Bible Commentaries

Numbers 11:17 — Praesens imperium semper grave, They are ever grumbling at the present government, though never so gentle. Alleva iugum, Ease the yoke that thy father put upon us, said they to Rehoboam, forgetting the golden age they had lived in under his father Solomon. 1 Kings 12:4

Numbers 19:3 — the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and [one] shall slay her before his face: To Eleazar the priest. — To assure him of the succession of the priesthood. Besides, it was fitter he should be defiled than his father. Numbers 19:7 Hereby also might haply be foretold, that the priests should kill Christ; but they were but our workmen, we should "look upon him whom we have pierced, and mourn over him," Zechariah 12:10 that the fountain opened for sin, and for separation

Numbers 29:18 — was rewarded as an act of justice, quoad substantiam operis; and punished as an act of policy, quoad modum agendi, for the perverse end. Yea, David, for failing in a ceremony only, though with an honest heart, suffered a breach instead of a blessing. 1 Chronicles 15:13 Idolaters also went on in their own manner as their idol priests prescribed. "The manner of Beersheba liveth"; Amos 8:14 that is, the form of rites of the worshipping in Beersheba, as the Chaldee paraphraseth.

Numbers 30:4 — and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand. And her father shall hold his peace. — Qui tacet, consentire videtur, a rule in civil law; silence is a kind of consent. Then all her vows shall stand. — Provided that she vow, (1,) Such things as are lawful and warrantable by the word; for to vow to do evil is an utter abomination; as Acts 23:14 Deuteronomy 23:18 (2.) Such things as are possible and in her power, either naturally or by the assistance of God’s grace promised

Deuteronomy 28:63 — thou goest to possess it. So the Lord will rejoice over you. — See here the venomous nature of sin, so far forth offensive to Almighty God, as to cause him, who otherwise afflicts not willingly, Lamentations 3:33 but delights in mercy, Micah 7:18 to rejoice in the ruin of his creatures, as here, to laugh at their destruction, and mock when their fear cometh, Proverbs 1:26 to take as much pleasure therein as a man would do in a cup of generous wine, Revelation 16:19 and to be as much eased thereby,

Deuteronomy 6:2 — his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. That thou mightest fear the Lord. — "Fear God and keep his commandments." Ecclesiastes 12:13 "Fear the Lord and depart from evil," Proverbs 16:6 "this is the beginning," Proverbs 1:7 and "end of all" Ecclesiastes 12:13 This is the whole of man, or as some read it, This is the whole man Hoc est enim totus homo.

Joshua 22:8 — life." Proverbs 22:4 Divide the spoil, … — Praecipit illis dilectionem proximi. Let those share with you, that, staying at home, tilled your grounds and safe-guarded your families. This was agreeable to a law made by Moses, Numbers 31:27 and revived by David. 1 Samuel 30:24-25

Judges 1:19 — as having immediate teaching; and separated from holy duties, as the words following show. Sensual — Gr. ψυχικοι , 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

Judges 19:16 — a "workman," and at "field work," and "till the evening." It was wonder that this honest man had not been banished out of Gibeah, as once Hermodorus was out of Ephesus, merely for his honesty and frugality. Strabo., l. 14. c. 1. s. 25. 6:231 At which time also this law was made there, ουδεις ημων ονηιστος εστω . Let there be none honest amongst

Judges 20:22 — And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day. Encouraged themselves. — Not in the Lord their God, as David in a distress did, 1 Samuel 30:6 but in the goodness of their cause, and in the multitude of their men. Thus also did the Tigurines in their fight against the Popish cantons, and were defeated and discomfited by them. In that fight fell that famous man of God, Huldericus

Judges 4:15 — host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off [his] chariot, and fled away on his feet. And the Lord discomfited Sisera. — Or, Terrified, as the vulgar Latin hath it, perhaps by thunder and hailstones, as Joshua 10:10 1 Samuel 7:10 , where the same Hebrew word is used; or else by some hurry noise made in the air by the angels, as 2 Kings 6:15-18 ; but something was certainly done from heaven, Judges 5:20 wherewith the Canaanites were so frightened, that many

Ruth 1:12 — Turn again, my daughters, go [your way]; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, [if] I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons; Turn again, my daughters. — A probational persuasion, as Ruth 1:8 , that she might sound them to the bottom. For I am too old to have an husband. — Second marriages are not unlawful: but thought of death is enough to forbid the bans of such marriage. Cogita te quotidie moriturum et nunquam de secundis nuptiis

Ruth 1:14 — Jehu, Judas, Demas, Henry IV of France, once Bonus orbi, afterwards Orbus boni, as one wittily anagrammatised his name Borbonius. But Ruth clave unto her. — Heb., Was glued unto her, as a wife to her husband, inseparably. Genesis 2:24 Matthew 19:5 "He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." 1 Corinthians 6:17

Ruth 2:1 — Lyra saith Elimelech and Salmon - other Hebrews say Elimelech and Naasson - were brethren. Some, more probably, hold that Elimelech was the son of Salmon’s brother, and so his son the kinsman of Boaz once removed; for there was one nearer. Ruth 3:12 A mighty man of wealth. — Rich, and yet religious - a rare bird. And his name was Boaz, — i.e., Strength, or fortitude. He was strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. The rich man’s wealth is his strong city. Proverbs 18:11

Ruth 3:18 — wait upon God, and be ready whensoever thou art called to the accomplishment of this marriage. How the matter will fall. — How God’s providence will work. Commit thyself to God in well doing. Psalms 37:5 "Cast thy care upon him." 1 Peter 5:7 It is thy work to cast care: God’s work to take care: let him alone with his work, which is then only well done, when done by himself. For the man will not be in rest, … — Naomi knew him to be homo quadratus, a right honest

Ruth 4:14 — And the women said unto Naomi, Blessed [be] the LORD, which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman, that his name may be famous in Israel. And the women said unto Naomi. — This was a holy way of gossipping. So Luke 1:58 . God was praised and called upon: the time was not wasted in idle chat and frivolous prattle, much less in scurrility and ribaldry. Which hath not left thee this day without a kinsman. — So good a kinsnmn, or redeemer, as Boaz, so hopeful

1 Samuel 2:1 — there is not one petition in all this holy hymn: but thanksgiving is a principal part of prayer; it is also an artificial begging. My heart rejoiceth in the Lord. — Leapeth and danceth levaltoes, danceth a galliard; as did also Mary’s Luke 1:47 for like cause; and betwixt this song and that of the holy Virgin there is a great likeness, as Peter Martyr rightly observeth. My horn is exalted in the Lord. — My might and mirth is advanced. A metaphor from horned creatures, or, as some

1 Samuel 2:10 — — "As a potter’s vessel." Psalms 2:9 Turk and Pope, both those Antichrists, shall be served on this sort, saith Peter Martyr. Out of heaven shall he thunder upon them. — As he did soon after this prophecy upon the Philistines. 1 Samuel 7:10 The mightiest men quake before God, and as the worms when it thundereth, wriggle into their holes. The Lord shall judge the ends of the earth. — The Lord Christ shall; who is here first of all in Scripture called Messiah, or the Anointed

1 Samuel 3:13 — he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. For I have told him. — And he shall find that I told him so not in terrorem, only to frighten him. For the iniquity which he knoweth. — Both by that prophet, 1 Samuel 2:29 and by that domestical chaplain, his conscience. Because his sons made themselves vile. — Heb., Contemned or despised themselves - viz., by despising their ways, not ordering them aright Proverbs 19:16 - and so have rendered themselves

1 Samuel 5:11 — that having an ape’s tooth got from them, which was a consecrated thing by them, they offered an incredible mass of treasure to recover it. But what an ape’s face was the devil Satan est Dei Simia. to set Herodotus Joseph., lib. x. cap. 1. the historian a-work, to say that at Ascalon, a city of the Philistines, Venus had a temple, - Dagon is by some thought to be Venus, - which when certain thieves robbed, they were smitten with emerods!