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Commentary

Titus 1:7 · 2 passages

For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;

Paul here shows that at this time “elders” and “bishops” were interchangeable and that some were put in charge of towns, some of whole regions. These latter became the bishops of later times.

COMMENTARY ON TITUS

He is not given to useless discord.

COMMENTARY ON TITUS

Titus 1:12

One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.

Having criticized the dangers that arise from Christians of Jewish background, Paul now does the same with Gentile believers. “Of their own” does not refer to the Jews but to a poet or prophet of Gentile background, even one of the Cretans. He wished to criticize the Cretans because they believed they could show the tomb of Jove, even though Jove existed not as a man (as the poet thought) but as a god.

Commentary on Titus

Titus 2:3 · 2 passages

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;

The women are to be decently adorned, reverent and dignified.

COMMENTARY ON TITUS

These are elders in age only, though some have taken the position that the women held an office analogous to that of male presbyters.

COMMENTARY ON TITUS

Zechariah 1:8

I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.

It is quite clear that all the things shown to the prophet were tokens of certain realities, just as Joseph saw sheaves, sun, moon and stars, each of which carried a clue to some coming event, and the Pharaoh saw ears of corn and oxen, some fat and some skinny, and by these as well other events were signified from what was shown. In exactly the same way the prophet also sees these things by divine revelation, and each of the things shown him contained some sign or indication of a reality. Likewise blessed Peter also saw a cloth let down from heaven, full of various living creatures clean and unclean, and the vision contained a clue to some other things.

COMMENTARY ON ZECHARIAH 1:7-10

Zechariah 8:23

Thus saith the LORD of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you.

God will make the return of the remainder so conspicuous that many people who are from different nations and have shared that calamity will perceive God’s care for the people. They will lay hold of any one of them and use him as a guide for a return to Jerusalem, since everyone is sufficiently stirred up to that end from the clear realization that God is with them on the basis of the incredible deeds done for them. The phrase “ten men,” note, here too refers not to number but has the meaning of many.

COMMENTARY ON ZECHARIAH 8:20-23

Zechariah 9:10

And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.

Be glad, therefore, O Jerusalem, since of such a kind is a king appointed for you by God, and he has come to you, capable of saving his own on account of the divine influence accruing to him and justly inflicting total punishment on the adversaries. While he is riding a lowly animal for the reason that he has just arrived back from captivity, he assumes great power through divine grace, and so from Ephraim and from Jerusalem he will remove all the chariots of the adversaries, every war horse and every battle bow—that is to say, he will drive off all enemies so that there will be no longer any adversary against the country of Judah. He will also wipe out a great multitude of the adversaries and completely deprive them of peace, crushed and destroyed in a war waged by him.

COMMENTARY ON ZECHARIAH 9:8-10

Zephaniah 3:1-2

Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!

[Jerusalem] was like this for refusing to the end to hear the word of the prophet sent to it and not accepting in any way the instruction from that source. Though seeming to undergo a change for a while, once more it went back to its characteristic wickedness; at any rate, it took no account of God’s sending the prophet, nor did it make the decision to pay attention to him later, despite having such a remarkable experience. On the contrary, it forsook him completely and declared war on him, attacking Jerusalem after the annihilation of the ten tribes, the city in which the temple of God was to be found.

COMMENTARY ON ZEPHANIAH 3:1-2

Zephaniah 3:14-15

Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.

Live now in utter delight, O Jerusalem, living in complete happiness and satisfaction; for God has removed all your lawless deeds and of necessity has rescued you from the power of the foe, to whom you were subjected in paying the penalty of punishment. The Lord will now be in your midst, showing his kingship by his care for you, so that trouble will no longer be able to approach you.

COMMENTARY ON ZEPHANIAH 3:11-15

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