Bible Commentaries

Job 20:1 — each syllable its substance, Ubi habent fere singulae voces aliquid ponderis (Merl.); he had lastly terrified them with the threats of God’s sword; but nothing would do. Zophar here, though he had little to say more than what he had said, Job 11:1-20 , yet he takes occasion from Job’s last words, though full of love, to roughly hew at him again, and makes as if he were necessitated thereunto for his own and his fellows’ necessary defence. Vatablus thinks that Zophar here maketh

Job 21:3 — to you to hear me (for now I see you have, as they write of some creatures, fel in aure ), yet put yourselves to the pain of hearing me, and bear me, though I am burdensome to you, though my speeches cross the grain of your spirits. See 2 Corinthians 11:1 . I will promise you to speak nothing worthy of a scoff, such as was that of Theophrastus, Let him shun the talkative man who would not be put into a fit of a fever (Theoph. Charact. cap. de garrul.). Or that of Aristotle, before whom when one, having

Job 22:28 — ways. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee — God will be better to thee than thy prayers; and prosper all thy counsels, effect thy designs. The ungodly are not so, as is to be seen in those revolted Israelites, Judges 2:1-3 , in King Saul, and in our King John. Or if they have their designs, it is for a further mischief to them. As, if the godly be crossed, it is in mercy; like as the story is told of our Queen Isabel, that being to repass from Zealand into England with

Job 28:22 — grow on their heads, and with the inward ears of their minds, so that one sound hath pierced both, but yet the one half hath not been told them; they can truly say, as the queen of Sheba said to Solomon, Thou hast added wisdom and goodness to the fame, 1 Kings 10:7 . And as David in the person of Christ, Psalms 16:11 , "Thou wilt show me the path of life"; whereby is hinted that Christ himself, as man, did not so fully understand in the days of his flesh the unconceivable joys of heaven, as

Job 29:20 — Borbonius, once Bonus orbi, the good of the bereft now Orbus boni. bereft of good. And my bow was renewed in my hand — That is, I had fresh and new supplies of strength, by friends and otherwise, outwardly and inwardly, according to that above, Job 17:9 , "The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger." Robur meum instaurabitur maiusque reddetur (Vatab.). See Genesis 49:24 1 Samuel 2:4 .

Job 29:6 — good against various diseases) that issueth out of rocks, whence also it hath its name (not unlike that berry which the French call, Uva de Spine, the grape of a thorn); but this whole verse seemeth to be a hyperbole (not unlike that of Zophar, Job 20:17 , and that of Moses, Deuteronomy 32:13 ; confer Genesis 49:11 Psalms 80:15 ), importing the very great abundance of all outward comforts and contentments that Job once enjoyed. He had the reward of humility and the fear of the Lord, even riches, and

Job 37:18 — …, Go to, then, if thou be indeed such a one as thou wouldst seem to be, while thou takest upon thee to be, viz. to contend with God, and to complain of his hard dealing with thee. "Teach us what we shall say unto him," …, as Job 37:19 , for we dare not, as thou hast done, dare him to come into the lists with us, as hoping to have the better of him. Which is strong — Not by reason of any hard massy elemental thickness, but by reason of their airy, incorruptible, indissoluble

Job 37:6 — earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength. For he saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth — He commandeth it, and it is done; for together with his word there goeth forth a power. Dixisse Dei, est fecisse. Psalms 147:1-20 , God giveth snow like wool. Many wonders there are in snow; as that it should be made in the lowest part of the air, and not above where it is coldest; that it should snow upon the earth, but never upon the sea, as Pliny saith; that snow should

Job 40:16 — and overcometh him; yet is he stronger in his belly than other creatures are in the back; and, therefore, his navel is here called navels in the plural. His skin is exceeding hard and rough, so that an arrow can hardly pierce it. Yet Eleazar, /RAPC 1 Maccabees 6:46, rushing into the enemy’s army, got under an elephant’s belly (upon which he thought King Antiochus rode), and killed him, being himself crushed to death with the weight of the beast falling upon him.

Psalms 133:1 — to dwell together in unity! Behold, how good and how pleasant it is — This David is thought to have said to the people, when, after eight years’ unnatural war, they came together to Hebron, to anoint him king over all Israel, 2 Samuel 5:1-5 Behold, be affected with that happiness of yours which no tongue can utter. Accipe quod sentitur antequam discitur, as Cyprian saith in another case. How good and how pleasant — Precious and profitable, sweet and delectable, λιπαρον

Psalms 16:8 — continual use to me. It is as necessary to remember God, as to draw breath, saith Chrysostom. I shall not be moved — i.e. Not greatly moved, as Psalms 62:2 . Though Satan stand at the right hand of a godly man, to resist and annoy him, Zechariah 3:1 , yet so long as God is at his right hand, to assist and comfort him, and he at God’s right hand, Psalms 45:9 (which is a place of honour and safety), he cannot be moved. The gates of hell shall never prevail; Christ, our Samson, hath flung them

Psalms 2:2 — the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, [saying], The kings of the earth set themselves — Or, stand up, as if they would do the deed, and bear down all before them. The many had acted their part, Psalms 2:1 , and now the mighties show themselves, but go off again with shame enough. The Spanish friar used to say, there were but few princes in hell; and why? because there were but few in all. It was a poor comfort to our Henry VIII to be told upon his death

Psalms 29:9 — his temple, or palace, doth he utter all his glory (Tremel.). As if the psalmist should say, Much of his glory God uttereth in his thunder; but all in his temple. For whatsoever there he speaketh with his mouth he fulfilleth it with his hand, Psalms 115:3 ; Psalms 119:91 ; Psalms 33:9 Isaiah 44:26 . See a like collation of God’s works and word, with a praelation of this above those, Psalms 19:1-7 ; Psalms 111:7 .

Psalms 34:4 — the enemies’ hands, and playing my pranks as a mad man among them; I prayed secretly and inwardly, I sent up some ejaculations, as Nehemiah 2:4 , and was heard, though unworthy. And delivered me out of all my fears — Which were not a few, 1 Samuel 21:13 , besides his inward terrors upon his unwarrantable practices to save his life. Sense fights sore against faith, when it is upon its own dunghill (in a sensible danger I mean), to the great disturbance of the conscience afterwards. George

Psalms 44:1 — heard with our ears — i.e. We have both heard and heeded it, with utmost attention and affection. It is not a redundancy, but an emphasis that is here used. Our fathers have told us — According to that they were commanded, Deuteronomy 6:1-10 and elsewhere, to whet good things upon their young children, and to propagate the memory of God’s noble acts to all posterity, Exodus 12:26 ; Exodus 13:14 Joshua 4:6-7 Psalms 78:4 ; Psalms 78:6 . Hear this, saith Basil, and blush, ye fathers,

Psalms 56:8 — vagaries while hunted up and down like a partridge, and hushed out of every bush, so that I have nowhere to settle. St Paul was at the same pass, αστατουμεν , saith he, we have no certain abode, 1 Corinthians 4:11 ; and so were sundry of the holy martyrs and confessors, who wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins, …, driven from post to pillar, from one country to another, God all the while noting and numbering all their flittings,

Psalms 73:6 — have their names in Hebrew from the joy they take in their fair feathers; so do these glory in their pride, and are puffed up with a foolish persuasion of their own prudence. Vermis divitiarum est superbia, Charge the rich that they be not high minded, 1 Timothy 6:17 . He is a great rich man, says Austin, and greater than his riches, who doth not therefore think himself great because he is rich. Magna cognatio, saith another, ut rei sic nominis, divitiis et vitiis, He is a rare rich man that is not

Proverbs 12:25 — man of many sorrows. And this, some think, was the reason that our Saviour Christ, at little past thirty, was reckoned to be toward fifty. John 8:57 He was "the man that had seen affliction by the rod of God’s wrath." Lamentations 3:1 But a good word maketh it glad. — Such as was that of our Saviour to the poor paralytic, "Son, be of good cheer, thy sins are forgiven thee." The promises are called a "good word." Jeremiah 29:10 So David found them; Psalms

Proverbs 13:15 — do homage to the image of God stamped upon the natures and works of the godly: when they see in them that which is above the ordinary nature of men, or their expectation, they are afraid of the name of God, whereby they are called, Deuteronomy 28:9-10 and are forced to say, "Surely this is a wise and understanding nation"; Deuteronomy 4:6 "God is in this people of a truth"; 1 Corinthians 14:25 "Certainly this was a righteous man." Luke 23:47 But the way of transgressors

Proverbs 3:5 — of every creature, and so to lean upon God, that if he fail thee thou sinkest. Confidence is the least, and yet the best we can render to the Lord, for hereby we acknowledge his sovereignty, and set the crown upon his head, as it were. See Judges 9:15 . And lean not to thine own understanding. — Which, because men do, hence it is, many times, that the fairest blossoms of their endeavours wither, and the unprobablest things do come to pass. God loves to confute men in their confidences, as