Bible Commentaries

Genesis 36:43 — land of their possession: he [is] Esau the father of the Edomites. These be the dukes of Edom. — As the principality of Edom began with dukes, and rose to kings; so it returneth to dukes again, after the death of Hadad, in Moses’s time. 1 Chronicles 1:51 It is likely, saith an interpreter, that, upon the unkind dealing of that Hadad, in denying to let Israel pass through his land, the Lord removed the dignity of kings from that commonwealth, and let it be ruled by dukes again; whereof

Exodus 1:10 — us, and [so] get them up out of the land. Come on, let us deal wisely. — So as the world’s wizards use to do: but God taketh - δρασσομενος - these foxes in their own craft. 1 Corinthians 3:19 Your labouring men have the most and lustiest children. Every "oppressor" is a fool. Proverbs 28:16 Lest, when there falleth out any war. — It may seem - by 1 Chronicles 7:21-22 , compared with Psalms 77:9 - that the

Exodus 17:6 — vain had Moses struck it. Means must be used, but God only depended upon for success. It is he alone that sets the rock abroaeh. Thou shalt smite the rock. — Herein a type of Christ "stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted." Isaiah 53:4 1 Corinthians 10:4 And there shall come water out of it. — Not fire - that had not been so miraculous - but water. This "cleaving the" hard "rock," Psalms 78:15 this "turning of the flint into a fountain," Psalms 114:8

1 Kings 20:25 — putting up his helmet, that he might see what a slaughter had been made there that day, had his death wound given him by a half-dead Helvetian, who, getting up upon his knees, threw a stone at him, and hit him in the forehead. Lavat. in Proverbs 27:1 . And we will flght against them in the plain. — See on 1 Kings 20:23 .

2 Chronicles 12:2 — corrupted themselves. But herein also Manasseh was to blame; and Constantine the Great, in that he only shut up the idol temples, and destroyed them not, which Julian the apostate did soon after set open again. Shishak king of Egypt. — See on 1 Kings 14:25 . Came up against Jerusalem, — Which when he had taken, he went on to other parts, and subdued all Asia, say Herodotus and Siculus. Because they had transgressed against the Lord. — See 1 Kings 14:22-24 . Shishak probably was

Ezra 3:1 — [were] in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. And when the seventh month was come — Heb. And the seventh month approached; a month of many festivities, Leviticus 23:24 ; Leviticus 23:27 ; Leviticus 23:34 1 Kings 8:2 , and so, to the good, a foretaste of eternal life, where it shall be holiday every day, where they have no rest, Revelation 4:8 (and yet no unrest), praising the God of heaven, for heaven’s happiness, Psalms 136:1-3 ; Psalms 136:26

Nehemiah 1:11 — prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer. O Lord, I beseech thee — He ends as he began, see Nehemiah 1:5 , praying in the Holy Ghost, whose creature prayer is. And to the prayer of thy servants — Whose necessities prick them on to prayer in all places; and who pray for the peace of Jerusalem incessantly, Psalms 137:1-9 . Who desire to fear thy

Nehemiah 13:13 — brethren. And I made treasurers — Nehemiah left nothing undone that might befit a vigilant and valiant governor. He was omnibus numeris absolutus, every way complete. For they were counted faithful — A singular praise in persons intrusted, 1 Corinthians 4:2 Nehemiah 7:2 Numbers 12:7 . Such men as these are now gone in pilgrimage (as one saith), and their return is altogether uncertain. When one desired to see Alexander’s treasures, he showed him not his wealth, but his friends. Nehemiah

Nehemiah 4:20 — In what place [therefore] ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us. In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet — Which, therefore, for the purpose he kept at his own elbow, Nehemiah 4:18 , as a matter of trust and importance. Moses committed the blowing of the trumpets unto the sons of Aaron only, Numbers 10:8 . "For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?" 1 Corinthians 14:8 . Resort

Job 16:18 — O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place. O earth, cover not thou my blood — Job had made a high profession of his innocence and integrity. This he further confirmeth, 1. By an imprecation against himself. 2. By an appeal to God, Job 16:19 . In this imprecation or wish of his (which Mr Broughton taketh to be meant by the foregoing words, Also my prayer is pure, rendered by him thus, But my wish is clean, saying, O earth,

Job 17:16 — They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when [our] rest together [is] in the dust. They shall go down to the bars of the pit — That is, I and my things, or I and my hopes of prosperity, Job 17:15 , and they that will see the good I hope for must pass through the gates of death to behold it, and lie down in the grave with me, and then it shall appear. Cajetan thinks that this is spoken ironically to his friends, and by way of derrision, Per

Job 21:28 — contraries, Per ironiam et antiphrasin, saith Vatablus, because he had been rich, and should have been liberal and munificent, but had not been so. The apostle calleth the Pharisees and philosophers, in like sort, "princes of this world," 1 Corinthians 2:8 . And where are the dwelling places — The palaces, large and lofty, ut sunt praetoria et principum aedes, as the houses of princes use to be (Junius). Lavater rendereth it, The tabernacle of tabernacles, as gentlemen’s houses

Job 34:37 — unless he be exercised and subdued by more and longer load of afflictions; there will else be no hoe with him, no ground will hold him. The cross is of singular use to tame that rebel flesh; and is theretbre prayed for by Jeremiah for himself, Jeremiah 10:24 , and here by Elihu for Job, who had before advisedly chosen affliction rather than sin, and reckoned it as a mercy to be visited every morning, and tried every moment, Job 7:18 . He clappeth his hands among us — By way of derision, and as

Job 36:2 — Crassus among the Romans, who had this commendation given him, Quod cum aliquid accuratius dixisset, semper fere contigit ut nunquam dixisse melius putaretur, That whenever he spoke it was judged to be the very best that ever he spake. (Cir. de Orat. 1. 1).

Job 37:21 — thou behold God in his glory, in comparison to whom the sun in his strength is but as a clod of clay! The sun is called light by an excellency; the Egyptians call him Orus, from the Hebrew, Or. Hereafter we shall see God as he is, see him face to face, 1 John 3:1-2 ; see as we are seen, …; but here we can see his back parts only and live, Exodus 33:20-23 Surely out of what Elihu had hitherto said Job should have reasoned thus with himself, I cannot bear the force of a flash of lightning, of a

Job 9:6 — dislocating the earth, some part of it; for the whole was never removed, though God can take up the whole globe as a man would do a ball, tossing the very centre itself whereon it is established, 2 Samuel 22:8 , … There is a twofold power of God; 1. Absolute. 2. Actual. By the former he can do more than he doth: by the latter, whatsoever he willeth, that without impediment he effecteth. As for the earth, as God upholdeth it by the word of his power, Hebrews 1:3 , so he hath poised it merely by

Joshua 5:2 — uncircumcised: for they could not be twice circumcised, unless by drawing up the foreskin with a surgeon’s instrument, any of them had made themselves again uncircumcised, as the Rabbis say Esau had; and as some Jews had done for fear of Antiochus. /APC 1 Maccabees 1:15 But here it is rather to be understood of such as, during their abode in the wilderness, had intermitted this ordinance; and God had dispensed with them because of their frequent and sudden removes. Vatablus’s note here is very

1 Samuel 15:15 — the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. They have brought … the people spared, … — He had no hand in it, if you will believe him; he lays all the blame upon the people, - contrary to 1 Samuel 15:9 , - they would have it so, and how could he hinder them? A poor shift of weak princes, an ordinary trick of arrant hypocrites, to save themselves by charging others. As harlots when their beauty is decayed, desire to hide it from themselves

1 Samuel 27:1 — into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand. And David said in his heart — Not well ballasted with grace, but wherried about with unbelief, Hebrews 13:9 whilst he consulted not with God as formerly, but with carnal reason, an evil counsellor, and with the rest of his company, as Josephus telleth us, to the scandal of the weak, and scorn of the wicked, besides his own singular disadvantage. For being

1 Samuel 8:6 — But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. But the thing displeased Samuel. — Chiefly because he knew it was displeasing to God, 1 Samuel 8:7 and then as an indignity done to himself, by shaking off his government even while he lived. But this is the manner of the many headed multitude, Cui praesentia fastidio, insueta desiderio sunt, Sulpit. Sever., ibid. to loath things present,