Bible Commentaries

Jeremiah 7:16 — aliqui volunt. that signifieth clamare voce contenta et efficaci, to set up the note to some tune, as we say. Neither make intercession to me. — Interdicit ei ne intercedat. Here and elsewhere God flatly forbids the prophet to pray. See Jeremiah 14:7 ; Jeremiah 14:11 ; and yet he is at it again. Jeremiah 7:19-22 So Exodus 32:11-13 , Let me alone, saith God. The Chaldee there hath it, Cease thy prayer; but Moses would not. These were men of prayer, and could truly say of themselves, as David once

Daniel 12:1 — Calvin reporteth it, se esse Michaelem illum, Ecclesae custodem, that he was that Michael, the Church’s guardian. David George, also another black-mouthed heretic, said that he was the one David foretold by the prophets, Jeremiah 30:9 Ezekiel 34:23 Hosea 3:5 and that he was confident that the whole world would in time submit to him. Which standeth for the children of thy people. — For all the Israel of God, to whom Christ is a fast friend, and will be while "the government is upon

Hosea 7:7 — that calleth unto me. They are all hot as an oven — That none might post it off to others, all are accused of this mad desire to do mischief; as all the Sodomites, full and whole, young and old, came clattering about Lot’s house, Genesis 19:4 . ( Dedit haec contagio labem, Et dabit in plures. Juven. Sat. 2.) And have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen, … — sc. being slain with the sword of those that succeeded them in the throne, as may be read, 2 Kings 15:8-9

Joel 2:9 — thief of the truth, as Basil calleth him) wind himself into the soul by the eyes, those windows of wickedness and loop holes of lust. 2. To rifle and ransack, and leave little enough behind him. What clean work these insects made, see before, Joel 1:4 , and take notice what great matters God Almighty can do by the most contemptible creatures. Quid cimice vilius, saith Philo the Jew, what can be baser than a louse? and yet all the strength of Egypt was brought down by that despicable vermin? Pliny

Joel 3:8 — strait of the sea, which separated it from the continent, before it could be taken. But taken it was, together with Sidon and Philistia; and their children sold as far as Sabaea, which was then counted the utmost part of the known earth, Matthew 12:42 Luke 11:31 , being part of Arabia the Happy, or (as some will) the Desert. All this was done for the Jews’ sake, though the world little considereth it. It was enough for them that they knew it to be so, according to this prophecy; and that God

Amos 8:13 — "for God hath forsaken me." "Behold, I am cast out from thy presence," said Cain (that is, from my father’s house where thine ordinances are administered), "and therefore every one that findeth me shall slay me," Genesis 4:14 . In that day of the want of the word, in the day of spiritual famine and thirst, behold, aliud ex alio malum, another thirst shall seize upon the choicest and fairest; as flies settle upon the sweetest perfumes, when they are cold, and corrupt them. Shall

Amos 8:4 — but a breakfast, nay, but a bit of them; that would swallow them at once down their wide gullets, and do, for that purpose, pant and even faint, as well nigh windless, after them, to devour them. Hence they are called man eaters, cannibals, Psalms 14:4 . See Amos 2:7 . See Trapp on " Amos 2:7 " Even to make the poor of the land to fail — Heb. the meek of the, land. Poverty should meeken and tame men’s spirits; howbeit, some are humbled but not humble, low but not lowly. Those

Jonah 4:4 — and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away, with all malice?" And should ye not be "kind one to another, and tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you?" Ephesians 4:30-32 .

Nahum 3:17 — and their place is not known where they [are]. Thy crowned are as the locusts — i.e. Thy barons (saith Diodati) and great lords, wearing diadems and wreaths, in token of dignity; such a Nazarite (that is the Hebrew word here) was Joseph, Genesis 49:26 , because separate and exempt from other men, as a chieftain. Calvin likewise rendereth it, thy princes; the Vulgate Latin, thy keepers; some others, thy Nazarites, or thy religious persons, set apart from the common sort to pray for the city’s

Nahum 3:9 — knew no end of her power, as bearing rule over Ethiopia the strong and Egypt the infinite, Chus valida et Egyptii infiniti (some read this text), and as having all the rest of the peoples inhabiting Africa and Libya for her confederates. See Jeremiah 46:9 , where the prophet speaketh of such people as brought aid to Egypt against the Chaldees, but were foiled and worsted. Of the huge armies that Ethiopia was able to raise see 2 Chronicles 14:9 ; 2 Chronicles 16:8 . Egypt for her strength was called

Habakkuk 3:4 — And [his] brightness was as the light; he had horns [coming] out of his hand: and there [was] the hiding of his power. And his brightness was as the light — The glory of the Lord was as a devouring fire on the top of the mountain, Exodus 24:17 ; the noonday light, the sun in his strength was nothing to this incomparable brightness, which was as the light, or as the sun, see Job 31:26 ; Job 37:20 . Hence the heathens called Apollo or the sun Orus (which is the word here used), hence also

Haggai 2:12 — priests answered and said, No. If one bear holy flesh in the skirt, … — Problems and parables are notable helps to the bolting out of the truth, and conviction of the gainsayers. For problems see Matthew 13:10-15 ; Matthew 21:25 ; Matthew 22:42 . For parables see Judges 9:7-15 , that of Jotham, of Nathan, 2 Samuel 12:1-4 , of the woman of Tekoah, 2 Samuel 14:5-7 , of our Saviour concerning the two brethren sent into the vineyard, the wedding of the king’s son, the sower. See Trapp on

Zechariah 1:13 — Lord answered the angel — How should God do otherwise than answer his well beloved Son with good and comfortable words, since he is all in all with the Father, and can do anything with him? Father, saith he, I know thou hearest me always, John 11:42 . Did God hear Abraham for Ishmael, nay, for Sodom? Did David hear Joab, interceding for Absalom? Did Herod hearken to Blastus, making request for those of Tyre and Sidon, with whom he was highly displeased? Acts 12:20 . And shall not God give ear

Zechariah 1:14 — Basil. It is certain that our God is a consuming fire. "Who would set the briers and the thorns," saith he, that is, the Church’s enemies, "against me in battle? I would go through them, I would burn them together," Isaiah 27:4 . And yet he saith in the same place, "Fury is not in me." What will he do then when jealousy is in him as here? "Jealousy is the rage of a man," Proverbs 6:34 , and hath these three properties:

Zechariah 3:10 — multiplied. "Great peace have all they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them," saith David, Psalms 119:165 "And thou hast been a strength to the poor, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat," …, Isaiah 25:4 , better than that of the broad leaved vine and fig tree, very cooling and comfortable in those hot countries. See this in righteous Noah; who being justified by faith, had peace with God, and therefore was mediis tranquillus in undis, in the midst

Zechariah 5:8 — it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. And he said, This is wickedness — viz. This woman, a figure of the whole sinful nation of the Jews; as were Aholah and Aholibah, Ezekiel 23:36 ; Ezekiel 23:44 , and Babylon the Great, the mother of fornications and abominations, Revelation 17:5 , to whom I may add that grand-daughter of hers, Katherine de Medicis, Queen mother; who by her wickedness wonderfully troubled all France for thirty years together. And

Zechariah 9:13 — Maccabees; but may have an eye to the apostles, who were some of them of Judah, some of Ephraim; that is, of the ten tribes, as of Zebulun, Naphthali. These Christ used as bows and arrows in the hand of a mighty man, whereby the people fell under him, Psalms 45:5 ; the sons of Greece especially, where so many famous churches were planted, as appears by the Acts and the Revelation. See Revelation 6:2 . See Trapp on " Revelation 6:2 " And make thee as the sword of a mighty man — Given thee both

Matthew 2:12 — in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way. And being warned of God in a dream, … — Thus were they pulled by a sweet Providence out of the lion’s mouth, as Paul was; 2 Timothy 4:17 as Athanasius and Basil often; as Luther also; and Queen Elizabeth, of famous memory, for whose execution a warrant once came down under seal, Gardner being the chief engineer. And when through a sea of sorrows she had swum to the crown, treasons

Matthew 3:10 — goodness serves no man’s turn to save him from the axe. It is said of Ithacius, that the hatred of the Priscillian heresy was all the virtue that he had. (Hooker ex Sulpitio. ) The evil servant did not riot out his talent; those reprobates Matthew 25:41-46 robbed not the saints, but relieved them not. Moab and Ammon were bastardized and banished the sanctuary to the tenth generation, for a mere omission, because they met not God’s Israel with bread and water in the wilderness; Deuteronomy 23:4

Matthew 4:15 — talent elsewhere, it is to be feared thou wilt either lose thy gifts, or fall into errors and heresies, or, at least, become a frigid and dry doctor among such a people as have once conceived an incurable prejudice against thee. (Rolloc. Com. in John 4:44 ) Galilee of the Gentiles — So called, either because it bordered upon the Gentiles, or because it was given away by David to Hiram, king of Tyre, or because it was inhabited by the Assyrians, who carried the people captive, and dwelt in their