Survey
of the Old and New Testament
Extracted
from the writings of
by
Stanford E.
Murrell
Chapter 2 Exodus
Chapter 3 Leviticus
Chapter 4 Numbers
Chapter 5 Deuteronomy
Chapter 6 Joshua
1050-931 BC
Chapter 9 1
Samuel
Chapter 10 2
Samuel
931-586 BC
Chapter 11 1
Kings
Chapter
12 2 Kings
Chapter
13 1 Chronicles
Chapter
14 2 Chronicles
931-722
Chapter 16 Nehemiah
Chapter 17 Esther
Chapter 18 Job
Chapter 19 Psalms
Chapter 20 Proverbs
Chapter 21 Ecclesiastes
Chapter 22 Song
of Solomon
Chapter 23 Isaiah
Chapter 24 Jeremiah
Chapter 25 Lamentations
586-531 BC
Chapter 26 Ezekiel
Chapter 27 Daniel
Chapter 28 Hosea
Chapter 29 Joel
Chapter 30 Amos
Chapter 31 Obadiah
Chapter 32 Jonah
Chapter 33 Micah
Chapter 34 Nahum
Chapter 35 Habakkuk
Chapter 36 Zephaniah
Chapter 37 Haggai
Chapter 38 Zechariah
Chapter 39 Malachi
SURVEY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
Chapter 1 Matthew
Chapter 2 Mark
Chapter 3 Luke
Chapter 4 John
Chapter 5 Acts
Chapter 6 Romans
Chapter 7 1
Corinthians
Chapter 8 2
Corinthians
Chapter 9 Galatians
Chapter 10 Ephesians
Chapter 11 Philippians
Chapter 12 Colossians
Chapter 13 1
Thessalonians
Chapter 14 2
Thessalonians
Chapter 15 1
Timothy
Chapter 16 2
Timothy
Chapter 17 Titus
Chapter 18 Philemon
Chapter 19 Hebrews
Chapter 20 James
Chapter 21 1
Peter
Chapter 22 2
Peter
Chapter 23 1
John
Chapter 24 2
John
Chapter 25 3
John
Chapter 26 Jude
Chapter 27 Revelation
Matthew Henry’s Commentary
Genesis
We
have now before us the holy Bible, or book, for so bible signifies. We call it
the book, by way of eminency; for it is incomparably the best book that ever
was written, the book of books, shining like the sun in the firmament of
learning, other valuable and useful books, like the moon and stars, borrowing
their light from it. We call it the holy book, because it was written by holy
men, and indited by the Holy Ghost; it is perfectly pure from all falsehood and
corrupt intention; and the manifest tendency of it is to promote holiness among
men. The great things of God's law and gospel are here written to us, that they
might be reduced to a greater certainty, might spread further, remain longer,
and be transmitted to distant places and ages more pure and entire than
possibly they could be by report and tradition: and we shall have a great deal
to answer for if these things which belong to our peace, being thus committed
to us in black and white, be neglected by us as a strange and foreign thing,
Hos 8:12. The scriptures, or writings of the several inspired penmen, from
Moses down to St. John, in which divine light, like that of the morning, shone
gradually (the sacred canon being now completed), are all put together in this
blessed Bible, which, thanks be to God, we have in our hands, and they make as
perfect a day as we are to expect on this side of heaven. Every part was good,
but all together very good. This is the light that shines in a dark place 2
Peter 1:19, and a dark place indeed the world would be without the Bible.
We
have before us that part of the Bible which we call the Old Testament,
containing the acts and monuments of the church from the creation almost to the
coming of Christ in the flesh, which was about four thousand years-- the truths
then revealed, the laws then enacted, the devotions then paid, the prophecies
then given, and the events which concerned that distinguished body, so far as
God saw fit to preserve to us the knowledge of them. This is called a
testament, or covenant (Diatheke)(NT:1242), because it was a settled
declaration of the will of God concerning man in a federal way, and had its
force from the designed death of the great testator, the Lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, Rev 8:8. It is called the Old Testament, with relation
to the New, which does not cancel and supersede it, but crown and perfect it,
by the bringing in of that better hope which was typified and foretold in it;
the Old Testament still remains glorious, though the New far exceeds in glory,
2 Cor 3:9. We have before us that part of the Old Testament which we call the
Pentateuch, or five books of Moses, that servant of the Lord who excelled all
the other prophets, and typified the great prophet. In our Saviour's
distribution of the books of the Old Testament into the law, the prophets, and
the psalms, or Hagiographa,(NT:40;NT:1124) these are the law; for they contain
not only the laws given to Israel, in the last four, but the laws given to
Adam, to Noah, and to Abraham, in the first. These five books were, for aught
we know, the first that ever were written; for we have not the least mention of
any writing in all the book of Genesis, nor till God bade Moses write Ex 17:14;
and some think Moses himself never learned to write till God set him his copy in
the writing of the ten Commandments upon the tables of stone. However, we are
sure these books are the most ancient writings now extant, and therefore best
able to give us a satisfactory account of the most ancient things.
We
have before us the first and longest of those five books, which we call
Genesis, written, some think, when Moses was in Midian, for the instruction and
comfort of his suffering brethren in Egypt: I rather think he wrote it in the
wilderness, after he had been in the mount with God, where, probably, he
received full and particular instructions for the writing of it. And, as he
framed the tabernacle, so he did the more excellent and durable fabric of this
book, exactly according to the pattern shown him in the mount, into which it is
better to resolve the certainty of the things herein contained than into any
tradition which possibly might be handed down from Adam to Methuselah, from him
to Shem, from him to Abraham, and so to the family of Jacob. Genesis is a name
borrowed from the Greek. It signifies the original, or generation: fitly is
this book so called, for it is a history of originals-- the creation of the
world, the entrance of sin and death into it, the invention of arts, the rise
of nations, and especially the planting of the church, and the state of it in
its early days. It is also a history of generations-- the generations of Adam,
Noah, Abraham, etc., not endless, but useful genealogies. The beginning of the
New Testament is called Genesis too Matt 1:1, Biblos (NT:976) geneseos,
(NT:1078) the book of the genesis, or generation, of Jesus Christ. Blessed be
God for that Book which shows us our remedy, as this opens our wound. Lord,
open our eyes, that we may see the wondrous things both of thy law and gospel!
Matthew
Henry’s Commentary
Exodus
Moses
(the servant of the Lord in writing for him as well as in acting for him-- with
the pen of God as well as with the rod of God in his hand) having, in the first
book of his history, preserved and transmitted the records of the church, while
it existed in private families, comes, in this second book, to give us an
account of its growth into a great nation; and, as the former furnishes us with
the best economics, so this with the best politics. The beginning of the former
book shows us how God formed the world for himself; the beginning of this shows
us how he formed Israel for himself, and both show forth his praise, Isa 43:21.
There we have the creation of the world in history, here the redemption of the
world in type. The Greek translators called this book Exodus (which signifies a
departure or going out) because it begins with the story of the going out of
the children of Israel from Egypt. Some allude to the names of this and the
foregoing book, and observe that immediately after Genesis, which signifies the
beginning or original, follows Exodus, which signifies a departure; for a time
to be born is immediately succeeded by a time to die. No sooner have we made
our entrance into the world than we must think of making our exit, and going
out of the world. When we begin to live we begin to die. The forming of Israel
into a people was a new creation. As the earth was, in the beginning, first
fetched from under water, and then beautified and replenished, so Israel was first
by an almighty power made to emerge out of Egyptian slavery, and then enriched
with God's law and tabernacle.
This
book gives us,
I. The accomplishment of the promises made
before to Abraham (ch. 1-19), and then,
II.
The establishment of the ordinances which were afterwards observed by Israel
(ch. 20-40). Moses, in this book, begins, like Caesar, to write his own
Commentaries; nay, a greater, a far greater, than Caesar is here. But
henceforward the penman is himself the hero, and gives us the history of those
things of which he was himself an eye and ear-witness, et quorum pars magna
fuit-- and in which he bore a conspicuous part. There are more types of Christ
in this book than perhaps in any other book of the Old Testament; for Moses
wrote of him, John 5:46. The way of man's reconciliation to God, and coming
into covenant and communion with him by a Mediator, is here variously
represented; and it is of great use to us for the illustration of the New
Testament, now that we have that to assist us in the explication of the Old.
Matthew
Henry’s Commentary
Leviticus
There is nothing historical in
all this book of Leviticus except the account which it gives us of the
consecration of the priesthood (ch. 8-9), of the punishment of Nadab and Abihu,
by the hand of God, for offering strange fire (ch. 10), and of Shelomith's son,
by the hand of the magistrate, for blasphemy (ch. 24). All the rest of the book
is taken up with the laws, chiefly the ecclesiastical laws, which God gave to
Israel by Moses, concerning their sacrifices and offerings, their meats and
drinks, and divers washings, and the other peculiarities by which God set that
people apart for himself, and distinguished them from other nations, all which
were shadows of good things to come, which are realized and superseded by the
gospel of Christ. We call the book Leviticus, from the Septuagint, because it
contains the laws and ordinances of the levitical priesthood (as it is called,
Heb 7:11), and the ministrations of it.
The Levites were principally
charged with these institutions, both to do their part and to teach the people
theirs. We read, in the close of the foregoing book, of the setting up of the
tabernacle, which was to be the place of worship; and, as that was framed
according to the pattern, so must the ordinances of worship be, which were
there to be administered. In these the divine appointment was as particular as
in the former, and must be as punctually observed. The remaining record of
these abrogated laws is of use to us, for the strengthening of our faith in
Jesus Christ, as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, and for the
increase of our thankfulness to God, that by him we are freed from the yoke of
the ceremonial law, and live in the times of reformation.
Matthew
Henry’s Commentary
Numbers
The
titles of the five books of Moses, which we use in our Bibles, are all borrowed
from the Greek translation of the Seventy, the most ancient version of the Old
Testament that we know of. But the title of this book only we turn into
English; in all the rest we retain the Greek word itself, for which difference
I know no reason but that the Latin translators have generally done the same.
Otherwise this book might as well have been called Arithmoi,(NT:706) the Greek title,
as the first Genesis, and the second Exodus; or these might as well have been
translated, and called, the first the Generation, or Original, the second the
Out-let, or Escape, as this Numbers.-- This book was thus entitled because of
the numbers of the children of Israel, so often mentioned in this book, and so
well worthy to give a title to it, because it was the remarkable accomplishment
of God's promise to Abraham that his seed should be as the stars of heaven for
multitude. It also relates to two numberings of them, one at mount Sinai (ch.
1), the other in the plains of Moab, thirty-nine years after (ch. 26). And not
three men the same in the last account that were in the first. The book is
almost equally divided between histories and laws, intermixed.
We have here,
I. The histories of the numbering and
marshalling of the tribes (ch. 1-4), the dedication of the altar and Levites
(ch. 7, 8), their march (ch. 9, 10), their murmuring and unbelief, for which
they were sentenced to wander forty years in the wilderness (ch. 11-14), the
rebellion of Korah (ch. 16, 17), the history of the last year of the forty (ch.
20-26), the conquest of Midian, and the settlement of the two tribes (ch. 31,
32), with an account of their journeys (ch. 33),
II.
II.
Divers laws about the Nazarites, etc. (ch. 5, 6); and again
about the priests' charge, etc.
(ch. 18, 19), feasts
(ch. 28, 29), and vows (ch. 30), and relating to their settlement in Canaan
(ch. 27, 34, 35, 36).
An
abstract of much of this book we have in a few words in Ps 95:10, Forty years
long was I grieved with this generation; and an application of it to ourselves
in Heb 4:1, Let us fear lest we seem to come short. Many considerable nations
there were now in being, that dwelt in cities and fortified towns, of which no
notice is taken, no account kept, by the sacred history: but very exact records
are kept of the affairs of a handful of people, that dwelt in tents, and
wandered strangely in a wilderness, because they were the children of the
covenant. For the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob is the lot of his
inheritance.
Matthew
Henry’s Commentary
Deuteronomy
This book is a repetition of very
much both of the history and of the laws contained in the three foregoing
books, which repetition Moses delivered to Israel (both by word of mouth, that
it might affect, and by writing, that it might abide) a little before his
death. There is no new history in it but that of the death of Moses in the last
chapter, nor any new revelation to Moses, for aught that appears, and therefore
the style here is not, as before, The Lord spoke unto Moses, saying. But the
former laws are repeated and commented upon, explained and enlarged, and some
particular precepts added to them, with copius reasonings for the enforcing of
them: in this Moses was divinely inspired and assisted, so that this is as
truly the word of the Lord by Moses as that which was spoken to him with an
audible voice out of the tabernacle of the congregation, Lev 1:1. The Greek interpreters
call it Deuteronomy, which signifies the second law, or a second edition of the
law, not with amendments, for there needed none, but with additions, for the
further direction of the people in divers cases not mentioned before. Now,
I. It
was much for the honour of the divine law that it should be thus repeated; how
great were the things of that law which was thus inculcated, and how
inexcusable would those be by whom they were counted as a strange thing! Hos
8:12.
II.
II.
There might be a particular reason for the repeating of it
now; the men of that generation
to which the law was
first given were all dead, and a new generation had sprung up, to whom God
would have it repeated by Moses himself, that, if possible, it might make a
lasting impression upon them. Now that they were just going to take possession
of the land of Canaan, Moses must read the articles of agreement to them, that
they might know upon what terms and conditions they were to hold and enjoy that
land, and might understand that they were upon their good behaviour in it.
III.
III.
It would be of great use to the people to have those parts
of the law thus gathered up and
put together which did
more immediately concern them and their practice; for the laws which concerned
the priests and Levites, and the execution of their offices, are not repeated:
it was enough for them that they were once delivered.
But,
in compassion to the infirmities of the people, the laws of more common concern
are delivered a second time. Precept must be upon precept, and line upon line,
Isa 28:10. The great and needful truths of the gospel should be often pressed
upon people by the ministers of Christ. To write the same things (says Paul,
Phil 3:1) to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. What God has
spoken once we have need to hear twice, to hear many times, and it is well if,
after all, it be duly perceived and regarded. In three ways this book of
Deuteronomy was magnified and made honourable—
1.
1. The
king was to write a copy of it with his own hand, and to read therein all the
days of his
life,
ch. 17, 18, 19.
2.
2. It
was to be written upon great stones plastered, at their passing over Jordan,
Deut 27:2-3.
3.
3. It
was to be read publicly every seventh year, at the feast of tabernacles, by the
priests, in the audience of all Israel, Deut 31:9, etc. The gospel is a kind of Deuteronomy, a
second law, a remedial law, a spiritual law, a law of faith; by it we are under
the law of Christ, and it is a law that makes the comers thereunto perfect.
This
book of Deuteronomy begins with a brief rehearsal of the most remarkable events
that had befallen the Israelites since they came from Mount Sinai. In the
fourth chapter we have a most pathetic exhortation to obedience. In the twelfth
chapter, and so on to the twenty-seventh, are repeated many particular laws,
which are enforced (ch. 27 and 28) with promises and threatenings, blessings
and curses, formed into a covenant, ch. 29 and 30. Care is taken to perpetuate
the remembrance of these things among them (ch. 31), particularly by a song
(ch. 32), and so Moses concludes with a blessing, ch. 33. All this was
delivered by Moses to Israel in the last month of his life. The whole book
contains the history but of two months; compare Deut 1:3 with Josh 4:19, the
latter of which was the thirty days of Israel's mourning for Moses; see how
busy that great and good man was to do good when he knew that his time was
short, how quick his motion when he drew near his rest. Thus we have more
recorded of what our blessed Saviour said and did in the last week of his life
than in any other. The last words of eminent persons make or should make deep
impressions. Observe, for the honour of this book, that when our Saviour would
answer the devil's temptations with, It is written, he fetched all his
quotations out of this book, Matt 4:4,7,10.
Matthew
Henry’s Commentary
Joshua
We
have now before us the history of the Jewish nation in this book and those that
follow it to the end of the book of Esther.
These books, to he end of the books of the Kings, the Jewish writers
call the first book of the prophets, to bring them within the distribution of
the books of the Old Testament, into the Law, the Prophets, and the Chetubim
(OT:3791), or Hagiographa,(NT:40;NT:1124), Luke 24:44. The rest they make part
of the Hagiographa. For, though history is their subject, it is justly supposed
that prophets were their penmen. To those books that are purely and properly
prophetical the name of the prophet is prefixed, because the credibility of the
prophecies depended much upon the character of the prophets; but these
historical books, it is probable, were collections of the authentic records of
the nation, which some of the prophets (and the Jewish church was for many ages
more or less continually blessed with such) were divinely directed and helped
to put together for the service of the church to the end of the world; as their
other officers, so their historiographers, had their authority from heaven.--
It should seem that though the substance of the several histories was written
when the events were fresh in memory, and written under a divine direction,
yet, under the same direction, they were put into the form in which we now have
them by some other hand, long afterwards, probably all by the same hand, or
about the same time. The grounds of the conjecture are,
1.
1. Because
former writings are so often referred to, as the Book of Jasher (Josh 10:13,
and 2 Sam 1:18), the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel and Judah, and the books
of Gad, Nathan, and Iddo.
2.
2. Because
the days when the things were done are spoken of sometimes as days long since
passed; as 1 Sam 9:9, He that is now called a prophet was formerly called a
seer. And,
3.
3. Because
we so often read of things remaining unto this day; as stones Josh 4:9; 7:26;
8:29; 10:27; 1 Sam 6:18, names of places Josh 5:9; 7:26; Judg 1:26; 15:19;
18:12; 2 Kings 14:7, rights and possessions Judg 1:21; 1 Sam 27:6, customs
and usages 1 Sam 5:5; 2 Kings 17:41,
which clauses have been since added to the history by the inspired collectors
for the confirmation and illustration of it to those of their own age.
And,
if one may offer a mere conjecture, it is not unlikely that the historical books, to the end of the
Kings, were put together by Jeremiah the prophet, a little before the
captivity; for it is said of Ziklag 1 Sam 27:6 that it pertains to the kings of
Judah (which style began after Solomon and ended in the captivity) unto this
day. And it is still more probable that those which follow were put together by
Ezra the scribe, some time after the captivity. However, though we are in the
dark concerning their authors, we are in no doubt concerning their authority;
they were a part of the oracles of God, which were committed to the Jews, and
were so received and referred to by our Saviour and the apostles.
In the five books of Moses we had
a very full account of the rise, advance, and constitution, of the
Old-Testament church, the family out of which it was raised, the promise, that
great charter by which it was incorporated, the miracles by which it was built
up, and the laws and ordinances by which it was to be governed, from which one
would conceive and expectation of its character and state very different from
what we find in this history. A nation that had statutes and judgments so
righteous, one would think, should have been very holy; and a nation what had
promises so rich should have been very happy. But, alas! a great part of the
history is a melancholy representation of their sins and miseries; for the law
made nothing perfect, but this was to be done by the bringing in of the better
hope. And yet, if we compare the history of the Christian church with its
constitution, we shall find the same cause for wonder, so many have been its
errors and corruptions; for neither does the gospel make any thing perfect in
this world, but leaves us still in expectation of a better hope in the future
state.
We have next before us the book
of Joshua, so called, perhaps, not because it was written by him, for that is
uncertain. Dr. Lightfoot thinks that Phinehas wrote it. Bishop Patrick is clear
that Joshua wrote it himself. However that be, it is written concerning him,
and, if any other wrote it, it was collected out of his journals or memoirs. It
contains the history of Israel under the command and government of Joshua, how
he presided as general of their armies,
I.
I.
1. In their entrance into Canaan, ch. 1-5.
II.
II.
2. In their conquest of Canaan, ch. 6-12.
III.
III.
3. In the distribution of the land of Canaan among the
tribes of Israel, ch. 22-24.
In
all which he was a great example of wisdom, courage, fidelity, and piety, to
all that are in places of public trust. But this is not all the use that is to
be made of this history. We may see in it,
1.
1. Much
of God and his providence-- his power in the kingdom of nature, his justice in
punishing the Canaanites when the measure of their iniquity was full, his
faithfulness to his covenant with the patriarchs, and his kindness to his
people Israel, notwithstanding their provocations. We may see him as the Lord
of Hosts determining the issues of war, and as the director of the lot,
determining the bounds of men's habitations.
2.
2. Much
of Christ and his grace. Though Joshua is not expressly mentioned in the New
Testament as a type of Christ, yet all agree that he was a very eminent one. He
bore our Saviour's name, as did also another type of him, Joshua the high
priest, Zech 6:11-12. The Septuagint, giving the name of Joshua a Greek
termination, call him all along Iesous,(NT:2424) Jesus, and so he is called
Acts 7:45, and Heb 4:8. Justin Martyr, one of the first writers of the
Christian church (Dialog. cum Tryph. p. mihi 300), makes that promise in Ex
23:20, My angel shall bring thee into the place I have prepared, to point at
Joshua; and these words, My name is in him, to refer to this, that his names
should be the same with that of the Messiah. It signifies, He shall save.
Joshua saves God's people from the Canaanites; our Lord Jesus saves them from
their sins. Christ, as Joshua, is the captain of our salvation, a leader and
commander of the people, to tread Satan under their feet, to put them in
possession of the heavenly Canaan, and to give them rest, which (it is said,
Heb 4:8) Joshua did not.
The Era of the Judges
Judge Area Scripture
Othniel
Judah Judges 3:9
Ehud Benjamin Judges 3:15
Shamgar Judges
3:31
Deborah Ephraim Judges 4:4-6
Barak Naphtali Judges 4:4-6
Gideon Manasseh Judges 6:11
Tola Issachar Judges 10:1
Jair Gilead Judges 10:3
Jephthah Gilead Judges 11:11
Ibzan Bethlehem Judges 12:8
Elon Zebulun Judges 12:11
Abdon Ephraim Judges 12:13
Samson Dan Judges 15:20
Eli Levi 1 Samuel 1-4
Samuel Ephraim 1 Samuel 7-19
Saul Benjamin 1 Samuel 7-19
Matthew
Henry’s Commentary
Judges
This is called the Hebrew Shepher
Shophtim,(OT:8199) the Book of Judges, which the Syriac and Arabic versions
enlarge upon, and call it, The Book of the Judges of the Children of Israel;
the judgments of that nation being peculiar, so were their judges, whose office
differed vastly from that of the judges of other nations. The Septuagint
entitles it only Kritai, (NT:2923) Judges. It is the history of the
commonwealth of Israel, during the government of the judges from Othniel to
Eli, so much of it as God saw fit to transmit to us. It contains the history
(according to Dr. Lightfoot's computation) of 299 years, reckoning
to
Othniel of Judah forty
years,
to
Ehud of Benjamin eighty
years,
to
Barak of Naphtali forty
years,
to
Gideon of Manasseh forty
years,
to
Abimelech his son three
years,
to
Tola of Issachar twenty-three,
to
Jair of Manasseh twenty-two,
to
Jephtha of Manasseh six,
to
Ibzan of Judah seven,
to
Elon of Zebulun ten,
to
Abdon of Ephriam eight,
to
Samson of Dan twenty,
in all 299. As for the
years of their servitude, as were Eglon is said to oppress them eighteen years
and Jabin twenty years, and so some others, those must be reckoned to fall in
with some or other of the years of the judges. The judges here appear to have
been of eight several tribes; that honour was thus diffused, until at last it
centred in Judah. Eli and Samuel, the two judges that fall not within this
book, were of Levi. It seems, there was no judge of Reuben or Simeon, Gad or
Asher. The history of these judges in their order we have in this book to the
end of ch. 16. And then in the last five chapters we have an account of some
particular memorable events which happened, as the story of Ruth did Ruth 1:1
in the days when the judges ruled, but it is not certain in which judge's days;
but they are put together at the end of the book, that the thread of the
general history might not be interrupted. Now as to the state of the
commonwealth of Israel during this period,
I. They do not appear here either so
great or so good as one might have expected the character of such a peculiar
people would be, that were governed by such laws and enriched by such
promises. We find them wretchedly
corrupted, and wretchedly oppressed by their neighbours about them, and nowhere
in all the book, either in war or council, do they make any figure
proportionable to their glorious entry into Canaan. What shall we say to it?
God would hereby show us the lamentable imperfection of all persons and things
under the sun, that we may look for complete holiness and happiness in the
other world, and not in this. Yet,
II. We may hope that though the historian
in this book enlarges most upon their provocations and grievances, yet there
was a face of religion upon the land; and, however there were those among them
that were drawn aside to idolatry, yet the tabernacle-service, according to the
law of Moses, was kept up, and there were many that attended it.
III. Historians record
not the common course of justice and commerce in a nation, taking that for
granted, but only the wars and disturbances that happen; but the reader must
consider the other, to balance the blackness of them. It should seem that in these times each tribe had very much its
government in ordinary within itself, and acted separately, without one common
head, or council, which occasioned many differences among themselves, and kept
them from being or doing any thing considerable.
IV. The government of the judges was not
constant, but occasional; when it is said that after Ehud's victory the land
rested eighty years, and after Barak's forty, it is not certain that they
lived, much less that they governed, so long; but they and the rest were raised
up and animated by the Spirit of God to do particular service to the public
when there was occasion, to avenge Israel of their enemies, and to purge Israel
of their idolatries, which are the two things principally meant by their
judging Israel. Yet Deborah, as a prophetess, was attended for judgment by all
Israel, before there was occasion for her agency in war, Judg 4:4.
V. During the government of the judges,
God was in a more especial manner Israel's king; so Samuel tells them when they
were resolved to throw off this form of government, 1 Sam 12:12. God would try
what his own law and the constitutions of that would do to keep them in order,
and it proved that when there was no king in Israel every man did that which
was right in his own eyes; he therefore, towards the latter end of this time,
made the government of the judges more constant and universal that it was at
first, and at length gave them David, a king after his own heart; then, and not
till then, Israel began to flourish, which should make us very thankful for
magistrates both supreme and subordinate, for they are ministers of God unto us
for good. Four of the judges of Israel are canonized Heb 11:32, Gideon, Barak,
Samson, and Jephtha. The Learned bishop Patrick thinks the prophet Samuel was
the penman of this Book.
Matthew
Henry’s Commentary
Ruth
This short history of the
domestic affairs of one particular family fitly follows the book of Judges (the
events related here happening in the days of the judges), and fitly goes before
the books of Samuel, because in the close it introduces David; yet the Jews, in
their Bibles, separate it from both, and make it one of the five
Megilloth,(OT:4039) or Volumes, which they put together towards the latter end,
in this order: Solomon's Song, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, and Esther. It
is probable that Samuel was the penman of it. It relates not miracles nor laws,
wars nor victories, nor the revolutions of states, but the affliction first and
afterwards the comfort of Naomi, the conversion first and afterwards the
preferment of Ruth. Many such events have happened, which perhaps we may think
as well worthy to be recorded; but these God saw fit to transmit the knowledge
of to us; and even common historians think they have liberty to choose their
subject. The design of this book is,
I.
I.
To lead to providence, to show us how conversant it is about
our private concerns, and to teach us in them all to have an eye to it,
acknowledging God in all our ways and in all events that concern us. See 1 Sam
2:7-8; Ps 113:7-9.
II.
II.
To lead to Christ, who descended from Ruth, and part of
whose genealogy concludes the book, whence it is fetched into Matt 1. In the
conversion of Ruth the Moabitess, and the bringing of her into the pedigree of
the Messiah, we have a type of the calling of the Gentiles in due time into the
fellowship of Christ Jesus our Lord. The afflictions of Naomi and Ruth we have
an account of, ch. 1. Instances of their industry and humility, ch. 2. The
bringing of them into an alliance with Boaz, ch. 3. And their happy settlement
thereby, ch. 4. And let us remember the scene is laid in Bethlehem, the city
where our Redeemer was born.
The Era of the Kings
The United Kingdom
1050=931
BC
Reign of Saul 1 Samuel 9:1
1050-1011 1050-1011 2
Samuel 1:27
1
Chronicles 8:33-10:14
Victories
over
Amonnites Tiglath-pileser
I
Philistines king of Assyria
Amalelites
Saul
and David Agag,
king of Amalek
Death
of Saul at Mt. Gilboa Achish,
king of Gath
Reign of David 1 Samuel 16:1 Hiram,
king of Tyre
1011-971 1
Kings 2:11
1
Chronicles 11:1-29:30
Fall
of Jerusalem
Victories
and enlargement
Alliance
with Hamath and Tyre
Revolt
of Absalom
Reign of Solomon 1 Kings 1:11-11:43 Hiram, king of Tyre
1
Chronicles 29:20 –
2
Chronicles 9:31
Building
of the Temple Hadad
the Edomite
In
Egypt in exile
Visit
of Queen of Sheba Shishak,
king of Egypt
(22nd Dynasty)
Death
of Solomon Jeroboam
in exile
Division of the kingdom
Matthew
Henry’s Commentary
1 Samuel
This book, and that which follows
it, bear the name of Samuel in the title, not because he was the penman of them
(except of so much of them as fell within his own time, to the twenty-fifth chapter
of the first book, in which we have an account of his death), but because the
first book begins with a large account of him, his birth and childhood, his
life and government; and the rest of these two volumes that are denominated
from him contains the history of the reigns of Saul and David, who were both
anointed by him. And, because the history of these two kings takes up the
greatest part of these books, the Vulgar latin calls them the First and Second
Books of the Kings, and the two that follow the Third and Fourth, which the
titles in our English Bibles take notice of with an alias: otherwise called the
First Book of the Kings, etc. The Septuagint calls them the first and second
Book of the Kingdoms. It is needless to contend about it, but there is no
occasion to vary from the Hebrew verity.
These two books contain the
history of the last two of the judges, Eli and Samuel, who were not, as the
rest, men of war, but priests (and so much of them is an appendix to the book
of Judges), and of the first two of the kings, Saul and David, and so much of
them is an entrance upon the history of the kings. They contain a considerable
part of the sacred history, are sometimes referred to in the New Testament, and
often in the titles of David's Psalms, which, if placed in their order, would
fall in these books. It is uncertain who was the penman of them; it is probable
that Samuel wrote the history of his own time, and that, after him, some of the
prophets that were with David (Nathan as likely as any) continued it. This
first book gives us a full account of Eli's fall and Samuel's rise and good
government, ch. 1-8. Of Samuel's resignation of the government and Saul's
advancement and mal-administration, ch. 9-15. The choice of David, his
struggles with Saul, Saul's ruin at last, and the opening of the way for David
to the throne, ch. 16-31. And these things are written for our learning.
Matthew
Henry’s Commentary
2 Samuel
This book is the history of the reign
of king David. We had in the foregoing book an account of his designation to
the government, and his struggles with Saul, which ended at length in the death
of his persecutor. This book begins with his accession to the throne, and is
entirely taken up with the affairs of the government during the forty years he
reigned, and therefore is entitled by the Septuagint. The Third Book of the
Kings. It gives us an account of David's triumphs and his troubles.
I.
I.
His triumphs over the house of Saul (ch. 1-4), over the
Jebusites and Philistines (ch. 5), at the bringing up of the ark (ch. 6 and 7),
over the neighbouring nations that opposed him (ch. 8-10); and so far the
history is agreeable to what we might expect from David's character and the
choice made of him. But his cloud has a dark side.
II.
II.
II. We have his troubles, the causes of them, his sin in the
matter of Uriah (ch. 11 and 12), the troubles themselves from the sin of Amnon
(ch. 13), the rebellion of Absalom (ch. 14-19) and of Sheba (ch. 20), and the
plague in Israel for his numbering the people (ch. 24), besides the famine of
the Gibeonites (ch. 21).
His son we have (ch. 22), and his
words and worthies (ch. 23). Many things in his history are very instructive;
but for the hero who is the subject of it, though in many instances he appears
here very great, and very good, and very much the favourite of heaven, yet it
must be confessed that his honour shines brighter in his Psalms than in his
Annals.
THE ERA OF THE KINGS
The
Divided Kingdom