Bible Commentaries

Psalms 104:14 — He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle — He caused it to grow at first, before cattle were created, Genesis 1:11-12 . And so he doth still, as the first cause; by rain and dew from heaven, as the second cause. And herb for the service of man — Ad esum et ad usum, for food, medicine, …, Genesis 1:29 . Green herbs, it seemeth, was a great dish with

Psalms 109:6 — Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand. Set thou a wicked man over him — Whose tender mercies may be cruelties; let the devil be his taskmaster. Thus he prayed against Doeg, or Ahithophel, but certainly Judas, Acts 1:20 . And so the primitive Christians prayed against Julian the apostate, and afterwards against Arius the heretic, whose death was precationis opus non morbi, the effect of prayer, rather than of his disease, saith Socrates, lib. i. cap. 15. We are

Psalms 128:1 — sermon, written for the instruction and comfort of married couples, and showing that Coniugium humanae est divina Academia vitae. And it is to be observed that here all men are spoken to as wedded; because this is the ordinary estate of most people. See 1 Corinthians 7:1-2 . At this day every Jew is bound to marry about eighteen years of age, or before twenty.; else he is accounted as one that liveth in sin; and how the Popish clergy, professing continence, have turned all places into so many Sodoms,

Proverbs 11:9 — counsellor, but especially the heretic, as the Valentinians, qui artificium habuerunt, quo prius persuaderent quam docerent, Tertullian. by their Pythanology. "By good words and fair speeches they deceive the hearts of the simple." Romans 16:18 They bring men into the lion’s mouth, as that old seducer did, by telling them of an angel that spoke to them, and so make prize of them, Colossians 2:8 and "drag disciples after them." Acts 20:30 But through knowledge shall the

Proverbs 17:3 — The fining pot [is] for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts. The fining pot is for silver, … — God also hath his "fire in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem"; Isaiah 31:9 his conflatories and his crucibles wherein he will refine his, "as silver is refined, and try them as gold is tried." Zechariah 13:9 Not as if he knew them not, till he had tried them; for he made them, and therefore cannot but know them;

Proverbs 21:18 — were offered up by way of public expiation, with these words, περιψημα ημων γενου ; Be thou a reconciliation for us. Budaeus. To this custom St Paul seems to allude. 1 Corinthians 4:13 Thus, when Saul’s sons were hanged, God’s wrath was appeased; 2 Samuel 21:1-9 and when guilty Jonah was cast into the sea, all was calm. Thus God gave Egypt for Israel’s ransom; yea, Sheba and Ethiopia. Isaiah 43:3

Proverbs 25:17 — house; lest he be weary of thee, and [so] hate thee. Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour’s house. — This is a honey that thou mayest surfeit on, therefore make thy foot precious, or rare (so the original Hebraei ponunt rarum pro caro, ut 1 Samuel 3:1 . hath it) at thy neighbour’s house, by too oft frequenting whereof thou mayest become cheap, nay, burdensome. At first thou mayest be Oreach, as the Hebrew proverb hath it, i.e., welcome as a traveller that stays for a day. At length

Ecclesiastes 8:10 — praises proper to the elephant, as the proverb hath it. Who had come and gone from the place of the holy. — That is, From the place of magistracy, seat of judicature, where the holy God himself sits as Chief President and Lord Paramount. Deuteronomy 1:17 2 Chronicles 19:6 Psalms 82:1 And they were forgotten in the city where they had so done. — A great benefit to a wicked man to have his memory die with him, which if it be preserved stinks in keeping, and remains as a curse and perpetual disgrace,

Isaiah 52:15 — many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for [that] which had not been told them shall they see; and [that] which they had not heard shall they consider. So shall he sprinkle many nations. — With his doctrine, Ezekiel 20:46 Amos 7:16 or with his blood, that blood of sprinkling. See Hebrews 10:22 . Or with water in baptism, wherein sprinkling is sufficient. Kings shall shut their mouths at him. — As being astonished at his prudence and prosperity. Isaiah 52:13 They shall also

Isaiah 52:6 — Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore [they shall know] in that day that I [am] he that doth speak: behold, [it is] I. Therefore my people shall know my name, — sc., That I am Jehovah; as Exodus 6:3 the God of Amen, Isaiah 65:16 who "will not suffer my faithfulness to fail, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth." Psalms 89:33-34 And it shall therefore be so because my name - that nomen maiestativum - hath been blasphemed and vilified. God’s people

Isaiah 55:6 — Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. — Seek not his omnipresence - for that ye need not do, since he is not far from any one of us Acts 17:27 - but his gracious presence, his face and favour; seek to be in the fear of the Lord and in the comforts of the Holy Ghost, in communion with him, and conformity unto him, and give not over till you find it. Seek him seriously, seek him seasonably.

Isaiah 65:12 — will give you up to the sword by number and tale, to the end that none of you may escape. God usually retaliateth, and proportioneth number to number. So, choice to choice; Isaiah 66:3-4 jealousy to jealousy, provocation to provocation; Deuteronomy 32:21 device to device; Micah 2:1 ; Micah 2:3 frowardness to frowardness. Psalms 18:26 And ye shall all bow down to the slaughter. — As you used to bow down to your idols. Because when I called, ye did not answer. — See on Proverbs 1:24 . But

Jeremiah 20:15 — are ready to gallow us out of that little wit and faith we have. Resist him betimes. The wildfire of passion will be burning while the incense of prayer is in offering; this scum will be rising up in the boiling pot, together with the meat. See John 4:1 . See Trapp on " Jonah 4:1 "

Jeremiah 25:11 — land shall be a desolation, [and] an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And this land shall be a desolation - seventy years. — Which commenced at the deportation of Jeconiah. 2 Kings 24:8 Jeremiah 29:1-3 Ezekiel 4:1 ; Ezekiel 33:21 Avignon in France, was the residence of the Pope for seventy years, which time the Romans yet remember, till this day, by the name of the Babylonian captivity. Heyl. Cosm., fol. 188. Luther, when he first began to stir

Ezekiel 1:28 — and I heard a voice of one that spake. As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud. — Here, as in the salt sea, or as in a pot of honey, the deeper the sweeter. The rainbow was set for a sign of the covenant of mercy to mankind Genesis 9:12 Isaiah 54:12 Revelation 10:1 See Trapp on " Revelation 10:1 " This was the appearance, … — For no more of God can be seen by any mortal creature. Exodus 33:20 This and other prophets saw the chariot, but not the rider in it,

Ezekiel 36:25 — you. Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you. — He alludeth to the legal purifications, especially that made by the ashes of a red cow mixed with running water, wherewith the people were sprinkled, and so cleansed from legal defilement. Numbers 19:17-19 Semblably the saints, sprinkled with Christ’s blood from an evil conscience by the hyssop bunch of faith, and so washed with clean water Hebrews 10:22 in baptism, the saving virtue whereof is permanent, 1 Peter 3:21 are justified and sanctified.

Ezekiel 47:5 — is such as that we may well do by it as the Romans did by a lake, the depth whereof they could not sound, they dedicated it to Victory - so the abundance of spiritual graces in the Church, the love of Christ which passeth all knowledge, Ephesians 3:19 the over abounding goodness of God, 1 Timothy 1:14 the super pleonasm of it, as the apostle hath it there. Oh, saith Chrysostom, speaking of this subject, I am like a man digging in a deep spring: I stand here, and the water riseth upon me; and I stand

Ezekiel 5:2 — Jerusalem. Pythagoras gave this precept among others, Unguium, criniumque praesegmina ne contemnito. But God findeth so little worth in wicked people that he regardeth them not, but casteth them as excrements to the dunghill, yea, to hell. Psalms 9:17 And smite about it with a knife. — They shall be slain with that sharp knife or sword, Ezekiel 5:1 after that the city is taken. Thou shalt scatter in the wind. — Sundry of them shall flee for their lives; but in running from death they

Jonah 1:16 — Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly — Heb. with a great fear. They feared before, John 1:10 , with a natural fear; but now they feared Jehovah. They began to bear all awful respect to the Divine majesty, of whose power and goodness they were by this miracle clearly convinced, and, as it may seem, to the true faith effectually converted. For

Matthew 27:65 — Κοινοφιλης , erat utpote qui ab omnibus gratiam inire cupiebat; quales quidam per iocum placentas dixit. But if I yet please men, saith Paul, as once I did when I was a Pharisee, "I am no more the servant of Christ," Galatians 1:10 . He scorns that such base deceit should be found in his followers,Colossians 2:8; Colossians 2:8 . Mordecai will not crouch or curry favour, to die for it. Micaiah will not budge, though sure to kiss the stocks for his stiffness. Ye have a watch