Bible Commentaries

Genesis 41:34 — βασιλεως οριζομενον . - Appian. as if it were not enough to be above men, but above mankind: as those princes would be, saith our English chronicler, Dan., Hist. of Eng., fol. 144. that would have their will to be law. Melancthon tells us of a certain prince in those parts, that extorted money from his miserable subjects, by knocking out their teeth. First he knocked out one tooth, Primo unum dentem evellebat, minitans, …

Ezra 2:1 — was once populous and great among the nations, Lamentations 1:1 . Medinah, the word here rendered province, sometimes signifieth Metropolis, aliis ius dicens, a place that giveth laws to other places, and so Judaea in her flourish had been. See Ezra 4:20 . But now it was otherwise, and so it is at this day, not only with Judaea, but with other renowned empires and kingdoms not a few, all which (together with most of those Churches and places so much mentioned in Scripture) are swallowed up in, the

Nehemiah 4:4 — ουτιδανοι , no bodies. So Paul (the most precious man upon earth) and his companions (the glory of Christ, and a royal diadem in the hand of Jehovah, Isaiah 62:3 ) were looked upon as the filth of the world, and the offscouring of all things, 1 Corinthians 4:13 . What matter is it, then, what becometh of us? We have a God to turn us to, and Demetrius hath testimony of the truth; that is enough, let Diotrephes prate what he pleaseth, 3 John 1:9 . And turn their reproach upon their own heads — Surely

Esther 3:2 — things, as Romans 1:23 , they would have done it. Most people are of King Henry’s religion, as the proverb is, resolving to do as the most do, though thereby they be undone for ever. This is to be worse than some heathens. See Trapp on " Acts 4:19 " But why should Ahasuerus be so hasty to heap such honours upon so worthless and wicked a person, but that he had a mind to proclaim his own folly to all his kingdom? But Mordecai bowed not, nor did him reverence — He did not, he durst

Job 13:20 — be glad that they get one. But God dealeth by his servants and suppliants not only as the prophet did by the Shunammite (when he bade her ask what she needed, and promised her a son, which she most desired, and yet through modesty asked not, 2 Kings 4:16 ), but also as Naaman did by Gehazi, when, asking one talent, he forced him to take two. This Job well knew, and, therefore, he beggeth two things at once; but better he had begged that one thing necessary, patience; or, if two, the best use of his

Job 20:15 — the mean time, or by despair and impenitent horror hereafter; he shall vomit them up, and together with them his vital blood and spirits; he shall bring up his very heart withal, as Judas did, together with those thirty pieces of silver, Matthew 27:4 , all his bowels gushing out, Acts 1:18 . He thought to have digested his ill gotten goods, as the ostrich doth iron; but, pelican-like, he is forced to cast them up again, ÷àú Pelicanus a vomitu. (See Plin. l. 10, c. 30.) The large

Job 26:14 — resoundeth, and no more; it is but a modicum, the main we cannot know, we are as narrow mouthed vessels: Ye are not able to bear what I have to say to you, saith Christ to his apostles, John 16:12 . And to the people he spake as they were able to hear, Mark 4:33 , and not as he was able to have spoken. Loquimur de Deo non quantum debemus, sed quantum possumus, saith Gratian the emperor, We speak of God, not so much as we should, but so much as we can (In Epist. ad Ambrose). We prophesy but in part, and what

Job 28:2 — omniumque quae igne fabricantur, artem invenisse, ferunt (Diod. Sic. 1. 6). And surely if Vulcan were the same as Tubalcain (as various commentators will have it), Diodorus was not far from the truth; for he taught men to work in brass and iron, Genesis 4:22 . Iron they had before, and the art of using it; how else could they have ploughed the accursed earth? But this man added to their skill by his invention, he sharply and wittily taught smith’s craft, and is therefore by the heathens feigned

Job 8:16 — upon him, the rush may then wither, but not the tree. See Psalms 37:35 . A hypocrite may abound exceedingly in outward prosperity; yea, he may be green for a while before the sun of persecution, as was Alexander the coppersmith, Acts 19:32 2 Timothy 4:14 . The thorny ground stood out the heat of the sunbeams, and shrank not in the wetting. And his branch shooteth forth in his garden — Mr Broughton translates, His suckers sprout out over his orchard, that is, he grows luxuriously eminent in

Job 9:7 — of an hour the sun runneth 700 miles (De ascens. mentis in Deum, grad. 7); but God, the sovereign of the sun, can speak to it, and it riseth not. If he do but give the word of command to the sun not to rise, the morning shall be made darkness, Amos 4:13 , and the day dark with night, Amos 5:8 . Was it not so in that three days’ darkness in Egypt? Exodus 12:21 , in that miraculous standing still of the sun in Joshua’s days, when the sun rose not with the antipodes one morning, and the

Psalms 4:1 — as manna is said to have had all good tastes in it. For particulars, David was content to be at God’s disposal. "I humbly beseech thee, that I may find grace in thy sight, my lord, O king," said that false Ziba to David, 2 Samuel 16:4 ; q.d. I had rather have the king’s favour than Mephibosheth’s land. David really had rather have God’s love and favour than all this world’s good; and therefore so heartily beggeth it above anything. Thou hast enlarged me when

Proverbs 15:11 — the LORD: how much more then the hearts of the children of men? Hell and destruction are before the Lord. — "Tophet is prepared of old"; and wherever it is, as it skills not curiously to inquire, - below us it seems to be, Revelation 14:11 et ubi sit sentient qui curiosius quaerunt Pareus, in loc. - so it is most certain that "hell is naked before God, and destruction uncovered in his sight." Job 26:6 We, silly fishes, see one another jerked out of the pond of life by the

Song of Solomon 6:9 — together, but not incorporated one into another. She is the only one of her mother, — i.e., Of the world, say some; of the flesh, say others: but they say best that expound it of Jerusalem, "that is above, the mother of us all." Galatians 4:26 Epiphanius makes faith and religion the mother of the Church. The daughters saw her, and blessed her, — i.e., Called and counted her blessed above all other people. "Happy art thou, O Israel! Who is like unto thee, O people saved by the

Hosea 14:1 — Zechariah 1:3 . See the note there. Tantum velis et Deus tibi praeoccurret. If ye be willing and obedient ye shall eat, … The father’s plenty brought home the prodigal; he had but a purpose to return, and his father met him, Isaiah 65:24 . See Joel 2:12-13 Isaiah 55:6-7 Jeremiah 31:18 Hosea 3:5 Acts 2:38 . This is the use we should make of mercy. Say not, He is my God, therefore I may presume upon him; but, he is mine, therefore I must return unto him. Argue from mercy to duty, and

Hosea 4:16 — wrote in Woodstock windows, tanquam ovis, as a sheep to the slaughter; now she was tanquam indomita iuvenca, as an untamed heifer; and might well fear lest God would feed her as a lamb in a large place as here, and feed her with his rod, as Micah 7:14 . The Chaldee rendereth, sicut bos qui saginatur et recalcitrat, as an ox that waxeth fat and kicketh. But the Hebrew word is feminine; and in all creatures, the female is observed to be more headlong and headstrong. (Virg. Georg. III): “ Scilicet

Hosea 7:6 — facinora, Tigur.); but especially to lie in wait for blood, and to hunt every man his brother with a net, Micah 7:2 . David complains of some that lay in wait for his soul, Psalms 59:8 , that Satanically hated him, Psalms 38:20 ; Psalms 7:13 ; Psalms 109:4 ; Psalms 109:6 ; Psalms 109:20 ; Psalms 109:29 ; that sought his soul to destroy it; not his life only, but his soul too; as that monster of Milan did, that made his adversary first forswear Christ in hope of life, and then, stabbing him to the heart,

Hosea 9:13 — of God. But he may be angry enough with those that yet outwardly prosper; as he was with the old world buried in security; with Sodom, who had fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness; with the land of Shinar (where Babel was built, Genesis 11:2-4 ), fruitful beyond credulity, as Herodotus and Pliny testify; with Tyre, a maritime and magnificent city, planted in a pleasant place, in the very heart of the sea; as Venice is at this day, media insuperabilis unda, environed with her embracing Neptune,

Joel 2:15 — the second Council of Nice did in their profound proofs for idolatry, which, as one well saith of them, were such as that the images themselves, if they were sensible, would blush to hear repeated. Sanctify a fast — See Trapp on " Joel 1:14 " Proclaim a religious abstinence from all kind of sustenance, 2 Samuel 12:17 Jonah 3:5 for a season, either from morning till evening, as Judges 20:26 2 Samuel 3:35 , or from evening till evening, Leviticus 23:32 , or longer, as Esther 4:16 Acts

Amos 2:4 — because "in Judah was God known," and to them were committed the oracles of God, whom they might hear again screeching out unto them, when they were putting forth their hands to wickedness, "Oh do not this abominable thing," Jeremiah 44:4 . But they, tanquam monstra marina, as one saith, like so many sea monsters, passed by God’s words with a deaf ear. They despised the law of the Lord — They would have none of his counsel; they liked well to live in God’s good land,

Amos 3:6 — you. And the people not be afraid — Or run together to make resistance? Will ye not then tremble at my threats, saith the Lord? "Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob," Jeremiah 5:22 Psalms 114:7 . Fear is an affection of the soul, shrinking in itself from some eminent evil. God is the proper object of it, whence he is called fear in the abstract, Psalms 76:11 , and those that come on his errand should be received with reverence, yea, "with