Bible Commentaries

Genesis 15:5 — able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he brought him forth abroad. — Abram having prayed a good part of the day within, is now drawn forth at night to receive the promise. Pray that ye may joy, saith Christ: John 16:24 and, if ye will "rejoice evermore," "Pray without ceasing," saith the apostle. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 If thou be able to number them. — Then mayest thou number thy posterity; and they, their privileges. It is God only

Genesis 31:16 — For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that [is] ours, and our children’s: now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do. For all the riches, … — Here they speak the truth; but offend, (1.) In that they utter it passionately, and with perturbation of spirit; (2.) In that they seem somewhat to obscure God’s blessing; as though it were but their due, as daughters. In dealing with those that have done us wrong, it is hard not to offend,

Genesis 37:4 — And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. They hated him. — 1. There is a passion of hatred: this is a kind of averseness, and rising of the heart against a man, when one seeth him; so that he cannot away with him, nor speak to him, nor look courteously or peaceably upon him; but one’s countenance falls

Genesis 38:22 — [that] there was no harlot in this [place]. There was no harlot in this place. — Few places can say so. Every house in Egypt had a dead corpse in it; and too many houses here have such, as, "living in pleasure, are dead while they live." 1 Timothy 5:6 Sane, hercle, homo voluptati obsequens fuit dum vixit. - Terent. Of this sort was that Arlet, a skinner’s daughter in Normandy, whose nimbleness in her dance made Duke Robert enamoured, … On her he begat our William the Conqueror.

Genesis 40:3 — were most passionate against him, …, they would not once look at him; as men look not after sundials, longer than the sun shines upon them. Tacit. The place where Joseph was bound. — Here was a "wheel within a wheel," Ezekiel 1:16 a sweet providence; that these obnoxious officers should be sent to Joseph’s prison.

Genesis 8:5 — [month], on the first [day] of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. The waters decreased. — Not all on the sudden, but by little and little, for exercise of Noah’s faith. "He that believeth maketh not haste". Isaiah 28:16 God limiteth our sufferings for time, manner, and measure. Joseph was a prisoner till the time came. Smyrna was in tribulation for ten days. Physic must have a time to work; and gold must lie some while in the fire. "In the opportunity of time,"

Exodus 1:20 — midwives. — God is a liberal paymaster: and his retributions are more than bountiful. "Be ye therefore steadfast and unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord." 1 Corinthians 15:58 And the people multiplied. — Sic divinum consilium dum devitatur, impletur: humana sapientia, dum reluctatur, comprehenditur, as Gregory hath it. Greg., Moral. "There are many devices in the heart of a man: but the counsel

Exodus 12:22 — the blood that [is] in the bason, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that [is] in the bason; and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. A bunch of hyssop. — A herb of a purging property. See 1 Corinthians 6:11 . The blood that is in the bason. — The remembrance of Christ’s bloody passion must be kept fresh in our hearts. Tam recens mihi nunc Christus, ac si hac hora fudisset sanguinem. - Luth. Strike the lintel. — Profess

Exodus 20:7 — Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. The Name of the Lord. — That "holy and reverend" Name; Psalms 111:9 that Nomen Maiestativum, as Tertullian callcth it; "dreadful among the heathen." Malachi 1:14 The very Turks at this day chastise the Christians that live amongst them for their oaths and blasphemies darted up against God and Christ. The

Exodus 36:7 — For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much. And too much. — Thus in outward ordinances of service, and for the making of "a worldly sanctuary," Hebrews 9:1 they could do and over do. So, John 6:28 , "They said unto him, What shall we do that we may work the works of God?" Men would fain have heaven as a purchase. I would swim through a sea of brimstone, said one, that I might come to heaven at

Leviticus 27:30 — all the tithe of the land, [whether] of the seed of the land, [or] of the fruit of the tree, [is] the LORD’S: [it is] holy unto the LORD. And all the tithe. — See here in this chapter what a liberal maintenance God allowed the priests: (1.) Various votive oblations, or their redemptions; (2.) All the firstborn, or their redemptions; (3.) Every devoted thing, unless devoted to some particular use; (4.) All the tithes of what kind soever: besides firstfruits, oblations, portions of sacrifices,

2 Peter 3:9 — The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Not willing that any one should perish — See Trapp on " 1 Timothy 2:4 " Not willing that any of his should perish. But that all should come to repentance — Gr. χωρησαι , withdraw, go aside, retire into some private place for the purpose of repentance. It is a great

2 John 1:5 — And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. Not as though I wrote a new commandment — A new commandment our Saviour calleth it, John 13:34 . Quia exuto veteri induit nos novum hominem, as Austin gives the reason; because the old man being put off, it puts on us the new man. Or, as others, because when the scribes and Pharisees by false glosses and corrupt interpretations had put it

Jude 1:19 — they might give over hearing of the word, as having immediate teaching; and separated from holy duties, as the words following show. Sensual — Gr. qucikoi, animal; such as have no more than a reasonable soul, and are yet in their pure naturals, 1 Corinthians 2:14, and by their profane practices animas etiam incarnaverunt, have turned their very spirits into a lump of flesh. Having not the Spirit — Unless it be the spirit of delusion, as Muncer the Anabaptist had, who wrote a book against

Revelation 1:12 — price; as much above other men as gold is above other metals. As God is the gold of his people ("the Almighty shall be thy gold," saith Eliphaz, Job 22:25 ), so they are his; yea, his peculiar treasure: they comprehend all his gettings,Titus 2:14; Titus 2:14 , they are the people of his acquisition, 1 Peter 2:9 .

Revelation 12:6 — the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And the woman fled — viz. After the battle mentioned in the next verse was fought and finished. See Revelation 12:13-14 . Into the wilderness — This notes her afflicted and desolate condition, forced now to live in poverty and exile. Where she hath a place — To wit, that temple that was so exactly measured, Revelation 11:12 , called here a wilderness,

Revelation 13:6 — his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. In blasphemy against God — As when Pope Leo I and (after him) Nicholas III affirmed, that Peter their predecessor was taken into fellowship with the blessed Trinity, as one with them. SeeRevelation 13:5; Revelation 13:5 . And his tabernacle — Christ’s humanity, John 1:14 ; John 2:19 this he blasphemeth, by transubstantiating a crust into Christ. Or, the Church of Christ, which he counteth and calleth the synagogue of Satan. And them

Revelation 16:8 — the Scriptures, say others, by the light whereof they are laid open to the world (dancing naked in a net, and yet not seeing their own nakedness, as Mr Philpot, martyr, told Chadsey), and by the dint whereof, "God smites the earth;" Isaiah 11:4 , that is, the consciences of those popelings, glued to the earth. He even "hews them by his prophets, and slays them by the words of his mouth," Hosea 6:5 . But this interpretation touching the Scriptures some hold to be dangerous; because

Revelation 4:10 — that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, The four and twenty elders — The people yield their assent, and say, Amen; the want whereof St Paul accounts no small loss, 1 Corinthians 14:16 . And cast their crowns — Canute, king of England, set his crown upon the crucifix, and proclaimed, saying, Let all the inhabitants of the world know that there is no mortal man worthy the name of a king, but he to whose beck,

Revelation 5:1 — neither they nor he (as Son of man) knew (so much at least) of that day and hour of his second coming. And on the back side — As lacking room within. Like that of the poet, " Scriptus et in tergo, necdum finitus Orestes. " (Juven. Sat. 1.) Sealed with seven seals — To note the great secrecy and gradual discovery of the divine counsels.