentaries

The Lord told Moses to say to the community of Israel (vv. 1-2): You must supply the purest olive oil for the lamps in the sacred tent, so they will keep burning. Aaron will set up the gold lampstand in the holy place of the sacred tent (vv. 3-4). Then he will light the seven lam …

On this final trip from Galilee to Jerusalem, Jesus and His disciples were passing through Jericho which is in the Jordan Valley about 15 miles from Jerusalem (v. 46). Jericho was a popular resort city in the Judean wilderness, not far from the Jordan River crossing from Perea. I …

Once again, the Ziphites betrayed David’s location to Saul (v. 1). Saul took 3,000 troops and went to find David. When they reached the area where David was camped, they were very tired and bedded down for the night with the intention of launching a surprise attack on David and his people …

To be wise is to be under God’s “seeing eyes” of protection (v. 12). To be unwise and treacherous, even in what one says, is to be on a path that will end in frustration. The lazy person has all kinds of excuses for not wanting to work (v. 13). When no dangers or difficulties exist, he imagines them …

Here is a list of the priests who had agreed to divorce their foreign wives and to sacrifice a ram as a sin offering (vv. 18-44). Although putting these pagan wives away was a severe solution, it appears that it only involved 113 of the approximately 29,000 families. This list of …

This passage should be understood as an illustration of what happens in a life void of humility (vv. 11-12). In fact harsh criticism of fellow Christians is one of the worst expressions of pride. The person who does it sets himself above the person he criticizes and the div …

The key phrase in Deuteronomy 13 is, “Let us go after other gods” (vv. 2,6,13). The Israelites were warned not to listen to false prophets or to anyone else who tried to get them to worship other gods (vv. 2-11). Loved ones and friends can be especially persuasive. But love for relatives should not …

Micah opens this chapter by stating that many of the people lay awake at night thinking up evil things to do the next day. On these people he pronounced woe, a term used by several prophets to announce guilt and coming judgment (v. 1). In their life style of materialism, the pe …

Peter states that his goal in life is to use every opportunity to instruct others in the faith. One important function of any Christian leader is to remind his followers of basic Bible doctrine. Sad to say, many Christians are ignorant of these things and therefore do not live …

John closes out the Word of God with a threefold invitation to the unsaved (v. 17). (1) The Spirit says come, (2) The bride says come, (3) And we who have heard must say come …