Bible Commentaries

Genesis 12:3 — whom God blessed; but nothing so many as they that will rise up and call them blessed. These are expressed here in the plural number; those in the singular only. "For who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?" 1 Peter 3:13 But say there be some Balaams that would curse God’s Israel, Numbers 23:2 or some Esaus that could wish them unblest again; yet God will turn Balaam’s curse into a blessing (which is reckoned as a great favour); and he will tell

Genesis 2:12 — those many that lie in wait for it. Sed melius est pallens aurum, quam fulgens aurichalcum. Bernard. The common cry is, "Who will show us any good?" Psalms 4:6 That will I, saith God to Moses, when he gave him a glimpse of his glory. Exodus 33:19 and I will "show thee, O man, what is good," … Ostendam tibi omne bonum Micah 6:8-9 As for gold, how good soever in itself, it is to men but an imaginary good at best: for it is opinion which setteth the price upon it: brass or leather,

1 Kings 18:21 — like birds, off one bough on to another, as the Hebrew word äñòôéí . here used properly signifieth, waving as top branches, and wavering "like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed." James 1:6 Such "a double-minded man," saith that apostle, James 1:8 "is unstable in all his ways"; - Ecebolius, for instance, the late archbishop of Spalato; Baldwin, of whom Beza saith that he had religionem ephemeram, for each day a new

Nehemiah 6:1 — on by the perfidious prophets and ignobles within, conspiring with the enemy against the good of their own country. Thus fluctus fluctum trudit. Disorder creates disorder. And the rest of our enemies — The Church’s enemies are not a few, 1 Corinthians 16:9 . She is like unto a silly poor maid, saith Luther, sitting in a wood or wilderness, compassed about with hungry wolves, lions, boars, bears, assaulting her every moment and minute. The ground of all is that old enmity, Genesis 3:15

Esther 9:21 — . And good Hezekiah, when he observed in his subjects such a float of affections at the passover, and that they were in so good a frame, took counsel with them to keep other seven days, and they kept other seven days with gladness, 2 Chronicles 30:21-23 . See with what a flood of words holy David poureth forth his soul in prayer, Psalms 145:1-8 , as if therewith he would even fill up the distance between God and himself. Sometimes he seemeth to forget himself in point of praising God; for he will,

Job 3:4 — Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it. Let that day be darkness — Thick darkness, as that once was in Egypt, Exodus 10:28 . A day of trouble and distress, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, Zephaniah 1:15 . Let it be a dreadful and a dismal day, let sorrow and sadness overshadow it, let mourning and tears overwhelm it; let it be as

Job 30:11 — kept them in order, and made them more obsequious, so that now, like headstrong horses, having gotten the bit between their teeth, they run whithersoever they list, and rise up against their rider. It is God who casteth contempt upon princes, Psalms 107:40 Job 12:21 , as he did upon Solomon in his old age, upon his son Rehoboam, upon Ephraim, Hosea 13:1 , See Trapp on " Hosea 13:1 " upon our Edward II, and Henry VI. Some render it, He hath loosed my bow string, in reference to Job 29:20

Job 5:16 — So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth. So the poor hath hope — How should it be otherwise? experience will breed confidence. Thou hast, thou wilt, is an ordinary Scriptural medium, Psalms 85:1-4 2 Corinthians 1:10 . So, the poor, helpless, hopeless person, who is pined away, spent and utterly exhausted and wasted, both for health and wealth, he hath hope ( spem maiorum et meliorum, greater and better, as Alexander said when he had given away

Job 8:13 — So [are] the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish: So are the paths of all that forget God — To remember God is as necessary as to draw breath, saith Chrysostom. This the wicked man doth not, Psalms 9:17 . He will neither have God in his head, Psalms 10:4 , nor heart, Psalms 14:1 , nor words, Psalms 12:2 , nor ways, Titus 1:16 . What wonder then though his paths wither, though his life, health, wealth, power, perish, since he is in such a posture of

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 16:1 — passion and resurrection, with the fruit of both; this he doth more like an evangelist than a prophet, and may, therefore, be called (as likewise Isaiah is) the evangelical prophet. And whereas, saith learned Beza, he calleth the Messiah Chasid, Psalms 16:10 (that is, as I interpret it, that man upon whom the Father hath most plentifully poured out all his grace and bounty, which also we all draw from him alone by faith), David seemeth in this one word to have summed up the whole doctrine of the gospel. Preserve

Psalms 16:7 — also instruct me in the night seasons. I will bless the Lord who hath given me counsel — David frequently consulted with God by Abiathar the priest, whom God, by a sweet providence, sent unto him with an ephod for a comfort in his banishment, 1 Samuel 22:20 . Saul had slain those that wear the ephod, therefore God answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets, 1 Samuel 28:6 , as he did his servant David; who therefore blesseth him, when the other runneth from him to the

Psalms 3:5 — Antipater was by, and watched, said Philip of Macedon (Plutarch). We may better say so of Antipater, our gracious Father. Oh the safety of a saint! He ever goes guarded with the peace of God within him and the power of God without him, Philippians 4:7 1 Peter 1:5 , and hence his spiritual security. David will never break his sleep for any danger or doubt of success. Peter was found fast asleep the night before he should have been executed, Acts 12:6 . So was our proto martyr, in Queen Mary’s

Psalms 32:1 — est Paulus cum Iacobo conciliandus, saith he. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven — The heavy burden of whose trespasses is taken off, as the word importeth, and he is loosed, eased, and lightened. Sin is an intolerable burden, Isaiah 1:3 , such as presseth down, Hebrews 12:1 ; a burden it is to God, Amos 2:13 ; to Christ it was, when it made him sweat water and blood; to the angels, when it brake their backs, and sunk them into hell; to men, under whom the very earth groaneth, its

Psalms 4:7 — Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time [that] their corn and their wine increased. Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than, … — Joys unspeakable, and full of glory, 1 Peter 1:8 . We read of some godly men, that they have been overwhelmed with spiritual joy, till they have cried out, Hold, Lord, stay thine hand, I can bear no more; like weak eyes, that cannot endure to bear the light. Indeed, this is not every good

Psalms 48:2 — great King. Beautiful for situation — A beautiful nymph, so R. Solomon. Or, beautiful for the branch that droppeth balsam, saith Moller; Pulcher surculo, beautiful branch, that is, for the ark there seated. Or, for the tract and climate, as Joshua 12:23 , situated on the north side of Jerusalem, as Isaiah 14:13 , in a cold, dry, and clear air, as Job 37:22 . Sanantur illi, qui illic infirmi conveniunt, saith Kimchi, they which come thither weak are made well. The joy of the whole earth —

Revelation 2:5 — feelings and present fitness for God’s kingdom,Luke 9:62; Luke 9:62 . And repent — See the practice of this second repentance in the relapsed spouse returning to her old husband, Song of Solomon 5:6 . See Trapp on " 2 Corinthians 7:11 " See an excellent letter of the Lady Jane to that apostate Harding, sometime her chaplain, Acts and Mon. fol. 1292, and what sweet counsel Bradford afterwards gave the same Harding, lb. fol. 1564, besides the example of Mr Bartlet Green, martyr,

Ruth 3:1 — call young men ηιθεοι of αιθω to burn, and αιζηοι of ζεω to boil. Hence they are called upon to put away evil from their flesh, Ecclesiastes 11:10 that is, to mortify fleshly lusts: and admonished by the apostle, that "it is better for them to marry than to burn." 1 Corinthians 7:9 Marriage being God’s medicine, which, if rightly applied, will cool and heal unruly lusts that

Ruth 4:11 — as Leah: both are from God, and to be prayed for, as here. Love is the inward cement of married couples: fruitfulness furthereth love betwixt them. And do thou worthily in Ephratah. — Te fortem et strenuum praebe; show thyself a worthy man, as 1 Kings 1:52 ; do good among thy people, as Ezekiel 18:18 ; be public spirited, though to private disadvantage, and this way get renown. Some render it, Compara tibi opes, vel potestatem, Get thee riches or power: for marriage requireth maintenance, neither

2 Samuel 12:4 — the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. And there came a traveller. — This was the devil, say some, whom David feasted by abusing Bathsheba; and indeed he is a great traveller and trudge-over-the-world. Job 1:7 1 Peter 5:8 Others - and better - understand it of fleshly lust, which beareth the name of the mother, called in general concupiscence or corruption; this to good David was but a stranger, and not a home dweller: and it must be our care, that though