Bible Commentaries

Esther 8:13 — all people, and that the Jews should be ready against that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. The copy of the writing — Transcripts of the original were everywhere published and proclaimed, as the contrary edict had been before, Esther 3:14 . This must needs amuse and amaze the people, but who durst say to their monarch, What doest thou? Is it safe to take a lion by the beard, or a bear by the tooth? That the Jews should be ready against that day — God sometimes taketh notice (in

Job 11:12 — thou know, O vain man," saith St James, James 2:20 . The Greek is, thou empty man, κενε , thou that hast nothing in thee, and yet art highly conceited; thou that art (Ephraim like) a silly dove without a heart, Hosea 7:11 , and yet in superbiam erectus (as the Vulgate here hath it), raised up to pride: that little knowledge he hath puffeth him up, 1 Corinthians 8:1 . So bellows like is the natural soul, or rather so bladder like, that, filled with earthly vanities,

Job 11:2 — audiet? (Vulg.) Yes, Job shall now, or you will want of your will; but if Job have talked more than his part came to (the truth is, his speeches are longer than any of those of his three friends, which are all, except that first made by Eliphaz, Job 4:1-21 Job 5:1-27 , comprehended in one chapter, whereas his take up by two, three, or more), he may well be excused, considering the sharpness of his disease, the ungentleness of his friends, and the sense of God’s displeasure, which his soul laboured

Job 14:14 — man die, shall he live [again]? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. If a man die, shall he live again? — This he speaketh in way of admiration at that glorious work of the resurrection. See the like question Job 15:11 Genesis 3:1 ; Genesis 17:17 . So the apostle, Romans 8:30-31 , having spoken of those glorious things, predestination, vocation, justification, glorification, concludeth in these words, "What shall we say then?" We cannot tell what to

Job 19:25 — resurrection and redemption, … But his thoughts soared higher than so. "I know," saith he; it is as if he should say, You take yourselves to be the only knowing men, and as for me, Bildad hath set me among such as know not God, Job 18:21 . But hereby I know that I know him, 1 John 2:3 , because I know him whom he hath sent, Jesus Christ, John 17:3 , not only as a redeemer, but as "my redeemer," by a particular application of him to myself, which is the very pith and form

Job 5:7 — reason of his birth blot, hath a birthright to them both, he is even born to them. The devil, when he speaketh lies, speaketh of his own, John 8:44 . And we, when either we do evil, we work de nostro et secundum hominem, of our own, and according to men, 1 Corinthians 3:3 ; or when we suffer evil, we suffer nothing but what is human and incident to men, 1 Corinthians 10:13 . The very heathen could say as much; witness that of Xenophon, παν προσδοκαν

Job 5:9 — dum nemora culicis et pulicis disponit (Aug.), yea, he useth to be greater in smaller things than in bigger. The soul is more operative in ants than in elephants; in dwarfs than in giants. So he delights to help his people with a little help, Daniel 11:34 (that through weaker means they may see his greatest strength), to magnify his power in pardoning their many and mighty sins, Numbers 14:17-18 Micah 7:18 ; to illustrate his power in their perseverance and wonderful preservation amidst a world of

Psalms 52:1 — Saul, and said unto him, David is come to the house of Ahimelech. » Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God [endureth] continually. A Psalm of David — Or the same time and argument, likely, with Psalms 58:1-11 Maschil — Or, to teach that the end of the wicked is evil; Redarguit pravos mores, saith the Syriac. When Doeg the Edomite — When Abiathar escaping the slaughter slave, the blood hound (as Edomite may signify), came and told David what

Ecclesiastes 11:3 — men’s houses are his storehouses. This the righteous rich man knoweth, and therefore he "disperseth," as a steward for God; "he giveth to the poor; his righteousness," and his riches too, "endureth for ever." Psalms 112:9 Whereas the wicked rich man retaineth his fulness to rot with him; he feedeth upon earth like a serpent, and striveth, like a toad, to die with much mould in his mouth, and is therefore bidden by St James to "weep and howl for the miseries

Ecclesiastes 6:6 — because the number of a thousand types out perfection, as consisting of a hundred ten times told. But there is no perfection here, saith he. Yet hath he seen no good. — For, "all the days of the afflicted are evil," saith Solomon. Proverbs 15:15 And man’s days are "few and full of trouble," saith Job. Job 14:1 "Few and evil are the days of my pilgrimage," saith Jacob, Genesis 47:9 "and I have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers."

Song of Solomon 2:13 — the tender grapes, … — These two trees put forth their fruits first, when other trees for the most part put forth first flowers, and then fruits Post flores fructus. After thye flowers, the fruit. in their season. Pliny Lib. xvii. cap. 13. numbers the fig tree among the trees of quick nature. And our Saviour Luke 21:29-30 makes the shooting forth of the fig tree to be a sign of summer’s approaching. When himself came hungry to that fig tree, Matthew 21:19 he thought to have found

Song of Solomon 7:5 — his Church: "God hath put all things under his feet" - hence he is here compared to Carmel, because he is high over all - "and given him to be head over all things" - that is, over all persons - "to the Church." Ephesians 1:18 ; Ephesians 1:22 Angels are under Christ as a head of government, of influence, of confirmation, not of redemption, as the saints are. The angels are great friends to the Church, but not members of it. Hebrews 2:16 The Church Christ sanctified and

Jeremiah 17:9 — versipelle; tortuosum est, anfractuosum et fallax, ideoque inscrutabile; It is full of turnings and windings, nooks and corners, wiles and sleights. It deceived David, as wise as he was, and tripped up his heels, as the word here used importeth; Psalms 39:1-3 so it did Peter. John 13:37-38 Fitly doth the prophet here call our hearts "deceitful," in that word in the original, from whence Jacob had his name, because our fleshly hearts do the same things to the spirit in doing of good, which Jacob

Hosea 1:4 — seedsman scattereth his seed ( æøò spargere to scatter). Thus Jeconiah is called Coniah (for a judgment upon him): Bethel, Bethaven; Har, Hammischa, the mount Olivet, or of unction, Har Hammaschith, the mount of corruption, 2 Kings 23:13 . And this is not unusual among men; so when they would disgrace a man, to clip or play upon his name: as when they spitefully called Athanasius, Sathanasius; Cyprian, Coprian (as if all his excellent works were but dung); Calvin, Cain, … This

Hosea 5:8 — hell, in such lively colours that the hearer (though unlearned) may be convinced of all, judged of all, and having the secrets of his heart made manifest, he may fall down on his face, worship God, and report that God is in the minister of a truth, 1 Corinthians 14:24-25 ; lo, this is preaching indeed. For as every sound is not music, so neither is every pulpit discourse preaching. Nihil frigidius est doctore verbis solummode philosophante (Chrysostom). Ezekiel must lay siege to Jerusalem, portraying

Hosea 8:5 — Samaria, hath cast thee off — That is, it can do thee no stead, nor deliver thee from 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

Hosea 8:8 — they be among the Gentiles as a vessel wherein [is] no pleasure. Israel is swallowed up — Not their meal only, as Hosea 8:7 , but themselves also are devoured by those workers of iniquity, that eat up God’s people as they eat bread, Psalms 14:4 . Persecutors are men-eaters, more cruel than those American cannibals, that devour men piecemeal; they make but a breakfast of God’s people, as Sennacherib meant to do of Jerusalem, and the powder-papists of England. "If it had not been

Zechariah 13:7 — una comisión dada a la espada a modo de apóstrofe. Despierta ] O, arriba, como la Septuaginta; arriba y alrededor, tú que has estado largo tiempo encerrado en la vaina. Por tanto, la espada es enviada por Dios; está "bañado en el cielo", Isa 34: 5 Eze 14:17 Jeremias 47:6,7 . Es él quien lo despierta y lo pone a trabajar; lo manda, Amós 9:4 , y lo ordena, Jeremias 50:25 . Dejemos que este nos padezca, como lo hizo con Job, Job 1:15 ; Job 1:17 ; Job 1:21 . Entre las filosofías, la secta más destacada

Malachi 2:7 — del sacerdote deben mantener conocimiento] ¿De qué otra manera debe ser instantáneo en la alimentación de los labios? ¿Cómo deben presentarlo sus labios si no lo preservan? ¿Cómo puede hacer sabios a los demás, a menos que él mismo sea sabio? Daniel 12:3 . El Papa se jacta de una infalibilidad y aboga por ella en este texto; afirmando que conoce todas las cosas cognoscibles y que tiene toda la sabiduría y la habilidad encerradas en scrinio pectoris, en el gabinete de su pecho. Pero, ¿qué dirán de

Matthew 6:20 — dentro de miles de años. Porque en un tesoro hay tres cosas: una puesta, una mentira escondida y una extracción para uso presente. Las riquezas no llegan a la eternidad. Por tanto, mientras otros se aferran a las riquezas, "Echa mano de la vida eterna", 1 Timoteo 6:12 , y que "siguiendo la justicia, la piedad, la fe, el amor, la paciencia, la mansedumbre. "Este, este es el verdadero tesoro; esto es ser rico, como habla nuestro Salvador, para con Dios, y se opone a acumular tesoros para sí mismo, Lucas