Bible Commentaries

Proverbs 1:7 — head or firstfruits; the head and height. of wisdom, as the word here signified; yea, wisdom itself. Job 28:28 This Solomon had learned by the instruction of his father, as it is in the next verse, who had taught it him of a child, Proverbs 4:4 Psalms 111:10 and therefore sets it here in the beginning of his works as the beginning of all. As in the end he makes it the end of all, Ecclesiastes 12:13 yea, the all of man, Hoc est enim totus homo. without which he counts him not a complete man, though

Proverbs 11:23 — wicked [is] wrath. The desire of the righteous is only good, — i.e., So far as he is righteous, or spiritual, he "delights in the law of God after the inward man," Romans 7:22 "willing in all things to live honestly." Hebrews 13:18 Evil motions haunt his mind otherwhiles, but there they inhabit not. Lust was a stranger to David, as Peter Martyr observes out of Nathan’s parable; - "There came a traveller to this rich man." 2 Samuel 12:4 The main stream of his

Proverbs 13:22 — him" Exodus 34:7 - (where the Masorites observe Nun-Rabbath , a large N , in the word Notsot , "keepeth," to note the large extent of God’s love to the good man’s posterity.) God left David "a lamp in Jerusalem," 1 Kings 15:4 although his house were not so with God. 2 Samuel 23:5 And the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just. — As Nabal’s was for David, Haman’s for Mordecai, the Canaanites’ for the Israelites. Howbeit this holds

Proverbs 16:33 — which later writers often use chance-medley itself): ‘the casual killing of a man, not altogether without the killer’s fault, though without an evil intent; homicide by misadventure; homicide mixt’ (Cowel). is providence Exodus 22:1-31 Cambyses, lighting off his horse, after he had been showing great cruelty to them of Athens, his sword flew out of his scabbard and slew him. Disponit Deus membra pulicis et culicis, saith Augustine: God disposeth of gnats and flies. Birds flying

Proverbs 2:7 — buckler to them that walk uprightly. He layeth up sound wisdom. — Heb., Substance, reality; that which hath a true being, in opposition to that which is not; so riches are described. Proverbs 23:5 Heaven only hath a "foundation"; Hebrews 11:10 earth hath none, but is "hanged upon nothing." Job 16:7 Grace hath solid substance in it and true worth; whereas opinion only sets the price upon all outward things. The prophet Amos complains of the epicures of his time, that they "ate

Proverbs 22:14 — abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein. The month of a strange woman. — Diabolus capite blanditur, ventre oblectat, cauda ligat, saith Rupertus. These she sinners, as their gallants call them, are most dangerous. See Trapp on " Proverbs 2:16 " See Trapp on " Proverbs 5:3 " Solomon had the woeful experience of it; Ecclesiastes 7:26 and Samson, Judges 16:18-21 who “Lenam non potuit, potuit superare lesenam, Quem fera non potuit vincere, vicit hera.” How did David

Proverbs 23:5 — for the pains - countervail the cost? Wilt thou cast a leering look after such vanities? Upon that which is not. — That hath no solid subsistence, though the foolish world call it substance. "The fashion of this world passeth away." 1 Corinthians 7:31 The Greek word there used, οχημα , intimateth that there is nothing of any firmness or solid consistence in the creature. Heaven only hath a foundation. Hebrews 11:10 Earth hath none, but is "hanged upon

Proverbs 24:21 — My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: [and] meddle not with them that are given to change: My son, fear the Lord and the king. — "Who would not fear thee, O king of nations? for unto thee doth it appertain." Jeremiah 10:7 God is the prime and proper object of fear. Psalms 76:11 Whence, by an appellative proper, he is called "fear" by the Psalmist. The Greeks call him Yεος quasi Lεος , as some think, from the

Proverbs 25:2 — of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings [is] to search out a matter. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing. — That what we conceive not, we may admire ( mirari non rimari ), and cry out with Paul, "O the depth," Romans 11:33 as the Romans dedicated to their goddess Victoria a certain lake, the depth whereof they could not dive into. God is much to be magnified for what he hath revealed unto his people in the holy Scriptures for their eternal good. But those unsearchable

Proverbs 25:3 — inhabitable parts of the world. Sphinx Philosoph. And the earth for depth. — From the surface to the centre, how far it is, cannot be known exactly, as neither whether hell be there: but that it is somewhere below may be gathered from Revelation 14:11 , and other places. Ubi sit sentient, qui curiosius quaerunt. And the heart of kings is unsearchable. — Profundum sine fundo. God gave Solomon "a large heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore." 1 Kings 4:29 A vast capacity,

Proverbs 25:8 — Go not forth hastily to strive, lest [thou know not] what to do in the end thereof, when thy neighbour hath put thee to shame. Go not forth hastily to strive. — Contention is the daughter of arrogance and ambition. James 4:1 Hence Solomon, whose very name imports peace, persuades to peaceableness very oft in this book, and sets forth the mischief of strife and dissension. Stir not strife, saith he, but make haste to stint it - so the words may be rendered - you may do that

Proverbs 28:8 — He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor. He that by usury and unjust gain, … — Usury is condemned by the very heathens (Aristot. Ethic., lib. iv. cap. 1). The ancient law of the Romans make the usurer a thief and worse; the Hebrews make him a biting thief, who gnaweth the debtor to the very bones; yea, the most toothless usury, that usual plea, hath sharp gums, which bite as sore as an old dog or a

Proverbs 29:12 — common sort are like a flock of cranes; as the first fly, all follow. Or as in a beast, the whole body follows the head. Rulers are the looking glasses according to which most men dress themselves. Their sins do much hurt, as by imputation - 2 Samuel 24:15-17 , the prince sinned, the people suffered Delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi. - so by imitation; for man is a creature apt to imitate, and is led more by his eyes than by his ears. Magis intuentur quid fecerit Iupiter, quam quid docuit Plato, saith

Proverbs 5:2 — That thou mayest regard discretion, and [that] thy lips may keep knowledge. That thou mayest regard discretion. — Or, That thou mayest keep in thy thoughts, as Job did, Job 31:1 "Why then should I think upon a maid?" "Out of the hearts of men proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications," …, saith our Saviour. Mark 7:21 Many men’s hearts are no better than stews and brothel houses, by reason

Ecclesiastes 2:10 — deceptionis quam delectationis, Lactant. able to entice and ready to kill the entangled. How many are there that have died of the wound in the eye; David, knowing the danger, prayeth, "Turn away mine eyes from beholding of vanity." Psalms 119:37 Job steps one degree further, from a prayer to a vow, Job 31:1 yea, from a vow to an imprecation. Ecclesiastes 2:7 If our first parents fell by following the sight of their eyes and lust of their hearts, what can Solomon or any of us promise of

Ecclesiastes 2:3 — which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. Yet acquainting my heart with wisdom, — i.e., Resolving to retain my wisdom; but that could not be, "For whoredom, and wine, and new wine take away the heart"; Hosea 4:11 they dull and disable nature, and so set us in a greater distance from grace; they "fight against the soul," 1 Peter 2:11 and take away all scent and sense of heavenly comforts: much like that parcel of ground in Sicily, that sendeth such

Ecclesiastes 6:7 — All the labour of man [is] for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled. All the labour of man is for his mouth. — That is, For food and raiment, as 1 Timothy 6:8 a little whereof will content nature, which hath therefore given us a little mouth and stomach, Dii boni. quantum hominum unus exercet venter! - Seneca. Deus homini angustum ventrem, … - Sergius PP. to teach us moderation, as Chrysostom

Ecclesiastes 7:11 — "by wisdom" (abstracted from wealth) "there is profit"; or, it is "more excellent," or "better," (as the Hebrew word signifies), as the apostle in another case, "And yet show I you a more excellent way" 1 Corinthians 12:31 - viz., that graces are better than gifts; so here, that wisdom is better than wealth. And if Jacob may see "his children the work of God’s hands," framed and fitted by the word of God’s grace ("the wisdom

Ecclesiastes 8:14 — done upon the earth. — Symmachus reads it thus: Est difficile cognitu quod sit super terram, There is that done upon the earth that is hard to be understood. It hath gravelled great divines - as David, Jeremiah, Habakkuk Psalms 73:3-9 Jeremiah 12:1-2 Habakkuk 2:4-5 Lamentations 3:33 - to see good men suffer, bad men prosper. But it is but upon the earth that this befalls: here God must meet with his people, or nowhere, and it is non nisi coactus, as that emperor said of himself, that he doth

Ecclesiastes 9:2 — clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as [is] the good, so [is] the sinner; [and] he that sweareth, as [he] that feareth an oath. All things come alike to all. — See Trapp on " Ecclesiastes 9:1 " Health, wealth, honours, …, are cast upon good men and bad men promiscuously. God makes a scatter of them, as it were; good men gather them, bad men scramble for them. The whole Turkish empire, saith Luther, is nothing else but a crust