Recent Commentaries

Now that the walls and gates of Jerusalem were restored, it was important that the Jews live in their capital city and make the population grow. For one thing, people were needed to protect the city; for they never knew when the enemy might decide to attack. It may have been safe …

In this passage Jesus was attacking a system that put rules and regulations before the claim of human need (vv. 8-13). The commandment of God was that the claim of human love should come first; the commandment of the scribes was that the claim of legal rules and regulations shou …

Paul’s ministry in Thessalonica was characterized as being free of three things:It was free of flattery – Paul never tried to flatter people (v. 5). Rather than seeking something for himself he delighted in giving to others freely. It has been said that a flatterer is a person wh …

1. The descendants of Issachar (vv. 1-5). Issachar was the father of four sons, who were all brave soldiers and family leaders in their clans. According to records the tribe of Issachar had a total of 87,000 warriors …

Paul gives three principles for everyday living that should become goals for our life (v. 11):Lead a restful life – Quiet is the opposite of restless. Christians, in their zeal, sometimes attempt to do too many things. It is possible to attempt so much that we cannot do anything …

A spirit of reconciliation set in almost as soon as the war ended. In the heat of conflict Israel had made a rash vow that she would never again permit intermarriage with Benjamin (v. 1). If strictly observed this would have eliminated this tribe. With the Israelites a vow once made, even if it was …

We all have a past. There are very few people today that have not been touched by divorce. We have all heard the statistics that cite that roughly one-half of every marriage ends in divorce. Forty percent of young women before the age of 20 become pregnant here in the United States. Many …

The real nature of Saul begins to show in this chapter. As we get a good view of him we begin to see that he is a phony. After reigning two years over Israel He organized and commanded an army of two thousand, stationed in Micmash to the north of Jerusalem (vv. 1-3). His son, Jon …

An undisciplined child will bring shame to his mother and ruin to himself (v. 15). When the wicked are multiplied, transgression increases (v. 16). Proper discipline includes both verbal instruction and spankings. Failure to discipline results in a society overrun with wickedness and lacking in …

We find the Pharisees and Sadducees who are normally opposing each other, uniting in one common effort to silence Jesus (v. 1). The Pharisees were the traditionalists of their day and the Sadducees were the liberals. For the fourth time these religious leaders were asking for a s …