Commentaries

“New Commentary on Genesis” by Franz Delitzsch

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Franz Delitzsch [1813-1890
Franz Delitzsch [1813-1890
This commentary on Genesis is not to be confused with the joint work with C.F. Keil and is still considered a valuable resource for Bible students. Several people had suggested making use of material that is already available on-line rather than scanning books myself. I thought I had found a good quality scan of this two-volume set, but soon found that the text required centering, cleaning up, and – in one place – repairing. Overall, I doubt if scanning a hard copy would have taken any less time.

Franz Delitzsch [1813-1890], A New Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 1. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1888. Hbk. pp.412. [Click to visit the download page]

Franz Delitzsch [1813-1890], A New Commentary on Genesis, Vol. 2. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1889. Hbk. pp.408. [Click to visit the download page]

Introduction

Criticism at present fixes the date of the main bulk of the Pentateuch, the so-called Priest Codex, together with the Law of Holiness, which has so striking a relation to Ezekiel, at the time of the captivity and the restoration under Ezra and Nehemiah. The Book of Deuteronomy however presupposes the primary legislation contained in Ex. xix.-xxiv. and the work of the Jehovistic historian. Hence we cannot avoid relegating the origin of certain component parts of the Pentateuch to the middle ages of the kings; and, if we continue our critical analysis, we find ourselves constrained to go back still farther, perhaps even to the times of the Judges, and thus to tread the soil of a hoar antiquity without incurring the verdict of lack of scientific knowledge. Even those who insist upon transferring the conception of the account of the creation in Gen. i 1-ii. 4, and of the primaeval histories…

Commentary on the Epistles of John by Alfred Plummer

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Alfred Plummer, master of University College Durham, was a prolific writer of biblical commentaries. He wrote the volumes on Luke, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians in the International Critical Commentary (ICC) old series, as well as four of the The Cambridge Bible for Schools series.

My thanks to Book Aid for providing a copy of his commentary on John’s letters for digitisation. This volume is in the public domain.

Alfred Plummer [1841-1926], The Epistles of John. The Cambridge Bible for Schools. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1892. Hbk. pp.220. [Click to visit the download page]

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Text and Notes
  3. Appendices
  4. Indices

The Last Years of S. John

A sketch of the life of S. John as a whole has been given in the Introduction to the Fourth Gospel. Here it will not be necessary to do more than retouch and somewhat enlarge what was there said respecting the closing years of his life, in which period, according to all probability, whether derived from direct or indirect evidence, our three Epistles were written. In order to understand the motive and ton,e of the Epistles, it is requisite to have some clear idea of the circumstances, local, moral, and intellectual, in the midst of which they were written.

(i) The Local Surroundings-Ephesus

Unless the whole history of the century which followed upon the destruction of Jerusalem is to be abandoned as chimerical and untrustworthy, we must continue to believe the almost universally accepted statement that S. John spent the last portion of his life in Asia Minor, and chiefly at Ephesus. The sceptical spirit which insists upon the truism that well-attested facts have nevertheless not been demonstrated with all the certainty of a proposition in Euclid, and contends that it is therefore right to doubt them, and lawful to dispute them, renders history impossible. The evidence of S. John’s residence at Ephesus is too , strong to be shaken by conjectures. It will be worth while to state the main elements of it.

Commentary on Revelation by William Henry Simcox

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The Reverend William Henry Simcox was the Rector of Harlaxton in Lincolnshire. This is his contribution to the Cambridge Bible for Schools series on the Book of Revelation.

My thanks to Book Aid for providing a copy of this public domain title for digitisation.

William Henry Simcox [1843-1889], The Revelation of S. John the Divine with Notes and Introduction, 2nd edn. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1910. Hbk. pp.176. [Click to visit the download page]

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Text and Notes
  3. Appendices

Introduction: Authorship and Canonicity

In the case of some of the books of Scripture, the questions of their authorship and of their canonical authority are quite independent of one another. Many books are anonymous, many have their authors known only by a post-canonical tradition; and the rejection, in any case where it may be called for, of this tradition need not and ought not to involve a denial of the divine authority of the book. Even in cases where the supposed author is named or unmistakeably indicated in the book itself, it does not always follow that the book must either be written by him, or can owe none of its inspiration to the Spirit of truth: the person of the professed author may be assumed dramatically without any mala fides. On the other hand, there are books which plainly exclude any such hypothesis, and must either be forgeries, more or less excusable but hardly consistent with divine direction, or else must be accepted as genuine and inspired works of their professed authors.