Bible Commentaries

Job 36:32 — With clouds he covereth the light; and commandeth it [not to shine] by [the cloud] that cometh betwixt. With clouds he covereth the light — Heb. With the palms of his hands (so the clouds are called, see 1 Kings 18:44 ) he hideth light; that is, the sunbeams, viz. when he sendeth rain, the heavens are masked. And commandeth it not to shine — Heb. And forbiddeth it (those words, not to shine, are not in the original), propter intercedentem, for the

Job 41:2 — Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? Canst thou put a hook into his nose? — Canst thou ring him like a swine, or rule him like a bear? God can, and did Sennacherib that crooked leviathan, Isaiah 27:1 ; Isaiah 37:29 ; and doth still the Great Turk, who desireth to devour Christendom. Or bore his jaw through with a thorn? — Or twig, as men do lesser fishes, taken with an angle, or herrings from the fish market. These are facetious and ironic

Job 41:3 — Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft [words] unto thee? Will he make many supplications unto thee? — As conquered captives use to do; witness Benhadad, 1 Kings 20:32 , and Teridates, king of Parthians, who being brought prisoner to Nero, thus bespake him: I come unto thee as unto my god, and will henceforth worship thee as I do the sun in heaven; I will be whatsoever thou shalt appoint me; for thou art

Job 41:4 — — And compound, where he cannot conquer. Wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? — To be at thy disposal, and to do thy drudgery? q.d. He scorns the motion. Before the fall this and all other creatures were at man’s service, Genesis 1:28 ; Genesis 2:19-20 ; but now, alas! it is otherwise. Howbeit to those that are in Christ this part of God’s lost image is in part restored, Hebrews 2:6 , with Psalms 8:4-5 , and shall be perfectly, Revelation 2:26 . What singular service the

Psalms 18:6 — late, nor God want a way to deliver his distressed. The time of affliction is the time of supplication; and man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. And cried unto my God — He grew more and more earnest. We must pray and not faint, Luke 18:1 , but rise in our suits. Out of his temple — i.e. Heaven, whereof the temple was a type, as being the place of God’s special presence, and of transcendent holiness.

Psalms 24:10 — hosts, he [is] the King of glory. Selah. Who is this King of glory? — The best are acute obtusi in the mystery of Christ crucified; and must therefore by study and inquiry grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 3:18 , praying for that Spirit of wisdom and revelation, for the acknowledgment of him, Ephesians 1:17 . The Lord of hosts — He who hath all creatures at his beck and check, the Lord of Sabaoth, Romans 9:29 James 5:4 , where the word signifying hosts

Psalms 24:8 — and his never adored enough excellencies. The Lord strong — Jehovah the essentiator, the eternal God; the most mighty and puissant warrior; who, if he do but arise only, his enemies are scattered, and all that hate him fly before him, Psalms 68:1 .

Psalms 37:32 — The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. The wicked wateheth the righteous — See Psalms 10:8-10 , See Trapp on " Psalms 10:8 " See Trapp on " Psalms 10:9 " See Trapp on " Psalms 10:10 " Speculatur, he accurately observeth, looking this way and that, as a watchman in a watch tower. Thus Saul eyed David, and laid

Psalms 44:13 — makest us a reproach to our neighbours — This to a generous spirit is very grievous. The Cappadocians were noted for a servile people; and Tiberius said of his Romans, that they were homines ad servitutem parati men prepared for slavery, (Ammian. 1. 2). The Jews at this day hear ill among all nations for a nasty and sordid people. O Marcomanni, O Quades, O Sarmatae, tandem alios vobis deteriores inveni, said that emperor, O Marcomans, O Quades, O Sarmatians, I have at length found a more odious

Psalms 45:13 — The king’s daughter [is] all glorious within: her clothing [is] of wrought gold. The king’s daughter is all glorious within — In the inner man, Ephesians 3:16 , the hidden man of the heart, 1 Peter 3:4 . Great is the glory of the new creature; but not discerned by the world, through which the saints must be content to pass as concealed persons; and not think much to have the greater part of their ware in

Psalms 49:9 — live for ever — As every wicked man would, if it might be had for money; for he knoweth no happiness but to have and to hold; on the other side of the grave he looketh for no good; whereas a godly man holdeth mortality a mercy, as Philippians 1:23 , he hath Mortem in desiderio et vitam in patientia, as Fulgentius saith, he desireth to die, and yet is content to live; accepting of life rather than affecting it, enduring it rather than desiring it. And not see corruption — Heb. the pit

Psalms 57:2 — that performeth [all things] for me. I will cry unto God most high — Who can easily overtop Saul, as high as he is, and all his complices; against whom I have this comfort, that in the thing wherein they deal proudly God is above them, Exodus 18:11 . Unto God that performeth all things for me — And in me, Isaiah 26:12 ; doth not his work to the halves, but is both author and finisher of my faith, and other affairs, Hebrews 12:2 Philippians 1:6 Psalms 138:8 . Here are the two props of

Psalms 7:3 — O LORD my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; O Lord my God — See Trapp on " Psalms 7:1 " If I have done this — i.e. This treachery and treason, whereof Saul doth causelessly suspect me, and wherewith his pick thank partisans unjustly charge me. As for sedition, saith Latimer, for aught that I know, methinks I should not need

Psalms 71:15 — thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers [thereof]. My mouth shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation — Lo, here, a sweet and comfortable conjunction of God’s righteousness and our salvation. See 2 Thessalonians 1:6-7 . For I know not the numbers thereof — Or, though I know not, …, by a modest correction, since they may be celebrated, but not enumerated. Quotve soporiferum grana papaver habet: Sylva feras quot alit, quot piscibus unda natatur, Et

Psalms 74:14 — Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, [and] gavest him [to be] meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. Thou brakest the heads of leviathan — i.e. Of Pharaoh himself. See Isaiah 26:1 Ezekiel 29:3 . Egypt is situated between two seas; and a great part of it overflowed by the river Nile. Pharaoh, therefore, is fitly compared to the master fish, and his captains to crocodiles. And gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the

Psalms 75:3 — endeavour mine utmost to set all to rights, and so to preserve the world from ruin, which subsisteth by and for the sake of God’s Israel, Absque stationibus non staret mundus. I bear up the pillars of it — Semen sanctum statumen terrae, Isaiah 6:13 , The holy seed upholdeth the state. David did (as Lucan saith of Cato), toti genitum se credere mundo; Jesus Christ much more; he is the true Atlas, upholding all things by the word of his power, Hebrews 1:3 .

Psalms 79:3 — accounted worse than death, Ecclesiastes 6:3 , and the Romans extreme cruelty, Immanitatis est Scythicae non sepelire mortuos (Sen. ad Martiam); or none to bury them cum ritibus, with the accustomed rites and ceremonies, as Jacob was buried, Genesis 50:1-13 , but not Jeconiah, Jeremiah 22:18 .

Psalms 83:3 — crafties. Malignaverunt consilium, saith the Vulgate. And consulted against thy hidden ones — Hidden under the hollow of thy hand, under the shadow of thy wing; and therefore safe from strife of tongues or force of hands, Psalms 27:5 ; Psalms 31:21 , Commodum instituto epithetum. The Greek rendereth it, Thy saints, such as whose life is hid with Christ in God, Colossians 3:3 1 John 3:2 . The same Hebrew word is used for the inward oracle of the temple, Ezekiel 7:22 , a type of heaven, the saints’

Psalms 90:5 — necessity of dying once, Hebrews 9:27 . This is set forth by a treble comparison, of floods, sleep, and flowers here; and indeed the vanity and misery of man’s life is such, as cannot sufficiently be set forth by any similitudes. See Psalms 90:9-10 . They are as a sleep — Or dream; the dream of a shadow ( σκιας οναρ ), saith Pindarus, the shadow of smoke, saith another. They are like grass — An ordinary comparison, Isaiah 40:6 James

Psalms 95:2 — us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms. Let us come before his presence — Heb. prevent his face, be there with the first. "Let us go speedily … I will go also," Zechariah 8:21 . Let praise wait for God in Sion, Psalms 65:1 . Rabbi Gaon, Praeveniamus et ante diem iudicii, Let us make haste, saith he, to do it, before the day of judgment; and lest we be taken with our task undone. Others, Let us anticipate his face, that is,