Bible Commentaries

Job 31:32 — that we might be accepted. Abraham neither set up an altar to God nor showed himself forward to entertain strangers, till Lot and he were reconciled. Hospitality is commended to our practice, both by the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah 58:7 , by St Paul, Romans 12:13 Hebrews 13:2 , and by St Peter, 1 Peter 4:9 . Of Cranmer, Tremellius testifietb, that he was homo Fιλοξενος nec minus φιλολογος , humane

Job 34:20 — the hand of death; as chess men are into the bag, without distinction of kings, dukes, bishops, or common people. And the people shall be troubled at midnight — As were the Egyptians, when their firstborn were slain in their dead sleep, Exodus 12:29 , not without much terror and tumult; and as were the army of Sennacherib, 2 Kings 19:35 , and Belshazzar with his Babylon, Daniel 5:30-31 . "The people shall be troubled," they shall be shaken as leaves in a great wind, or be carried

Job 39:9 — alive ( interimi potest, capi non potest ), as the rhinoceros may. A very fierce and strong creature it is; and today very rare, but anciently more common. He hath one horn only (and not many, as R. Levi by a mistake would infer from Deuteronomy 33:17 ), that greweth in the middle of his forehead; and that he lifted up on high; whence also be hath his name in the Hebrew. He is described in Scripture, 1. By this high lifting up of his horn, Psalms 92:10 Psalms 92:2 . By his strength, Numbers 23:22

Job 40:24 — pierceth through snares — Or, Will any bore his nose to put in snares? Though he be apt enough to be tamed and taught, yet he will not endure halter, bridle, bit, or ring in his nose; as neither will leviathan, of whom the like is spoken, Job 41:1-2 .

Job 42:6 — (Lavat.). I repent in dust and ashes — As in an express and public penance. I throw myself here upon the ground, I put my mouth in the dust, Lamentations 3:24 Jeremiah 6:26 ; Jeremiah 25:34 . Canitiem immundo perfusam pulvere turpi (Virg. Aeneid, l. 12), I sprinkle dust and ashes upon mine head, in token that I have deserved to be as far underground as now I am above ground; I repent my presumptuous misbehaviour with as lowly a spirit as ever I sinned with a high. Lo, this was poenitentiam agere,

Psalms 38:13 — But I, as a deaf [man], heard not; and [I was] as a dumb man [that] openeth not his mouth. But I, as a deaf man, heard not — But possessed any soul in patience; in quietness and confidence was my strength, Isaiah 30:15 . As they were masters of their tongues, so was I of mine ears. He that cannot bear calumnies, reproaches, and injuries, cannot live, saith Chytraeus; let him even make up his pack, and get him out of the world. Virus Theodorus sends to advise with

Psalms 51:12 — calleth for it home again into the pardon office, as it were, that he may know the worth by the want. A man may sin away, not only the sense and comfort of his pardon, but the evidence and knowledge of it, as that place of Peter seemeth to imply, 2 Peter 1:9 . Mountebanks, who wound their flesh to try conclusions upon their own bodies how sovereign the salve is, do oft feel the smart of their presumption, by long and desperate wounds: so God will let his Davids see what it is to make wounds in their consciences

Psalms 53:5 — here they feared a fear where no fear was, viz. without themselves, only facti sunt a corde suo fugitivi, they feared and fled before their own consciences, their own trembling heart, Deuteronomy 28:65 ; the sound of fear that is in their ears, Job 15:21 ; the sound of a leaf chaseth them, Leviticus 26:36 ; they flee where none pursueth, Proverbs 28:1 . Naturalists tell us of a certain little bird, quae fertur metu ne in ipsam coelum ruat, imponere sibi semper dormienti alterum pedem, which for

Proverbs 12:13 — discharging their consciences, but they shall surely be delivered. "There is yet one man," saith Ahab, "Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil." 1 Kings 22:8 It is very probable that Micaiah was that disguised prophet who brought to Ahab the fearful message of displeasure and death for dismissing Benhadad, for which he was ever since fast in prison, deep in disgrace. But God, "with the temptation,

Proverbs 16:27 — repented. This, when one of them did with great bitterness, all the answer he had, was, Hic homo invidet mihi gratiam Christi; This man envies me the grace of Jesus Christ. Neither dealt Aaron and Miriam much more gently with their brother Moses, Numbers 12:1 when they "spake against him because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married." Who was this Ethiopian woman but Zipporah? - for an Ethiopian and a Midianite are all one and the same. And when did he marry her? Many a year ago. Exodus

Proverbs 16:3 — cares. Let not your thoughts be distracted about these things; so the Syriac hath it. But "cast your burden upon the Lord," Psalms 55:22 by a writ of remove, as it were. Yea, "cast all your care upon God, for he careth for you." 1 Peter 5:7 I will be "careless" according to my name, said John Careless, martyr. "Commit the matter to God, and he will effect it." Psalms 37:5 And thy thoughts shall be established. — Never is the heart at rest till it repose

Proverbs 17:14 — fire; which if quenched presently, little hurt is done; as if not, "Behold how great a wood a little fire kindleth," saith Saint James. Proverbs 3:5 If "fire break out but of a bramble, it will devour the cedars of Lebanon." Judges 9:15 Cover therefore the fire of contention, as William the Conqueror commanded the curfew bell. Therefore leave off contention before it be meddled with. — Antequam commisceatur. Stop or step back, before it come to further trouble. Satius est recurrere

Proverbs 25:5 — Take away the wicked [from] before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness. Take away the wicked. — Who are compared elsewhere also to dross, Ezekiel 22:19 and fitly; for as dross is a kind of unprofitable earth, and hath no good metal in it; so in the wicked is no good to be found, but pride, worldliness, … Frobisher, in his voyage to discover the Straits, being tossed up and down with foul weather,

Proverbs 8:12 — dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge of witty inventions. I wisdom dwell with prudence. — I draw all into practice, and teach men to prove by their own experience, what "that good, and holy, and acceptable will of God is." Romans 12:2 Of the most that would be held knowing men, it may well be said, as Cicero says the proverb went of the Athenians, that they used their wisdom as men do artificial teeth, for show only, and that they did scire quae recta sunt, sed facere nolle, know

Ecclesiastes 1:13 — Neither did he this in pride and curiosity (as Hugo de Sancto Victore here sharply censureth him), but soberly and modestly, setting down his disquisitions and observations of things political and natural for the use of posterity. And forasmuch as these 1 Kings 4:32-33 . are now lost - because haply too much admired and trusted to, by those that had the use of them under the first temple, in and with the which some Jews say they were burnt - what a high price we all set upon this and the other two books

Ecclesiastes 10:17 — was often heard to say that an unlearned king was no better than a crowned ass. Speed. Sure it is that royalty without righteousness is but eminent dishonour, gilded rottenness, golden damnation. Godly men are the excellent ones of the earth, Psalms 16:1-11 the Beraeans were more noble, ευγενεστεροι . Acts 17:11 or better gentlemen, than those of Thessalonica, non per civilem dignitatem, sed per spiritualem dignationem, not

Ecclesiastes 2:8 — VIII being plundered by the French, was found to have more wealth, saith mine author, Heidfield. than all the kings of the earth could have raised by one year’s revenue. It should seem, by the people’s complaint after Solomon’s death, 1 Kings 12:4 that he lay over heavy upon them by his exactors and gold gatherers, which caused the revolt of the ten tribes. One act of injustice oft loseth much that was justly gotten. Chedorlaomer and his fellow kings were deprived of the whole victory,

Ecclesiastes 7:24 — muses, Mentemque habere queis bonam, et esse corculis datum est. Dousa. For though they should eviscerate themselves, like spiders, crack their sconces, or study themselves to death, yet can they not "understand all mysteries and all knowledge" 1 Corinthians 13:2 in natural things, how much less in supernatural! whereas weak sighted and sand blind persons, the more they strain their eyes to discern a thing perfectly, the less they see of it, as Vives hath observed. L. Vives in Aug. de Civ. Dei,

Ecclesiastes 7:28 — facile iuvenies multis e milibus unum. There is a very great scarcity of good people. These are as Gideon’s three hundred, when the wicked, as the Midianites, lie "like grasshoppers for multitude upon the earth," Judges 7:7 ; Judges 7:12 and as those Syrians, 1 Kings 20:27 they fill the country, they darken the air, as the swarms did the land of Egypt; and there is plenty of such dust heaps in every corner. But a woman among all those have I not found, — i.e., Among all my wives

Song of Solomon 7:10 — Christ "looked upon Peter," after his denial, with the same familiarity as before. Jehoshuah the high priest, though he were so ill-clothed, and had Satan at his right hand to accuse him, yet he "stood before the angel." Zechariah 3:1 Christ did not abhor his presence nor reject his service. Ephraim, repenting after his revolt, is re-entertained with all sweetness. Jeremiah 31:20 See Trapp on " Song of Solomon 2:16 " See Trapp on " Song of Solomon 6:3 " And his