Bible Commentaries

Hosea 12:12 — heathen well saith, that every man when he marrieth bringeth either a good or an evil spirit into his house; and so maketh it either a heaven or a hell. Pareus well observeth here, the great use of histories and holy examples, according to Romans 15:4 . Plato (in Cratylo) thinks that historia comes παρα το ισταναι τον ρουν , of stopping the flux of errors and enormities.

Hosea 4:12 — Priapus, brings him in saying “ Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum. ” So the prophet cries shame upon the house of Israel for saying to a stock, Thou art my father, and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth, Jeremiah 2:27 Isaiah 44:11 . But to such senseless practices men fall many times when they grow sensual; see 2 Thessalonians 2:10 Revelation 17:5 . Spiritual whoredom and bodily go usually together. Rivet tells us here of a nobleman that went out of the church from hearing

Hosea 7:2 — than when he is alone; for still he hath God and himself to talk to. That I remember all their wickedness — i.e. Record and register them, as in a book, with a pen of iron and point of a diamond, Jeremiah 17:1 ; that I seal them up in a bag, Job 14:17 , as the clerk of assizes seals up indictments, and at the assizes brings his bag, and produceth them. "Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?" Deuteronomy 32:34 . So little reason is there that wicked men

Hosea 8:5 — the destroyer. "Be not afraid of such idols" (saith Jeremiah), "for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good," Jeremiah 10:5 , they can neither hurt nor help; for an idol is nothing in the world, 1 Corinthians 8:4 , nothing but a mere fiction; it hath no godhead or power divine in itself, as the following words show, "that there is none other God but one." How then can help be reasonably expected from it? Israel had cast off the thing that is good for

Hosea 8:9 — here with as great indignation and dislike as old Jacob did his son Reuben’s incest, when he said, "He went up to my couch." The Lord is as jealous of his glory as any man can be of his wife; neither will he give it to another, Isaiah 42:8 ; he admits not of any co-rival in heaven or earth, as Potiphar’s wife was his own peculiar. Now God is no way more glorified by us than when we put our trust in his love and faithfulness, and expect from him safety here, and salvation hereafter.

Amos 2:9 — miraculous deliverances; as if I had even hired them to be wicked; and as if that were to pass for truth which the snake in the fable said to the countryman that had showed it kindness, Summum praemium pro summo beneficio est ingratitudo. In the year 1245 the Pope was denied entrance into England; it being said that the Pope was but like a mouse in a satchel, or a snake in one’s bosom, who did but ill repay their hostess for their lodging. God had done exceeding much for this perverse people;

Amos 3:9 — midst thereof — Whether by force or fraud oppressed; whether it were επιβολη or επιβουλη , "The Lord is the avenger of all such," 1 Thessalonians 4:6 . This the heathen shall take special notice of, and say, with Calocerius the consul, Vere magnus est Deus Christianorum, The Christian’s God is a righteous God indeed.

Amos 4:11 — burnt Troy served for a lasting monument of God’s great displeaure against great sinners. See the like threatened to Babylon, Isaiah 13:19-20 . As God overthrew Sodem — As Jehovah from Jehovah rained hell out of heaven upon them, Genesis 19:24 , that is, God the Son from God the Father: and so Eusebius observeth that the Father here saith of the Son, that he overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah (De Praepar. Evang. 1. 5, c. 23. Vide Socrat. Hist. Eccles. l. 2. c. 30.): "he condemned them with

Amos 5:15 — that he and his friend Octavius did so. The like did Basil and Nazianzen, Jonathan and David: “ Corporibus geminis spiritus unus erat. ” All God’s people, as they partake of the Divine nature, so they live the life of God, Ephesians 4:18 , and have the same both sympathies and antipathies (as I may so speak), abhorring that which is evil, cleaving to that which is good, Romans 12:9 . God, they know, hateth evil worse than he hateth the devil; for he hateth the devil for sin’s

Amos 9:1 — Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled. And he shall cut down the thickets of the forests with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one," Isaiah 10:33-34 ; that is, by an angel shall he smite to the ground that mighty army which was like a thick wood. See Isaiah 37:36 Psalms 78:25 ; Psalms 89:6 . So at our Saviour’s resurrection, an angel, in despite of the soldiers set to watch, rolled away the

Micah 2:3 — the Almighty sets himself to devise an evil; such a one shall find, that thought is not free (as that pestilent proverb would make it), either from the notice of God’s holy eye, the censure of his mouth, or the stroke of his hand, see Jeremiah 4:14 ; Jeremiah 6:19 Revelation 2:23 Deuteronomy 29:19 . And this nature itself had some notion of, as appeareth by his censure who judged that Antiochus did therefore die loathsomely, because he had but an intent to burn Diana’s temple (Polybius).

Micah 3:7 — schoolmen, who once carried the hell for most acute and accurate divines, but now appear to be great triflers; a rotten generation of dunghilldivines, as one styleth them: in detestation of whose vain jangling and noting about questions, 1 Timothy 6:4 , Luther saith, Prope est ut iurem, …, I could swear almost that there was not a schoolman that understood one chapter of the Gospel (Luth. tom. 1, oper. lat. eph 47). Latimer professed that by hearing Bilney’s confession he learned more

Micah 3:8 — flesh are the most timorous; as the stag, panther, hare. For answer, it must be considered that the prophet speaketh not here of his own good parts, out of a vain glorious humour (it was enough for him that he was "all glorious within," Psalms 45:13 , virtusque sue contenta theatre est ), but to separate himself from those false prophets aforementioned, and to assert his calling by his qualifications, as doth likewise St Paul, 2 Corinthians 12:1-13 , to those who sought a proof of Christ speaking

Micah 6:2 — the territories of Bern, that removing out of his place in an earthquake, covered a whole village, that had ninety families in it. See Trapp on " Amos 1:1 " For the Lord hath a controversy with his people — See Trapp on " Hosea 4:1 " Learn to tremble before this great God, who "sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers," Isaiah 40:22 ; which he can shake out of their place at pleasure, and send them packing to hell.

Nahum 1:7 — is good — To Israel (though terrible to the Assyrians, as hath been plainly and plentifully set forth), to the pure in heart, Psalms 73:1 , and he doth good, Psalms 119:68 , to those that are good, that are upright in their hearts, Psalms 125:4 . These shall taste and see that the Lord is good: these shall feelingly say, "Oh, blessed is the man that trusteth in him," Psalms 34:8 , "Oh, praise the Lord, for he is good," … A strong hold in the day of trouble —

Habakkuk 2:19 — his own reason, and unman himself. When Hezekiah saw that such was the venom of the Israelitish idolatry, that the brazen serpent stung worse than the fiery, he pulled it down, and in contempt called it Nehushtan, that is, a piece of brass, 2 Kings 18:4 . Pagnine rendereth it, aenusum. Marinus, aeniculum, that is, parum quid aeris, a little piece of sorry brass (Thes. Ling. Sanct.). The Jews to this day say that as long as they see the preacher direct his speech and prayer to that little wooden crucifix,

Habakkuk 2:3 — shall be cleared. He hath hitherto kept promise witb nights and days, that the one shall succeed the other, Jeremiah 33:20 ; Jeremiah 33:25 , and shall he break with his people? How then should he be Amen, the faithful and true witness? Revelation 3:14 . Every man is a liar either by imposture, and so in purpose, or by impotence, and so in the event deceiving those that rely upon him, Psalms 62:9 . But God is "a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he," Deuteronomy 32:4

Habakkuk 2:9 — man’s self, 1 Timothy 6:10 , and others, Proverbs 1:19 Amos 9:1 , and here. Woe to such, and destruction too, as Hosea 7:13 . The Lord, to show his just indignation against covetous persons, smiteth his fists at them, as Balak did at Balaam, Numbers 24:10 . See Ezekiel 22:13 , "Behold, I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee." Now, lest people should object or conceive that those were but great words, and

Habakkuk 3:1 — therefore gets in with him by this prayer. He knew that, “ Flectitur iratus voce rogante Deus ”( Ovid). God suffereth himself often to be overcome by the prayers of his people; and yieldeth much unto them when most bitterly bent, Matthew 24:20 ; he therefore sets shoulders and sides to work, and wrestles lustily in this chapter. He knew it was a prophet’s work to pray as well as preach; and between these two to divide his time. "God forbid" (saith Samuel, who is reckoned

Haggai 1:11 — have called for a choreb, drought, or for a chereb, a sword, which shall in like sort lay your land waste and make your houses desolate; according to that which is threatened, Deuteronomy 28:15-68 Matthew 23:38 . And in the very next chapter Matthew 24:7 , Christ telleth his apostles that those refractory Jews, and others, that rejected him, the true temple, in "whom the Godhead dwelt bodily," Colossians 2:9 , that is, essentially (and not in clouds and ceremonies, as once between the cherubims,