Bible Commentaries

Proverbs 13:10 — is as he that "hath transgressed by wine." Habakkuk 2:5 And drunkards, we know, are quarrelsome. The Corinthians had riches and gifts and learning; and carried aloft by these waxen wings, they domineered and despised others; 1 Corinthians 4:8 they were divided and discontented; 1 Corinthians 3:3 and these overflowings of the gall and spleen came from a fulness of bad humour. Pride is a dividing distemper; gouty swollen legs keep at a distance; bladders blown up with wind spurt one from

Proverbs 14:31 — is no more in the original - as if rich men only were alive. Poor people are "free among the dead" Psalms 88:5 - free of that company, as David was, when they are crushed and oppressed, especially by rich cormorants and cannibals. Psalms 14:4 A poor man’s livelihood is his life, Luke 8:43 for a poor man in his house is like a snail in his shell - crush that, and you kill him. This reflects very much upon God, the poor man’s king, as James IV of Scotland was called, who will

Proverbs 15:19 — causeway, Via strata. a Gabbatha, John 19:13 a road raised above the rest. There seems to be an illusion to that bank or causeway that went from the king’s house to the temple; 1 Chronicles 26:16 ; 1 Chronicles 26:18 1 Kings 10:5 2 Chronicles 9:4 and the sense is, that the godly, by much practice of piety, having gotten a habit, despatch duty with delight, and come off with comfort. Isaiah 40:31

Proverbs 2:7 — upon all outward things. The prophet Amos complains of the epicures of his time, that they "ate the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; they drank wine in bowls, and chanted to the sound of viols." Amos 6:4-6 This to some might seem brave and desirable. But Proverbs 2:13 the prophet, in true judgment, thus speaks to them: "Ye which rejoice in a thing of nought," ye embrace a shadow, ye pursue after things that profit not, but perish in the use;

Proverbs 21:5 — diligent tend only, … — The word rendered "diligent" signifies one that is sedulous and solicitous in his business; that weighs circumstances and waits opportunities; that "sits down first and counts his costs"; Luke 14:28 that considers seriously, and then executes speedily. Qui res omnes suas ordine facit loco et tempore, … Cuius limitatae et velut iudicio decisae actiones omnes. - Mercer. Such a one was Abraham’s servant, Genesis 24:1-9 Joseph, Boaz,

Proverbs 22:3 — [man] foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. A prudent man foreseeth an evil, … — Prevision is the best means of prevention. "A wise man’s eyes are in his head," Ecclesiastes 2:14 "his heart is also at his right hand." Ecclesiastes 10:2 The Chinese say of themselves that all other nations of the world see but with one eye, they only with two. The Italians give out that they only do sapere ante factum, look before they

Proverbs 22:5 — Thorns [and] snares [are] in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them. Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward. — In opposition to the reward of righteousness; Proverbs 22:4 which is to say, "The ungodly are not so." Or if they have riches, they prove thorns to them to prick and choke their souls; if honour, and long life to enjoy it, these prove snares to them. Of carnal hearts it may be said, as Pharaoh said

Proverbs 24:21 — vindictive and remunerative justice. And while they be just, ruling in the fear of God, 2 Samuel 23:3 and commanding things consonant to the word and will of God, they must be obeyed for conscience sake, Romans 13:5 otherwise not. See Trapp on " Acts 4:19 " And meddle not with them that are given to change, — i.e., With seditious spirits that affect and effect alterations; lawless persons, as St Paul calls them; malcontents, Mεμψιμοιροι

Proverbs 25:3 — inhabitable parts of the world. Sphinx Philosoph. And the earth for depth. — From the surface to the centre, how far it is, cannot be known exactly, as neither whether hell be there: but that it is somewhere below may be gathered from Revelation 14:11 , and other places. Ubi sit sentient, qui curiosius quaerunt. And the heart of kings is unsearchable. — Profundum sine fundo. God gave Solomon "a large heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore." 1 Kings 4:29 A vast capacity,

Proverbs 25:8 — Go not forth hastily to strive, lest [thou know not] what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame. Go not forth hastily to strive. — Contention is the daughter of arrogance and ambition. James 4:1 Hence Solomon, whose very name imports peace, persuades to peaceableness very oft in this book, and sets forth the mischief of strife and dissension. Stir not strife, saith he, but make haste to stint it - so the words may be rendered - you may do

Proverbs 29:8 — wise [men] turn away wrath. Scornful men bring a city into a snare. — The Vulgate render it, Pestilent persons undo a city or a state; as Nahash did the Ammonites, 1 Samuel 11:2 ; 1 Samuel 11:11 and as his son Hanan did much more. 2 Samuel 10:4 ; 2 Samuel 12:31 Mocking is catching, as the pestilence, and no less pernicious to the whole country. Geraldus Cambrensis tells of three Irish kings that, being derided for their rude habits and fashions, rebelled, and set the country in a combustion.

Proverbs 5:2 — men’s hearts are no better than stews and brothel houses, by reason of base and beastly thoughts and lusts that muster and swarm there, like the flies of Egypt. "There is that leviathan, and there are creeping things innumerable." Psalms 104:25-26 Yea, the hypocrite, who outwardly abstains from gross sins, yet inwardly consenteth with the thief, and partaketh with the adulterer, Psalms 50:18-19 that is, in his heart and fancy, supposing himself with them, and desiring to do what they do.

Ecclesiastes 2:3 — men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. Yet acquainting my heart with wisdom, — i.e., Resolving to retain my wisdom; but that could not be, "For whoredom, and wine, and new wine take away the heart"; Hosea 4:11 they dull and disable nature, and so set us in a greater distance from grace; they "fight against the soul," 1 Peter 2:11 and take away all scent and sense of heavenly comforts: much like that parcel of ground in Sicily, that sendeth such

Ecclesiastes 8:14 — earth. — Symmachus reads it thus: Est difficile cognitu quod sit super terram, There is that done upon the earth that is hard to be understood. It hath gravelled great divines - as David, Jeremiah, Habakkuk Psalms 73:3-9 Jeremiah 12:1-2 Habakkuk 2:4-5 Lamentations 3:33 - to see good men suffer, bad men prosper. But it is but upon the earth that this befalls: here God must meet with his people, or nowhere, and it is non nisi coactus, as that emperor said of himself, that he doth anything to their

Song of Solomon 7:6 — "turn again to folly," Psalms 85:8 or give way to carnal security. Laetemur in domino, sed caveamus a recidivo. Argue not from mercy to liberty - that is the devil’s logic - but from mercy to duty, as those good souls do. Ezra 9:13-14 Having received such and such, both privative and positive favours, should we again break thy commandments? There is so much unthankfulness and disingenuity in such an entertainment of mercy, that holy Ezra thinks heaven and earth would be ashamed of

Isaiah 1:3 — He needeth to he set to school to these dullest of creatures to learn the knowledge of God and of his will, of himself and his duty. Oh, the brutish ignorance of many profligate professors! "They are a people of no understanding." Psalms 53:4 So Isaiah 44:18 . My people doth not consider. — Though "them only have I known of all the families of the earth," Amos 3:2 culling and calling them, owning and honouring them, adopting and accepting them for my people, when I had all

Isaiah 1:31 — 28:23 , the gods of Damascus are said to have "smitten" or "plagued" Ahaz: not that they did so indeed (for an idol is "nothing in the world," and this strong in the text is weak as water, Jeremiah 10:5 2 Corinthians 8:4 ), but he thought they did so like as the silly Papists also think of their male saints and female saints, whereof they have not a few, but are shamefully foiled and frustrated; besides that they are here and elsewhere threatened with unquenchable fire.

Isaiah 5:24 — chaff doth fire; suddenly and with no ado shall sinners be consumed, when God once taketh them to do; exorientur et exurentur. So their root shall be rottenness. — In allusion to the vine Isaiah 5:1 which brought forth rotten grapes. Isaiah 5:4 And their blossom shall go up as dust. — Shall vanish and come to nothing, as it needs must where the root is putrified. Of wild vines Pliny Lib. xvi. cap. 27. saith, Ostentant fructum potius quam porrigunt, they rather make a show of fruit than

Isaiah 6:3 — affection. Infinitis vicibus iterant, saith Procopius; the holy angels "have no rest," and yet they have no unrest either, "day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty which was, and is, and is to come." Revelation 4:8 The ancient Rabbis, as R, Simeon Ben Joai, proved the trinity of persons from this text, saith Galatin, Lib. ii. cap. 1. appointing their posterity to repeat these words twice a day at least - viz., at the rising and setting of the sun, which also

Isaiah 9:7 — of that name; he is not maintained and supported by us and our subsidies, but we by him, and by the supplies of his Spirit. Philippians 1:19 All our springs are in him. Psalms 87:7 The zeal of the Lord of hosts, — i.e., The philanthropy Titus 3:4 and free grace of God. Non amat qui non zelat. He does not love him who is not zealous. Dilexisti me, Domine, magis quam te, You love me, oh God, more than yourself, saith a father. Let us reciprocate, by being zealous of good works, fervent in spirit,