Bible Commentaries

Genesis 32:18 — Then thou shalt say, [They be] thy servant Jacob’s; it [is] a present sent unto my lord Esau: and, behold, also he [is] behind us. They be thy servant Jacob’s. — "A soft answer turneth away wrath": Proverbs 15:1 Frangitur ira gravis, quando est responsio suavis. "but grievous words stir up anger." And it is easier to stir strife than stint it. Still, rain softens the hard earth: and though nothing be more violent than the winds, Iidem tamen imbribus

Genesis 38:26 — Shelah my son. And he knew her again no more. She hath been more righteous than I. — A free confession, joined with confusion of his sin; for he knew her no more. This was, to "confess and forsake sin," as Solomon hath it. Proverbs 28:13 Not like that of Saul; "I have sinned, yet honour me before the people": 1 Samuel 15:30 or that of those in the wilderness; "We have sinned; we will go up": they might as well have said, We have sinned, we will sin. Deuteronomy

Exodus 12:8 — fire, and unleavened bread; [and] with bitter [herbs] they shall eat it. In that night. — By candle light. So must we feed upon Christ, lumine supernaturali. "By his knowledge doth God’s righteous servant justify many." Isaiah 53:11 Roast withfire. — Not raw: we may not grossly conceive of Christ, nor rashly receive him. Not boiled, but roast: to show that Christ was roasted in the fire of his Father’s wrath: et sicut tostis cibariis non adhibentur alia, ut in elixis

1 Kings 4:31 — was in all nations round about. For he was wiser than all men. — Far beyond Socrates, whom Apollo pronounced the wisest of men. Than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman. — These were famous in their generations for wisdom and learning. Psalms 88:1 ; Psalms 89:1 , titles Of these, haply, it was then held and said, as a modern writer saith of Tacitus and Pliny, Literarum nomina sunt, non hominum, they are rather learning itself than learned. And his fame was in all nations. — As Aristotle’s

Numbers 11:26 — the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they [were] of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp. But there remained two of the men. — Being stayed by some lawful occasion, as in 1 Samuel 20:26 Jeremiah 36:5 , or haply out of sense of their own insufficiency, as in 1 Samuel 10:22 . Howsoever, hereby it appeared to all the people that these seventy seniors were set apart by God for the service. And they prophesied in the camp.

1 Corinthians 12:26 — members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. And whether one man suffer — This spiritual sympathy, mirum est quam frigide tractetur inter Christianos hodie, saith Aretius on this text. See Trapp on " 1 Corinthians 12:20 " See Trapp on " 1 Corinthians 12:27 " Luther in a certain epistle of his to Lampertus Thorn, a prisoner for Christ, thus writeth, Consolabor me quod vestra vincula men sunt, vestri carceres et ignes mei sunt; sunt vero,

2 Corinthians 6:10 — a quasi, as if it were a sorrow in show or conceit only; but when he speaks of their joy, there is no such quasi. Yet possessing all things — Godliness hath an αυταρκεια , a self-sufficiency,1 Timothy 6:6; 1 Timothy 6:6 . Cui cum paupertate bene convenit, pauper non est, saith Seneca. A contented man cannot be a poor man especially if a godly man; for what reason? the Father (that Ancient of days) filleth his memory; the Son (the wisdom of

Ephesians 1:4 — him — Christ was mediator therefore from eternity, viz. by virtue of that human nature which he should assume. That we should be holy — God elected us as well to the means as to the end. Note this against libertines. For as they Acts 27:31 could not come safe to land that left the ship; so neither can men come to heaven but by holiness. Cyrus was moved to restore the captivity by finding himself before appointed to this glorious service 170 years before he was born, Isaiah 44:28 . Should

1 Thessalonians 5:13 — merits. The Grecians gave great respect to their philosophers above their orators, because these taught them how to speak, but those how to live well. For their work’s sake — Which is high and honourable, divine and heavenly, a worthy work, 1 Timothy 3:1 . Such as both in the preparation to it and execution of it draweth them to God, keepeth them with God, and to be ever mindful of God, and no less active for God, Ephesians 4:12 , by gathering together the saints and building up the body

Hebrews 6:4 — or as the Israelites tasted the fruits of the land, and vet perished in the wilderness. Men may taste that which they spit out again, as physicians oft do. The heavenly gift — Gr. Supercelestial gift, i.e. Christ, who is called the gift, John 4:10 , and the benefit,1 Timothy 6:2; 1 Timothy 6:2 . Partakers of the Holy Ghost — Of his common and inferior gifts and operations. These a man may lose, and have his dispositions to sin seven times more inflamed than before, Matthew 12:44 .

Judges 16:27 — three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. Now the house. — Dagon’s temple: that where they had sinned, there they might suffer. So Ahab’s blood was licked up by dogs in the place where he had slain Naboth. 1 Kings 21:19 So Henry III of France was stabbed to death in that very chamber where he had contrived the massacre of Paris. Was full of men and women. — Assembled they were, by an overruling Providence, that they might be "broken in pieces."

Revelation 21:8 — pull in their horns for every pile of grass that toucheth them, that are afraid of every new step, saying as Caesar at Rubicon, "Yet we may go back;" that follow Christ afar off, as Peter; that tremble after him, as the people did after Saul, 1 Samuel 13:7 , and the next news is, "They were scattered from him," 1 Samuel 13:11 . These lead the ring dance of this rout of reprobates; and are so hated of Christ, that he will not employ them so far as to break a pitcher, or to bear a

Revelation 4:6 — the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. A sea of glass — The word, say some; the world, others. The word is to us a crystal glass, giving us a clear sight of God and of ourselves, 2 Corinthians 3:18 ; James 1:23 . The world is to God a sea of glass, corpus diaphanum, a clear transparent body, he sees through it. Four beasts — ζωα , or living wights; A living being in general; a creature. Obs. OED not angels, but ministers,

Ruth 3:16 — when she came to her mother in law, she said, Who [art] thou, my daughter? And she told her all that the man had done to her. And when she came to her mother-in-law. — To whom she now made haste for three reasons, as is well observed: Bernard. (1.) For the danger of the way, being so early before day; (2.) The burden she bare, to be eased thereof; (3.) Her joy, to impart to her mother her happy success. The same reasons should prevail with us, to flee home to heaven: (1.) The danger we are in

1 Samuel 1:11 — not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. And she vowed a vow. — Not without the consent of her husband, 1 Samuel 1:22 who else had power to vacate and disannul it. Numbers 30:8 A vow is a binding of one’s self to God by a holy and religious promise, to do or not to do something that is lawful, possible, and useful for our increase in godliness. This

1 Samuel 19:4 — unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works [have been] to thee-ward very good: And Jonathan spake good of David. — Though to the hazard of his own life, as 1 Samuel 20:32 ; 1 Samuel 20:37 . The picture of true friendship among the ancients was this, A fair young man, with head uncovered, with bosom open, so that his heart might be seen; whereupon was written, Longe, Prope, Far and Near. In his forehead was

1 Samuel 28:2 — mine head for ever. Surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do. — But whether for Achish or against him, he saith not. Indeed, he could do neither with any honesty, and therefore he maketh a double answer; equivocating, as he had done before. 1 Samuel 27:9 Josephus is out when he saith that David did readily promise Achish his help; for what show soever he made, he meant nothing less, but prayed and hoped that God would extricate him out of this labyrinth, as also he did, 1 Samuel 29:3-7 so

1 Samuel 4:7 — well saith, was greater than the ark - was their enemy. The ark also was brought into the camp without any pomp or due reverence, and by the hands of those ungodly priests that were now come into the field to fetch their bane, as had been foretold in 1 Samuel 2:34 . For there hath not been such a thing heretofore. — Not that they knew of; but such a thing there had been before at the siege of Jericho, and in that expedition against the Midianites. Numbers 31:6 So after this ( 1 Samuel 14:18

1 Samuel 7:12 — Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us. Then Samuel took a stone, and set it. — As a trophy or lasting monument of that day’s victory. So when the Spanish armada was defeated here in 1588, money was coined with a navy flying away at full sail, and this inscription, Venit, Vidit, Fugit. It came, it saw, it fled. Between Mizpeh and Shen. — Where, before, the Israelites had been beaten, and the ark taken. 1 Samuel 4:1 And called

2 Samuel 19:20 — voluntary freeness, but like water out of a still, which is forced with fire. I am come the first this day. — That in me first thou mightest show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which shall hereafter submit to thy mercy and clemency, 1 Timothy 1:16 which in a king is no small commendation, and to his delinquent subjects no small encouragement. Of all the house of Joseph. — Joseph and Benjamin were so near akin that their tribes are spoken of as if one and the same.