Bible Commentaries

Genesis 26:7 — should kill me for Rebekah; because she [was] fair to look upon. She is my sister. — How apt are children to imitate their father’s infirmities! Pατροπαραδοτου . 1 Peter 1:18 Which yet is no excuse, Ezekiel 18:14 but an aggravation. Daniel 5:22-23 The orator Cic., De Natur. Deor. therefore was far wide, that said, Me ex ea opinione, quam a Maioribus accepi, de cultu deorum immortalium, nullius unquam oratio aut

Genesis 9:27 — Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. God persuade Japhet. — For none else can do it. Men may speak persuasively, but to persuade is proper to God alone. He "speaks to the heart"; Hosea 2:14 we to the ear only. He persuadeth and allureth, not only by a moral persuasion, but by an irresistible inward drawing. Acts 11:17 In the Hebrew there is a sweet alliteration; q.d., God shall persuade the persuasible. He shall draw them to faith and

Acts 22:27 — made it out (likely) by sufficient proof to be so; he produced some convincing evidence, though it be not here recorded. All God’s people are fellow citizens with the saints, burgesses of the new Jerusalem, free denizens of heaven, Ephesians 2:19 ; Hebrews 12:23 ; where their names are enrolled long since, as the manner was at Rome, and likewise at Jerusalem, Psalms 48:3 . But they must look up their evidences, and be able to prove their interest by irrefragable arguments, when Satan shall

Acts 26:28 — believe) "that thou art the Son of the living God," John 6:69 . Illi garriant, nos credamus, saith Austin. Let them jeer us for our faith, let us believe nevertheless; and our faith shall be one day found "to praise, honour, and glory," 1 Peter 1:7 . If Agrippa had been right, he would have esteemed it the highest honour to he able to say, Christian is my name, and Catholic my surname. Those that might well have been his masters and makers, viz. Constantinus, Vatentinianus, and Theodosius

2 Corinthians 11:6 — involutos, eloquium implicatum, et artis Grammaticae imperitiam, for his intricate sense, dark elocution, and unskilfulness in grammar learning. True it is, he was a plain preacher, as he here acknowledgeth; and why he affected plainness, he telleth us, 1 Corinthians 1:17 , as stooping to common people’s capacities. But that he could play the orator if he pleased, appearsActs 17:22-31; Acts 17:22-31 ; Acts 26:2 ; insomuch as the Lycaonians called him Mercury, because he was "a master of speech,"

2 Corinthians 13:5 — disquisitive part belongs to us, the decisive to God. Prove your own selves — Redouble your diligence in this most needful but much neglected duty of self-examination; an error here is easy and dangerous; hence the precept is doubled; so Zephaniah 2:1 . Excutite vos, iterumque excutite, as Tremellius renders it, Fan yourselves, yea, fan yourselves. He doubleth his phrase, as it were his files. Men are as loth to review their actions, and read the blurred writing of their hearts, as school boys are

Ephesians 5:3 — forbid the acting of comedies or tragedies in their commonwealth, and that for this reason, lest either in jest or earnest anything should be said or done contrary to the laws in force among them. (Plutarch.) What a sad complaint was that of the apostle, 1 Corinthians 5:1 , that that which was not so much as named among heathens was done by a Christian; whereas the rule of piety here is, that those sins should not be so much as named among Christians which are done by the Gentiles.

Colossians 2:21 — (Touch not; taste not; handle not; Touch not, taste not, … — The words of those impostors, which are here mimetically, or by way of imitation, related. See the like Ecclesiastes 10:14 , where the wise man graphically describeth the fool’s tautologies, "A man cannot tell what shall be, and what shall be, who can tell?" As for the sense, an excellent textman gives it thus: "Touch not;" viz. a woman, 1

Colossians 2:8 — συλαγωγων . Seducers plunder men of their precious souls. They take them prisoners, 2 Timothy 3:6 . They make merchandise of them, 2 Peter 2:3 ; or bring them into bondage, smiting them on the face, 2 Corinthians 11:20 . Constantius the emperor suspecting Julian’s proneness to paganism, sent him to be carefully grounded in Christianity to Nicomedia; but he frequented by stealth the company of Libanus and Jamblichus the philosophers, who warped him fully

Colossians 4:17 — — Arehippus was a pastor of the Laodicean Church; so that before St John’s time in Patmos they began to cool. Take heed to the ministry — Gr. see to it, that is, to thyself, and to all the flock,Acts 20:28; Acts 20:28 ; cf. Ezekiel 34:31 , to strengthen the weak, to heal the infected: to splint the sprained, to reduce the wandering, to seek the lost, to cherish the strong: work enough. Age ergo quod tui muneris est, as Valentinian said to Ambrose. Clericus in oppido, piscis in arido,

1 Thessalonians 3:3 — The devil, by flattering you, with promise of more ease by a contrary course, will but do as a dirty dog, defile you with fawning. That we are appointed thereunto — viz. By God’s decree, whereunto if damned ghosts must subscribe,Romans 9:19-20; Romans 9:19-20 , how much more should God’s elect! 1 Peter 1:6 . It is but a delicacy to dream of heaven to be had without much hardship. Many would fain pull a rose without pricks, feed on manchet, pass a deliciis ad delicias: they would

1 Timothy 6:17 — giveth us all things richly to enjoy — Thus riches cannot do for us. The covetous enjoy nothing, nor the sick, nor the discontented, nor any else, unless with riches God gives us himself. Our God should therefore be trusted, because he Isaiah 1:1-31 . A living God. 2. A giving God. The Athenians made their gods standing with their hands upwards, as if they were more willing to receive than to give. (Archaeol. Attic. xlvi.) But our God openeth his hand, and lets fall his blessing upon everything

1 Timothy 6:4 — beneficial. Some think that the apostle alludeth here to the wind Typhon, which the ancients held hurtful to men’s wits and senses; so that those that were blasted with it ran mad. Knowing nothing — sc. Aright, and as they ought to know, 1 Corinthians 8:2 . See Trapp on " 1 Corinthians 8:2 " The Gnostics boasted that they knew all things knowable. Irenaeus saith, that they were so besotted with an opinion of themselves, that they accounted their own writings to be gospel. Such

Hebrews 11:6 — without faith it is impossible to please him : for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. But without faith — That is, without Christ, in whom the Father is well pleased, John 14:6 . For he that cometh to God — sc. Forma pauperis, that cometh a begging to him in the sense of his own utter indigence, as Jacob’s sons came to Joseph, and as the Egyptians hard bestead came to him, saying, "We will not hide it from

Hebrews 9:4 — and always keep the tables of the Testament, which are the commandments, that by faith in Christ, who is the propitiation for our sins, we may obtain the golden crown of eternal life. And the table of the covenant — It may here be objected, that,1 Kings 8:9; 1 Kings 8:9 ; 2 Chronicles 5:10 , it is said there was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone. For answer, εν η , "in which," relates not to ark, but tabernacle; so Junius observeth and reconeileth. Calvin

1 Peter 1:17 — heaven. Fugiamus ad caelestem patriam, …, could a heathen say. In fear — Those that fear, of all others, are most likely to hold out, Jeremiah 32:40 . It is a reverential, filial fear of God, as of a father, that is here required; causing us, 1. to have high and honourable conceptions of God in our hearts; "Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and let him be your dread, and fear ye him." 2. Making all honourable mention of him with our mouths, whether we speak to him, or of him,

1 Peter 4:16 — ashamed — He need not; Christ is not a Master that a man need be ashamed of. He was not ashamed of us, when we had never a rag to our backs, nay, when we were "in our blood, in our blood, in our blood," and no eye pitied us, Ezekiel 16:5-6 . Let him glorify God — viz. for his great preferment, Philippians 1:28 . See Trapp on " Philippians 1:28 "

1 John 2:8 — De nuevo os escribo un mandamiento nuevo, que es verdadero en él y en vosotros: porque las tinieblas pasaron y la luz verdadera ahora alumbra. Ver. 8. Un mandamiento nuevo ] Ver Trapp en " Juan 13:34 " "Un mandamiento nuevo" se llama, dice un intérprete erudito tardío, 1. Porque fue renovado por el Señor después de haber sido como anticuado, y casi extinguido. 2. Porque fue mandado a los hombres nuevos o renovados. 3. Porque era un mandamiento excelente.

Revelation 12:4 — pope offered Queen Elizabeth to confirm the English Liturgy by his authority, granting also the use of the sacraments under both kinds, so that she would join herself to the Roman Church. And how the pope clawed our king when he was in Spain, A. D. 1623, is better known than that I need here to relate. (Jac. Revius, vit. Pontif.) And the dragon stood before the woman — This implieth, 1. His readiness and nearness; 2. His instance and diligence. For to devour her child — As that dragon

Ruth 4:6 — And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem [it] for myself, lest I mar mine own inheritance: redeem thou my right to thyself; for I cannot redeem [it]. I cannot redeem it. — And again, I cannot redeem it. Note here: (1.) His verbosity; see the like, Ecclesiastes 10:14 ; See Trapp on " Ecclesiastes 1:14 " (2.) His levity and inconstancy, aliud stuns, aliud sedens, erewhile he could, but now he cannot. Una eademque de re contraria loquitur. - Lav. And why