Bible Commentaries

Job 11:18 — that might disquiet thee. We read of some great princes that could not sleep, as Ahasuerus, Esther 6:1 , Richard III of England, and Charles IX of France, after that barbarous massacre at Paris (Daniel Thulin.); but David could, Psalms 3:1-8 Psalms 4:1-8 , because God was his keeper. No marvel that Philip sleepeth soundly when Antipater, his fast friend, watched by him the while. Job and all God’s beloved ones shall sleep on both ears, Psalms 127:2 , rest securely and comfortably ( In utramvis

Job 11:8 — (whereof those of the first magnitude are said to be every one above 107 times as large again as the whole earth) do yet seem to us but as so many small sparks or spangles; but how high the third heaven is above them cannot be conjectured, Ephesians 4:10 . And yet the wisdom of the Almighty is far above that. But what meaneth Zophar by these cutted questions of his, What canst thou do? and what canst thou know? He thought, belike, that either Job considered not what he had said when he so set forth

Job 15:27 — Psalms 119:70 . Bene curavit cutem suam in hoc mundo He takes good care of his skin in this world. (Vat.). He is waxen fat, that is, prosperity proud, and kicketh, Deuteronomy 32:15 . Pride and fulness of bread were Sodom’s twin sins, Ezekiel 16:49 . When people are provender pricked, as we call it, they easily turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, Judges 1:4 , and that fulness breeds forgetfulness; as the fed hawk soon forgets his master, and the moon at fullest gets farthest off the sun.

Job 18:11 — Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet. Terrors shall make him afraid on every side — These terrors are, as it were, the cruel sergeants and merciless officers of that king of terrors, Job 18:14 , arresting him, as it were, in the devil’s name, and bringing him to justice, Apparitores et lictores (Jun.). How can it be but a terrible time with him, when death comes with a writ of Habeas corpus, Let you keep the body, and the devil with

Job 21:15 — nor evil, Zephaniah 1:12 , that it was to no purpose or profit to serve him, that the gains would not pay for the pains, … And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him? — Heb. If we meet him, viz. by our prayers, Jeremiah 7:16 Amos 4:12 Malachi 3:14 , See Trapp on " Malachi 3:14 " Children will not say their prayers unless they may have their breakfast; nor hypocrites pray but for some profit. They pretend sometimes to meet God, but they draw not near with that true heart,

Job 25:2 — tempering his justice with his goodness, he makes himself equally loved and feared of those blessed spirits. Therefore Job did ill, saith Mayer, to offer to make a disturbance there (as Bildad at least conceited he did), where there was all peace, Job 23:4 .

Job 28:18 — Alsted. Chronol.). It was afterwards set in the pope’s triple crown; but no way worthy to be mentioned in the same day with wisdom. For the price of wisdom is above rubies — Which are so called from their lovely redness. See Lamentations 4:7 . Pearls some render it; of which Pliny saith, Principium culmenque rerum ommum pretii margaritae tenent, Pearls are the principal of all precious things. They were so of old; but they are not so today. What huge sums were once given for saints’

Job 32:12 — understand it, as fools do, to their shame, 2 Peter 2:12 , daring to reprehend what I do not comprehend, as did that Popish expositor, who calleth Ezekiel’s description of the temple insulsam descriptionem, an absurd description (Sanctius in cap. 40, Ezek. in argum.). And, behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words — And yet they thought they had done both effectually; and that it was merely his stubbornness to stand out against them. Ready they were to

Job 37:2 — vos testes adhibeo, as Mercer paraphraseth it out of Kimchi: Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye again and again, and then ye also will tremble. I take you to witness; whether ye consider his greater thunder claps ringing and roaring in your ears, see Psalms 29:4 ; Psalms 87:7 , or the lesser rumblings, called here Murmur vel mussitationem, vel habitum, citra quem sermo non profertur; the sound, or breath, that goeth out of his mouth. All is ascribed to God; though naturalists tell us, and truly, that there

Psalms 101:2 — me? — In the performance of thy promise concerning the kingdom? For I am resolved not to antevert thee, but to wait thy coming; Est suspirium pii animi ex abrapto, like that of Jacob, "I have waited, O Lord, for thy salvation," Genesis 49:18 . Or, When wilt thou come, viz. to reckon with me? For come thou wilt. I will walk within my house with a perfect heart — And "although my house be not so with God," yet "this is all my desire" (and shall be mine endeavour),

Psalms 131:1 — Bethshemites paid dear for peeping into the ark. Phaeton is feigned by the poets to have perished by taking upon him to rule the chariot of the sun; and Bellerophon, by seeking to fly up to heaven upon his Pegasus, to see what Jupiter did there (Horat. lib. 4, Obadiah 1:11 ). Spes; et exemplum grave praebet ales Pegasus, terrenum equitem gravatus Bellerophontem.

Psalms 16:10 — not leave my soul in hell — That is, my body in the grave ( animamque sepulchro condimus - Virg, de Polydori funere. Aeneid. iii.), or in the state of the dead, Genesis 37:35 . That soul is sometimes put for a carcase or dead corpse, see Job 14:22 ; Leviticus 19:28 ; Leviticus 21:1 ; Leviticus 21:11; Numbers 5:2 ; Numbers 6:6 ; Numbers 19:13 , which place is expounded, Ezekiel 44:25 . David can confidently write upon his grave, Resurgam, I shall rise again. This many heathens had no hope of,

Psalms 23:1 — had one foot as it were upon the battlements of heaven. The Jews at this day use for the most part to repeat this psalm after they are set down to meat (Leo. Modena). God is often in Scripture called the Shepherd of his people, Psalms 80:1 Ezekiel 34:12 ; Ezekiel 34:14-15 Isaiah 40:11 John 10:11 1 Peter 2:25 , although non est ofiicium magis contemptibile quam opilionis, saith R. Jos. Bar. Haman, there is not a more contemptible office than that of a shepherd. Every shepherd was an abomination to

Psalms 47:9 — willing to come under the common yoke of his obedience, with the rest of the people of the God of Abraham, the common sort of Christians (Socrates). For the shields of the earth belong unto God — That is, those princes and magistrates also, Hosea 4:18 Psalms 89:18 , belong to the covenant of election; though not many mighty, not many noble are called, 1 Corinthians 1:26 , and it was grown to a proverb, omnium bonorum Principum imagines in uno annulo sculpi posse. The Spanish friar was wont to

Psalms 5:11 — rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice — Joy is the just man’s portion, et contra, Hosea 9:1 Isaiah 65:13-14 ; and, according to the measure of his faith, so is his joy, 1 Peter 1:8 . Let them ever shout — Or, shrill out, set up their note, as a peacock doth, which hath his name in Hebrew from this root. Because thou defendest them — Heb. Thou

Proverbs 1:1 — îשׁì îשׁìé , Dominari, quae vitae dominae et moderatrices esse debent. that must overrule matters, and mightily prevail in the minds of men. The principal, no doubt, they are of those three thousand mentioned in 1 Kings 4:32 , and far beyond those golden sayings Eπη χρυσεα . of Phocylides (profanely preferred before those holy parables by that apostate Julian, ausu nefario ), as having in them more sentences than words, De Euripide

Proverbs 10:21 — many. — A great housekeeper he is, hath his doors ever open, and, though himself be poor, yet he "maketh many rich." 2 Corinthians 6:10 He well knows that to this end God put "honey and milk under his tongue," Song of Solomon 4:11 that he might look to this spiritual lip feeding. To this end hath he communicated to him those "rivers of water," John 7:38 that they may flow from him, to quench that world of wickedness that, being "set on fire of hell, would set

Proverbs 14:28 — honour. — For that is a sign of peace, plenty, prosperity, and just government, as in Solomon’s days, when "Israel and Judah were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating, and drinking, and making merry." 1 Kings 4:20 And as in Augustus’s days, when Christ, the Prince of Peace, was born into the world, cuncta atque continua totius generis humani aut pax fuit, aut pactio. Flor. Hist., lib. iv. Ferdinand III, King of Spain, reigned full thirty-five years,

Proverbs 15:3 — bark is to the tree; "for in him all things subsist," Colossians 1:17 "and move"; - understand Acts 17:28 it to be the mind’s motions also. And this the very heathen saw by nature’s rush candle. Vide Sen. Ep. ad Lucil. 34. For Thales Milesius being asked, Whether the gods knew not when a man doth ought amiss? Yea, said he, if he do but think amiss. Deus intimior nobis intimo nostro, saith another, God is nearer to us, than we are to ourselves. Interest animis nostris

Proverbs 15:7 — the foolish doth not so. — Or, Is not right. It is "little worth," Proverbs 10:20 as having no true treasure in them, but froth and filth, vanity and villany: hence they do not only not disperse knowledge, which they have not, Psalms 14:4 but patronise and promote ignorance and error, sow cockle as fast as wiser men do corn, and are as busy in digging descents to hell, as others are in building staircases for heaven.