Bible Commentaries

Jeremiah 12:16 — places, the whole of religion is designated by this expression, according to what is said elsewhere, “Swear shall they all in my name, Live do I, saith Jehovah; to me shall bend every knee, and by me shall every tongue swear.” (Isaiah 45:23) And as by the altar, in another place, is meant the worship of God, so here by swearing. The meaning is, — that if the Gentiles became so changed as to submit their neck to the yoke of the law, and allow themselves to be ruled by God, they would

Jeremiah 13:1 — would yet cast them away. As he had adorned them, so he designed them to be an ornament to him; for the glory of God shines forth in his ChurJeremiah The Jews then, as Isaiah says, were a crown of glory and a royal diadem in God’s hand. (Isaiah 62:3) Hence he compares them here most fitly to a belt or a girdle. Though then their condition was honorable, yet God threatens that he would cast them away; so that, being hidden, they might contract rottenness in a cavern of the Euphrates, that is, in

Jeremiah 15:17 — bore rule; he does not here so much reprove the common people as the chief men, who exercised authority and administered justice; for when he speaks of the assembly of the ungodly, he no doubt refers to wicked rulers, as the word סוד, sud, which means a secret, means also a council. And David (or whosoever was the author of the sixty-ninth Psalm) says, not that he was a sport to the vulgar, but that he was derided by those who sat in the gate, (Psalms 69:12) which means, that he

Jeremiah 20:3 — is possible. (8) We see that the contrast is most suitable between the opening of light and that terror which spread on every side, so that there is no opening and no escape; and the explanation follows: (6) I would render the verse thus: — 3.And it happened on the morrow that Pashur brought out Jeremiah from the stocks; and Jeremiah said to him, — Not Pashur does Jehovah call thy name, But, Terror on every side. I take קרא to be a participle, and not a verb in

Jeremiah 22:30 — would be certain and permanent. Write ye, then, this man childless This bereavement is set in opposition to the promise of God, that there would be perpetual successors to David on his throne as long as the sun and moon were in the heavens. (Psalms 89:37.) And the Prophet shews here that this promise as to Jeconiah would not be fulfilled. (72) And he adds, Write ye this man as one who will not prosper in his days; nay, (for כי , seems to me to be emphatic here,) no one of his seed shall

Jeremiah 25:20 — says that God threatened all the promiscuous multitude (140) The word ערב , means a swarm of bees; and it means also any sort of mixture; and hence, when Moses said that many went up with the people, he used. this word. (Exodus 12:38.) Nehemiah also says that he separated such mixtures from the people of God, lest they who had become degenerated, should corrupt true religion. (Nehemiah 13:3.) That the Church, then, might remain true and faithful, he says that he took away ערב

Jeremiah 26:3 — was unjustly angry, or that he exceeded all bounds. Whatever evils then were at hand, God briefly shews that they came from themselves, that the cause was their own wickedness, (161) It follows, — (161) I render the verse as follows, — 3.It may be they will hear and turn every one from his way that is evil; then I will repent as to the evil which I purpose to bring on them for the evil of their doings. Here is “evil for evil,” the evil of punishment for the evil of sin.

Jeremiah 50:21 — his wrath, they yet had cruelly treated many nations, being impelled only by their own pride and avarice; he justly calls them “the exasperating,” and then adds, Slay the inhabitants of visitation Some regard פקוד, pekud, as a proper name; and they first imagine that it was a town of some note in Chaldea, which is groundless; and then they give a frigid explanation by saying that it was some mean and obscure place. There is then no doubt but that the Prophet

Lamentations 3:34 — in his cause, is to deny his right. By “the bound,” or “prisoners of the earth,” or land, Blayney understands persons imprisoned for debt, who were obliged to work as slaves until they satisfied their creditors. See Matthew 18:30. Cruelty to such is referred to in Isaiah 58:3. — Ed. (191) The Targ. and the versions differ as to the import of this clause. The verb to see, has been taken to mean three things, — to know, to approve, and to regard or to notice. The

Ezekiel 1:28 — seem as if drowned under those waters of the heavens. God therefore wished to meet our distrust, when he wished the bow in the heavens to be a testimony and pledge of his favor, because it is said by Moses, I will put my bow in the heavens. (Genesis 9:13.) Now some distort this as if the bow was not in existence before: but there is no doubt that God wished to inscribe a testimony of his favor on a thing by no means in accordance with it, as he freely uses all creatures according to his will. The bow

Ezekiel 10:14 — which he saw at the river Chebar, oppose this; for he calls anything which is like another, and has the same object, the same thing. Paul says their fathers in the desert ate the same spiritual food, and drank the same spiritual drink. (1 Corinthians 10:3.) But we know how different was the symbol manna, and the water flowing from the rock, from the sacred Supper which Christ left for us; but as I have already said, since there is an affinity between the sacred symbols, they are to be referred to the

Jonah 1:1 — people was in this manner arraigned, since the Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah, and that for a short time, while the Israelites ever hardened themselves in their obstinacy. And hence some have refinedly expounded that passage in Matthew 12:39, ‘This perverse generation seeketh a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah the Prophet,’ as though this intimated, that the Gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles, inasmuch as Jonah was taken away from his

Zephaniah 1:14 — in scripture to express what is grievous, afflictive, or sorrowful. If we render [שט ], “there,” it refers to Jerusalem, verse 12; but it is sometimes used as an adverb of time, “then,” see Psalms 14:5; Nehemiah 3:15. “The meaning is,” says Drusius, “that the voice of that day, which they who excel in strength of mind and body shall utter, shall be bitter.” The whole verse is remarkably concise and emphatical,— 14.Nigh is the great

Zechariah 5:3 — instances. To render [נקה ] “punished,” is not quite correct, though the general meaning is given. It means to be cleared or swept away, and soHenderson correctly renders it, “shall be cleared away.” See Isaiah 3:26; Jeremiah 30:11. There is no necessity whatever for the emendation of Houbigant, who thinks that it ought to be [נקם ]; nor for the conjecture of others, that it is put here for [נכה ], “to be cut off.”

Zechariah 8:19 — “good,” — good seasons, or festivals, or solemnities. “The Hebrews,” says Grotius, “were wont to call those days good which were appointed for rejoicing.” This passage contains the answer to the inquiry mentioned in chapter 7:3; but the answer refers not only to one fast but to all the fasts which the Jews had instituted. — Ed.

Malachi 1:3 — cy) Onid brawd oeddEsau i Jacob ? These two verses may be thus rendered — 2.“I have loved you,” saith Jehovah; But ye say, “How hast thou loved us?”— “Was not Esau a brother to Jacob,” saith Jehovah? 3.“Yet I loved Jacob, and Esau I hated; And I have set his mountains a waste, And his heritage for the serpents of the desert.” — Ed.

Malachi 4:4 — them that they were faithfully and constantly to remember it until the Redeemer came. If it be asked why he mentions the law only, the answer is obvious, because that saying of Christ is true, that the law and the Prophets were until John. (Matthew 3:13.) It must yet be observed, that the prophetic office was not separated from the law, for all the prophecies which followed the law were as it were its appendages; so that they included nothing new, but were given that the people might be more fully

Acts 10:2 — howsoever they waste all, (649) yet no relief which they shall bestow upon the poor shall be worthy to be called by the name of alms. For we must hold that of Paul, He which hath no love is nothing, though he give all his goods to the poor, (1 Corinthians 13:3.) Let us, therefore, learn by this word, that God doth then allow our liberality, if we relieve the poverty of the poor, being moved with compassion, and if, as it were, with open bowels we bestow that which the liberality of God doth give. Whereas

Romans 4:3 — 3.For what saith the Scripture? This is a proof of the minor proposition, or of what he assumed, when he denied that Abraham had any ground for glorying: for if Abraham was justified, because he embraced, by faith, the bountiful mercy of God, it follows,

1 Corinthians 2:9 — temporal favors to eternal life. It might also be maintained that the argument is from the less to the greater; for if man’s intellect is not competent to measure God’s earthly gifts, how much less will it reach the height of heaven? (John 3:12.) I have, however, already intimated which interpretation I prefer. (118) “Assauoir, Fera, or Preparera;” — “Namely — He will do, or He will prepare.” (119) The word made use of by Isaiah is מחכה,