Bible Commentaries

Job 30:4 — Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots [for] their meat. Who cut up mallows by the bushes — Pitiful poor fare they are glad of; not so good as that of the Baptist, locusts and wild honey, Matthew 3:4 , but mallows, which, together with asphodelus, Hesiod mentioneth as poor folk’s fare. Tremellius rendereth it, Herbas e salsilagine cum stirpibus, salt, and bitter herbs and stalks; Brentius rendereth it, nettles; some take it for samphire, which

Job 31:32 — an altar to God nor showed himself forward to entertain strangers, till Lot and he were reconciled. Hospitality is commended to our practice, both by the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 58:7 , by St Paul, Romans 12:13 Hebrews 13:2 , and by St Peter, 1 Peter 4:9 . Of Cranmer, Tremellius testifietb, that he was homo Fιλοξενος nec minus φιλολογος , humane and hospitable, after the example of Abraham

Job 34:20 — all these alterations and various occurrences is God unrighteous, since he is debtor to none, neither doth he anything without reason and right. And pass away — Praeteribunt, id est, peribunt; they shall pass into the grave, as Ecclesiastes 1:4 , "One generation passeth, and another cometh"; or they shall perish, as when it is said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away." The Vulgate hath it, Pertransibunt. It is not transibunt, they shall pass, saith Gregory; but pertransibunt,

Job 35:6 — procession, with drums playing before it, railing and spitting at it, and calling it the God of the Christians. But what was all this to Christ? He that sitteth in the heavens ( extra iactum ) laughed at them, the Lord had them in derision, Psalms 2:4 . Do wicked sinners, when they work hardest against God, as the word here signifieth, and take greatest pains to go to hell; do they, I say, provoke the Lord to anger? Etsi naviter peccas. "Do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their

Psalms 101:1 — mercy, as one well observeth from Micah 6:8 . Mercy must be loved, and not shown only; justice must be done, and no more. The sword of justice must be bathed in the oil of mercy; a well-tempered mixture of both preserveth the commonwealth, Romans 13:3-4 . Unto thee, O Lord, will I sing — Acknowledge thee alone, the bestower of these graces, and thy glory as the end. These are matters that philosophers and politicians mind not.

Psalms 119:9 — BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed [thereto] according to thy word. Wherewithal shall a young man — Semipuer, a lad, a stripling, who hath his name in Hebrew of tossing to and fro; confer Ephesians 4:14 , and the same word signifieth youth and tow, Isaiah 1:31 , or rather the shreds that fall from tow and flax, when whiffied; to note the vanity of youth, and its aptness to be enkindled, when once affections begin to boil within them. The Greek word

Psalms 139:15 — divided from those entrails by the diaphragm, resemble the ethereal region; as the brain doth the heavenly, which consisteth of intelligible creatures. In the lowest parts of the earth — That is, in my mother’s womb, as before. See Ephesians 4:9 . The Syriac interpreteth it (but not so well), when I shall die, and be buried, and my bones turned to ashes, yet thou shalt know them.

Psalms 15:1 — home. The Church militant also is transportative, as well as the tabernacle; and not fixed to one place. Never was the ark settled till set in Solomon’s temple; neither shall we till we come to heaven. David, having described an atheist in Psalms 14:1-4 , and finding but too many such in the bosom of the Church, politicians, profane persons, hypocrites, who profess that they know God, but in works they deny him, Titus 1:16 (he that dethroneth a king doth as bad as he that denieth him), he therefore

Psalms 16:7 — choose this good part that shall never be taken away from me. In the night seasons — When commonly we are prone to evil ( Nox et Amor, … Ilia pudore vacat, … (Ovid.)), and which is the wicked man’s fittest opportunity, Job 24:13 ; Job 24:15-16 , … It must not content us that God by his word hath given us counsel, but we must labour to be inwardly taught of God. A man may read the figure upon the dial, but he cannot tell how the day goes, unless the sun shine upon

Psalms 32:1 — i.e. Giving instruction, or making prudent; for David here, out of his own experience, turneth teacher, Psalms 32:7 , and the lesson that he layeth before his disciples is the doctrine of justification by faith, that ground of true blessedness, Romans 4:6-7 . Docet igitur hic Psalmus vere preciosus praecipuum et proprium fidei Christianae caput, saith Beza, This most precious psalm instructeth us in the chief and principal point of Christian religion; and it differeth herein from the first psalm, that

Psalms 5:4 — teach him to swear with a grace (Camera. Med. Histor.). But God perfectly hateth wickedness and wicked persons. There were more remarkable expressions of God’s anger upon man’s sin, in the dead body of a man, than of a beast, Numbers 11:31-34 . The one made unclean but till the evening, the other seven days. God hateth sin worse than he doth the devil, for he hateth the devil for sin’s sake, and not sin for the devil’s sake. He hateth sin naturally in whomsoever, like as we hate

Psalms 50:1 — committed to Asaph to be sung, after that Israel had been afflicted with three years’ famine and three days’ pestilence, and the angel had appeared to David, and set out the place where the temple should be built, 2 Samuel 21:1-3 2 Samuel 24:13-18 1 Chronicles 21:18 ; 1 Chronicles 22:4 (Jun.). The mighty God, even the Lord — Heb. The God of gods, whether they be so deputed, as angels, magistrates; or reputed only, as heathen deities, 1 Corinthians 8:5 . Jehovah or Essentiator, is

Psalms 51:12 — Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me [with thy] free spirit. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation — He had grieved that holy thing, that Spirit of God whereby he was sealed to the day of redemption, Ephesians 4:30 , and is therefore at a loss for comfort; he had vilipended that patent of his pardon which God had passed under his hand and seal; God therefore calleth for it home again into the pardon office, as it were, that he may know the worth by the want.

Proverbs 11:18 — their thrones, and thrust [themselves] into a monastery, there to macerate themselves with much fasting and coarse clothing, out of an opinion of promoting their soul’s health thereby. But "bodily exercise profiteth little." 1 Timothy 4:8 And as the pride of virginity is as foul a sin as impurity, Augustine. so is it in this case. The formal faster loseth his labour. Isaiah 58:3 Zechariah 7:5 In seventy years they kept seven score fasts in Babylon; yet among them all not one fast to

Proverbs 15:8 — opera nostra non tam actibus quam finibus pensat. Zanchius. The glory of God must consume all other ends, as the sun puts out the light of the fire. But the prayer of the righteous is his delight. — His music, his honey drops, Song of Solomon 4:11 his sweetest perfume, Psalms 141:2 his "calves of the lips," Hosea 14:2 with which, when we cover his altar, he is abundantly well-pleased. For as all God’s senses, nay, his very soul is offended with the bad man’s sacrifice

Proverbs 16:27 — it. "But what shall be given unto thee, or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?" - false though thou speak the truth, if with a mind to do mischief: - "Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper," Psalms 120:3-4 yea, that very fire of hell, from whence thou wast enkindled.

Proverbs 17:14 — army out of Italy again. It is easy for one to interest himself in quarrels, but hard to be disengaged from them when he is once in. Therefore principiis obsta, withstand the beginnings of these evils, and "study to be quiet." 1 Thessalonians 4:11 Milk quencheth wild fire. Oil, saith Luther, quencheth lime; so doth meekness strife.

Proverbs 21:7 — torments, such as the prophet Isaiah, and those martyrs Hebrews 11:37 were put unto unjustly; such as Agag suffered justly, and those barbarous Ammonites. 2 Samuel 12:31 Some render it dissecabit eos shall cut them in twain, as that evil servant, Luke 12:46 and those blasphemers of Daniel’s God. Daniel 3:29 Others render it, Shall abide upon them, or, Dwell with them. Their illgotten goods vanish, but their punishment remains. Their stolen venison is soon eaten up, but the shot is not yet paid;

Proverbs 25:5 — compares them to that wakeful dragon that kept the golden fleece, as the poets have feigned. They get the royalty of their ear, and then do with them whatsoever they wish. David therefore vows, as a good finer, to rid the court of such dross, Psalms 101:4 and gives order upon his death bed to his son Solomon, to take out of the way those men of blood, 1 Kings 2:5-9 that his throne might be established in righteousness.

Proverbs 27:7 — bread of life. Now when God sees his mercies lying under table, it is just with him to call to the enemy to take away. "Behold, therefore, I will deliver thee to the men of the East, - who shall eat thy fruit, and drink thy milk." Ezekiel 25:4 But to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet. — Hunger is the best cook, say the Dutch - the best sauce, say we; experience proves it so: how sweetly doth it season homely cates, coarse fare. Ieiunus stomachus raro vulgaria temnit. - Horat.