Bible Commentaries

Song of Solomon 5:10 — come nearer to a perfect symmetry, to a sound and sure constitution and complexion? Sure it is that these two, being comelily mixed, do make the most beautiful or orient look or colour; see the prophet’s description of the Nazarites, Lamentations 4:7 . And note, saith an expositor, that the Holy Ghost joineth both these together - the whiteness making the ruddiness more fresh and fair, and the ruddiness discerning the whiteness from paleness of face, or phlegmatic complexion. Sed sunt in his mysteria

Song of Solomon 5:13 — perfections which is spread through heaven and earth is epitomised in him. Why do we not then make out to him, and despise all for him with Paul? Why do we not, with David, chide ourselves and others for loving vanity and seeking after leasing? Psalms 4:2 "How long wilt thou go about, O backsliding daughter," Jeremiah 31:22 and fetch a compass? knowest thou not that "the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth? a woman shall compass a man"; Isaiah 7:14 that is, "a virgin

Song of Solomon 7:11 — assured of Christ’s love, she falls to praying. She makes five requests unto him in a breath as it were: (1.) That he would "come"; (2.) "Go forth with her into the field"; (3.) "Lodge with her in the villages"; (4.) "Get up early to the vineyards"; (5.) "See if the vine flourish, pomegranates bud," … And further promiseth that there she will "give him her loves." Assurance of Christ’s love is the sweetmeats of the feast

Song of Solomon 8:2 — Cato could say that he could pardon all men’s faults but his own. Plut.; Dio. And Augustus, going about to redress some abuses in the state, was upbraided with his own domestic disorders. Abraham had a well ordered family; so had Joshua, Joshua 24:15 David. Psalms 101:1-8 And although his house were not so with God, yet that was all his desire. 2 Samuel 23:5 And he well knew that it was the care, not the cure, of his charge that he stood charged with. Curam exegeris, non curationem. - Bern. Noah

Isaiah 52:7 — better be called, than afterwards George Eagles the martyr was, Trudge-over-the-world - to preach the gospel and to plant churches, to whom their feet, though fouled and worn - how much more their faces? - were deemed delectable and debonnaire. Galatians 4:14 Acts 10:21 The Pope, Peter’s pretended successor, holdeth forth his feet to be kissed, but preacheth not; or not peace, but war, which he stirreth up by his roaring bulls. Of him that bringeth good tidings. — Whosoever he be that preacheth

Isaiah 58:5 — Pictures, saith another, are pretty things to look on, and that is all they are good for. Christ looked on, and loved the young Pharisee, … And to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? — The Jews did so usually in their solenm mournings. Esther 4:3 Jeremiah 6:26 The heathens also did the like. John 3:5 Matthew 11:21 Wilt thou call this a fast? — Is it not a mere mock fast, as was that of the Pharisees? and is that of the Papists, who pride themselves that day with opinion of merit, for

Isaiah 6:10 — things are less sensible, and fat hearted people are noted by Aristotle for dull and stupid. There is not a greater mischief can befall a man on this side hell than to be given up to a dead and dedolent disposition, such as was that of those Ephesians 4:18 of the Jews in Christ’s time, and ever since, and of many Papists, who continue blind in the midst of so much light, and will not renounce those errors whereof they are clearly convinced. And make their ears heavy. — Preach them to hell.

Daniel 3:1 — such a purpose, as did also afterwards Gaius Caligula, the Roman emperor, it is gathered, (1.) Because he did not worship it himself; (2.) Because Daniel 3:12 it is distinguished from his gods; (3.) Because this was long since foretold of him, Isaiah 14:14 that, Lucifer-like, he should take upon him as a god; which because he did, he was worthily turned agrazing among beasts. Daniel 4:33 Meanwhile, take notice here of the inconstant and mutable disposition of this proud prince as to matter of religion.

Daniel 4:30 — purpose. Why, then, should you rob him of his glory, and them of their right, by your arrogance? The proud man, Sejanus-like, sacrificeth only to himself, and, Polyphemus-like, setteth up himself for the sole doer. God is not in all his thoughts. Psalms 10:4 And for his words, hear Nebuchadnezzar here, or Mezentius in Virgil, “ Dextra mihi Deus, et telum quod missile libro. ” - Aeneid. Or that of Grevinchovius, the Arminian, Ego meipsum discerno, atque in eo cur non mihi liceat ut de meo gloriarer?

Hosea 4:8 — They eat up the sin of my people, and they set their heart on their iniquity. They eat up the sin of my people — That is, the sin offerings, as Exodus 29:14 . This they might lawfully do, Leviticus 6:16 ; Leviticus 6:18 ; Leviticus 6:23 ; Leviticus 6:26 ; Leviticus 6:29-30 ; Leviticus 10:17 . But they were greedy dogs; and looked every one to his gain from his quarter, Isaiah 5:6 ; Isaiah 5:11 . They winked

Hosea 5:14 — Aelian, is robustissimum et bellicosissimum animal, a most strong and stout creature; hence Semiramis gloried much when in hunting she had taken not a lion, but a lioness. "What is stronger than a lion?" said those Philistines to Samson, Judges 14:18 . See 2 Samuel 1:23 Proverbs 30:30 . The lion (but especially the young lion, that is in his hot blood) fears no other creature, falls upon his prey with great fury, and teareth it; carrieth it away when he hath done in his mouth, or devours it in

Hosea 8:3 — not submit to the laws of his kingdom, nor receive him in all his offices and efficacies; they are Christless creatures, as without God, so without Christ in the world. Thirdly, hypocrites reject the good Spirit of God (as David calleth him, Psalms 143:10 ), the fruit whereof is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth, Ephesians 5:9 . When God striveth with them by his good Spirit, as Nehemiah 9:20 they, by yielding to Satan’s suggestions, grieve that Holy Spirit, and by grieving resist

Hosea 9:17 — should repent, saith Samuel to Saul, that castaway; and it is very dreadful; as indeed it is for any wicked men to have such as have interest in God to declare against them; since "the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him," Psalms 25:14 , and their sentence is not to be slighted. God’s messengers especially, out of their acquaintance with their Master’s proceedings, can foresee and foretell a punishment. Because they did not hearken unto him — Haec notabilis est sententia,

Joel 2:11 — voice before his army; for "the Lord is a man of war," Exodus 15:3 , a victor of wars (as the Chaldee there hath it), and what wonder, since "the voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty," Psalms 29:4 , he sets on and gives the signal of the battle to these locusts, he puts spirit into them and cries, Courage, my hearts; and thence it is that they are so valorous and victorious. For his camp is very great — His camp these locusts are called,

Amos 2:6 — man did at the pool of Bethesda, but might not be sped, because (for want, belike, of stirring angels) he could get none to put him into the pool immediately after the angel had stirred it. That was a sad complaint made by the prophet Habakkuk, Amos 1:4 , "Behold, the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth circumvent the righteous," viz. by his bribery and baseness, "therefore wrong judgment proceedeth." A judge is to retain the decency and gravity

Amos 5:4 — εκζητησατε με , as the Seventy have it), when he is withdrawn; to seek him as a student doth sciences, a worldling gold, a hungry man meat, …, as a man studiously turns over a commentary to find out the sense of a text, Isaiah 34:16 . Do this, saith God, and ye shall live; not only have your lives for a prey, but live merrily, happily. "Now we live," saith the apostle; that is, we rejoice, 1 Thessalonians 3:8: and "Thus shall ye say to him that liveth"; that

Amos 9:8 — Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom — Be it Ethiopia, Palestina, Syria, or Israel, but especially Israel, Amos 3:2 , not his eye only, his εκδικον ομμα , his jealous eye, as Amos 9:4 , for evil, and not for good; but both his eyes, yea, his seven eyes, for he is ολοφθαλμος , all eye, to look through and through the sinful kingdom, to judge and punish, to inflict "tribulation

Obadiah 1:12 — devoureth; but with true tears of compassion, weeping with those that weep. God takes it ill here, that any should once look upon his afflicted people, unless it be to pity and relieve them. He observed Cain’s lowering upon his brother, Genesis 4:6 , and the Jews’ wagging their heads, Matthew 27:39 , Rabshakeh’s lofty looks, Isaiah 37:28 , Laban’s change of countenance, Genesis 31:2 . Men may not look at liberty, and as they list. Vultu saepe laeditur charitas. It was not for

Jonah 1:1 — the course of his ordinary calling and prophetic employment among the ten tribes, to whom he prophesied together with Hosea, Amos, and others, but with little good success, in the reign of Jeroboam II:, a prince more prosperous than pious, 2 Kings 14:25 . Jonah prophesied of his prosperity and victories; whereof when no good use was made by the house of Israel, their calamity and captivity was likewise foretold by Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah; and hence some conclude that Jonah was the first of all the

Jonah 1:12 — seek the public good of the Church, and to prefer the salvation of others before a man’s private profit, is the most perfect canon of Christianism, the very top gallant of religion, the highest point and pitch of piety. In 1 Corinthians 11:1-34 τουτο ορος ηκριβωμενος αυτη η κορυφη η ανωτατω