Bible Commentaries

Psalms 119:142 — lasteth for ever, and so shall they that observe it. And thy law is the truth — And therefore lasting. Mονιμον η αληθεια , saith Plato. The eternity of Israel cannot lie, 1 Samuel 15:29 .

Psalms 119:166 — LORD, I have hoped for thy salvation, and done thy commandments. Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation — This saying he borrowed from good old Jacob, Genesis 49:18 And done thy commandments — Done them as I could; done them to Divine acceptation through Christ; and hence I have hoped: 1 John 3:3 "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, as God is pure."

Psalms 150:5 — Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals. Praise him upon the loud cymbals — These were, saith Cicero (in Pison.), instrumenta aerea, concava, tinnula, in matris Deorum sacris usurpata; bells, some render it. The apostle speaketh of a tinkling cymbal; and a grave divine complaineth, that God cannot please some hearers unless he speak tinkling and tickling words (Dr Stough on 2 Timothy 1:13 ).

Proverbs 1:2 — To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; To know wisdom. — That is, To give others to know; to wise them, as in Daniel 12:3 ; to give the knowledge of salvation; Luke 1:77 to show men "great and mighty things which they know not," Jeremiah 33:3 but may here hence be taught better than out of Lipsius’s Beehive or Machiavel’s Spider web.

Proverbs 20:10 — Divers weights, [and] divers measures, both of them [are] alike abomination to the LORD. Divers weights, and divers measures, … — See Trapp on " Proverbs 11:1 " See Trapp on " Proverbs 16:11 " Now, if the very weights and measures are abomination, how much more the men that make use of them? And what shall become of such as measure to themselves a whole six days, but curtail God’s seventh or misemploy it?

Proverbs 23:21 — For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe [a man] with rags. For the drunkard shall come to poverty. — Nay, to eternal misery in hell; 1 Corinthians 6:10 but few men fear that; beggary they hold worse than any hell. Per mare pauperiem fugiunt, per saxa, per ignes. Horat. But poverty to such is but a prelude to a worse matter.

Proverbs 8:15 — By me kings reign, and princes decree justice. By me kings reign. — How, then, can the schoolmen defend Thomas Aquinas in that paradox, Dominium et praelatio introducta sunt ex iure humane; Thomas Aquinas, II. 2, Quest. 10, Art. 10. dominion and government is of man? This crosseth the apostle, Romans 13:1-2 and the wisest of the heathens. Eκ δε Dιος βασιληες . - Herod Tιμη

Isaiah 33:4 — And your spoil shall be gathered [like] the gathering of the caterpiller: as the running to and fro of locusts shall he run upon them. And your spoils shall be gathered. — The spoil of the Assyrian’s camp now become yours. as 1 Samuel 30:20 Like the gathering of caterpillars. — Quae ad hominum concursum omnes repente disperguntur, which are soon rid, when men set themselves to destroy them.

Isaiah 48:12 — Hearken unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called; I [am] he; I [am] the first, I also [am] the last. I am he. — Heb., Hu; this the Rabbis make to be one of the names of God. Sanchez here observeth, that by this threefold "I" is meant the holy Trinity: the deity of Jesus Christ is rightly proved from this text, compared with Revelation 1:11 ; Revelation 22:13 .

Jeremiah 27:22 — They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the LORD; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place. Until the day that I visit them. — Till by my providence I appoint a great part of them to be brought back again, and to be new consecrated to my service. Ezra 1:7 ; Ezra 7:19

Ezekiel 1:21 — When those went, [these] went; and when those stood, [these] stood; and when those were lifted up from the earth, the wheels were lifted up over against them: for the spirit of the living creature [was] in the wheels. When those went, these went; and when those stood, these stood. — This is but the same again as before, but more fully and plainly. See the similar passage in John 1:2 .

Ezekiel 10:17 — When they stood, [these] stood; and when they were lifted up, [these] lifted up themselves [also]: for the spirit of the living creature [was] in them. When they stood. — See Ezekiel 1:21 . The spirit of the living creatures. — Or, Of life. God governeth all events; he moveth the angels, they the wheels. No clock hath so certain motions as the vicissitudes of all things are overruled by God.

Ezekiel 12:15 — And they shall know that I [am] the LORD, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries. And they shall know that I am the Lord. — The Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God. Nehemiah 1:5 This they shall know magno suo male, his great wrong, who would not take knowledge what was said unto them by the prophets.

Ezekiel 45:3 — And of this measure shalt thou measure the length of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand: and in it shall be the sanctuary [and] the most holy [place]. The length of five and twenty thousand. — Here the same again is repeated, as Ezekiel 45:1 and further is shown how this holy portion of ground was to be employed to the use of the priests.

Ezekiel 9:7 — And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city. Defile the house. — Once hallowed by myself, but now abhorred and rejected as a stew or sty of filthiness. Fill the courts. — That where they have sinned, there they may suffer, as did Ahab. 1 Kings 22:38 2 Kings 9:26

Matthew 25:7 — Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And trimmed their lamps — The foolish also made a fair flourish, and held themselves, haply, in case good enough for heaven; deceiving their own hearts, or rather deceived by them, while they use fallacious and specious sophisms, James 1:26 , to make themselves believe their penny to be good silver, when as it is nothing better than a slip.

Matthew 26:19 — And the disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the passover. Did as Jesus had appointed them — With a kind of blind obedience; such as we must yield to God, notwithstanding all unlikelihoods or scruples whatsoever, cast in by carnal reason. This the Scripture calls the "obedience of faith," and commends it to us, in the examples of Abraham, Moses, others, Hebrews 11:1-40 .

Mark 1:29 — And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. They entered into the house — Happy house in such a guest. If Elisabeth held it so great a matter, that the mother of her Lord should come unto her, Luke 1:43 , what may Peter think, since the Lord himself comes to give him a visit!

Luke 1:79 — To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. That sit in darkness — This imports, 1. continuance; 2. content. To guide our feet — The superstitious pagans thought that their goddess Vibilia kept them in their right way when they travelled: but we have a better guide to God. Arnob. advers. Gent. lib, 4.

Luke 7:50 — And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace. Go in peace — Faith hath virtutem pacativam, Romans 5:1 . It lodgeth a blessed calm in the conscience, and fortifies the heart against all discouragements. Men may mutter, as here they did, but the answer, or rather demand of faith is, Who shall condemn? it is Christ that justifieth, Romans 8:34 . Better be envied than pitied.