Bible Commentaries

Amos 6:8 — abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein. The Lord God hath sworn by himself — Heb. by his soul, which is himself; since whatsoever is in God is God. So Amos 5:2 Genesis 22:16 Hebrews 6:16-17 . Or, He hath sworn by his soul, that is, Serie et ex animo, Seriously and heartily. Among the heathens ex animi sui sententia was instead of an oath. Saith the Lord God of hosts — Who hath power enough in his hand to perform

Amos 8:4 — make but a breakfast, nay, but a bit of them; that would swallow them at once down their wide gullets, and do, for that purpose, pant and even faint, as well nigh windless, after them, to devour them. Hence they are called man eaters, cannibals, Psalms 14:4 . See Amos 2:7 . See Trapp on " Amos 2:7 " Even to make the poor of the land to fail — Heb. the meek of the, land. Poverty should meeken and tame men’s spirits; howbeit, some are humbled but not humble, low but not lowly. Those

Obadiah 1:6 — and to pull them out of every lurking hole, where they might have been circumvented and butchered, in those dark and narrow places: this shows surely that they were both armed and animated by God himself. Confer Joel 2:6-9 , but especially Jeremiah 49:10-11 , where you have the full of that which is here but abridged; and therefore this verse hath not so much as an Athnach in it for distinction. How are his hid things sought out! — i.e. his treasures and jewels, which have their name in Hebrew

Jonah 4:4 — what? art thou very angry? Nunquid recte? Summon the sobriety of thy senses before thine own judgment, and see whether there be a cause. "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good?" Matthew 20:15 . Shall I not show mercy on whom I will show mercy? Or enviest thou these poor Ninevites their preservation, for my sake? Cannot I provide for mine own glory and for thine authority by other means and ways than thou imaginest? Have patience, Jonah,

Nahum 2:8 — usually cast out at the flood, and gathered at the ebb, drew Caesar’s affection for the conquest of Britain; and as Nineveh’s fish pool did the Chaldean fishermen. The greater wealth the greater spoil awaiteth a people or person, Proverbs 1:19 . As if a tree hath thick and large boughs, every man desires to be lopping at it. Nineveh’s antiquity is here also noted. Of old, or of a long time, she hath been Empress of the East; she was the seat of the first monarchy, which she also

Nahum 3:17 — rendereth it, thy princes; the Vulgate Latin, thy keepers; some others, thy Nazarites, or thy religious persons, set apart from the common sort to pray for the city’s safety. Such were those chemarims, or chimney chaplains, among the Jews, Hosea 10:5 Zephaniah 1:4 ; such are the mailers among the Turks, who call them the religious brothers of love; and the shaveling mendicants among the Papists. These locusts are, Revelation 9:7 , said to have on their heads as it were crowns like gold. And thy

Habakkuk 3:4 — And [his] brightness was as the light; he had horns [coming] out of his hand: and there [was] the hiding of his power. And his brightness was as the light — The glory of the Lord was as a devouring fire on the top of the mountain, Exodus 24:17 ; the noonday light, the sun in his strength was nothing to this incomparable brightness, which was as the light, or as the sun, see Job 31:26 ; Job 37:20 . Hence the heathens called Apollo or the sun Orus (which is the word here used), hence also

Zephaniah 2:15 — case is altered, and the Church, out of zeal for God’s glory, thus insulteth over them. That dwelt carelessly — As if situated in the clouds, above all fear; and altogether insuperable. Security ushereth in destruction. See Jeremiah 49:31-32 . That said in her heart, I am, and there is none besides me — This was a proud word indeed. I am is one of God Almighty’s names, Exodus 3:14 , and there is none besides me is one of his titles, Isaiah 45:5 ; Isaiah 45:21 ; Isaiah 48:12

Zechariah 12:4 — horses flesh, and not spirit; "When the Lord shall but stretch out his hand" (and that is no hard matter of motion), "both he that helpeth shall fall and he that is helped shall fall down, and they shall all fail together," Isaiah 31:8 . See Psalms 76:5-6 "An horse is a vain thing for safety," Psalms 33:17 , though a warlike creature full of terror; but safety or victory is of the Lord, Proverbs 21:31 "In nothing be terrified," saith the apostle, Philippians

Zechariah 9:13 — the sword of a mighty man — Given thee both arms and an arm to wield them. For it is God that strengtheneth and weakeneth the arms of either party in battle, Ezekiel 30:24 . It is he also that rendereth the weapons vain or prosperous, Isaiah 54:17 Jeremiah 50:9 . This Judas Maccabeus well understood, and therefore had his name from the capital letters of this motto written in his ensign, Mi camoca belohim Iehovah, Who is like thee, O Lord, among the gods? St Paul also, that conquered so many

Matthew 1:1 — The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. The Book — That is, a roll or register, catalogue or calendar, a ciphering and summing up. (Genesis 5:1 , æç ñôø úåìãú αυτη η βιβλος γενεξεως .) Of the generations — That

Matthew 10:2 — registered and had in honour; when the grandees of the earth, those men of renown in their generation, lie either buried in oblivion or wrapped up in the sheet of shame: their memory, haply, is preserved, but stinks in the keeping, as that rich glutton, Luke 16:19-31 , who is not so much as named, as poor Lazarus is. Peter, and Andrew his brother, … — They go coupled two and two together. And this first for their own sakes. "Two are better than one," saith Solomon,Ecclesiastes 4:9-12;

Matthew 11:1 — look to rest till they come to heaven; but (as St Paul, that insatiabilis Dei cultor, as Chrysostom called him) teach God’s people publicly and from house to house, incessantly warning every one night and day with tears, Acts 20:20 ; Acts 20:31 . Dr Taylor, martyr, preached not only every Sabbath day and holy day, but whensoever else he could get the people together. So did Bishop Ridley, Bishop Jewel, … So did not their successors, once a year was fair with many of them (like the high

Matthew 11:23 — life potentially in the ordinances. God sends up and down the world to offer salvation. Hence that phrase, My salvation is gone forth; hence they that reject the word preached are said to judge themselves "unworthy of everlasting life,"Acts 13:46; Acts 13:46 ; hence, while Israel was without a teaching priest, they are said to have been "without the true God," 2 Chronicles 15:3 ; hence the Psalmist makes the blessings that come out of Sion to be better than any other that come

Matthew 12:45 — hands, and is now recovered. And they enter in and dwell there — So they never do in a heart once truly sanctified. Lust was but a stranger to David (no home dweller) as Peter Martyr observes out of that passage in Nathan’s parable, 2 Samuel 12:4 ; "And there came a traveller to the rich man," … Faith leaves never a slut’s corner, Acts 15:9 . And the last state of that man is worse — An apostate cannot choose unto himself a worse condition. It is with such, as

Matthew 13:25 — the wheat, and went his way. But while men slept — Christ, the Lord of the husbandry, neither slumbereth nor sleepeth; but the labourers and landholders, to whom he lets out his vineyard, are frequently found to be safe and secure, Zechariah 4:1 . It fared with the good prophet, as with a drowsy person; who, though awake and set to work, is ready to sleep at it. And albeit we watch against greater, yet lesser evils are ready to steal upon us at unawares, as Austin hath it. a His enemy came

Matthew 14:17 — said, "Give ye them to eat," to try them only, as St John John 6:6 hath it. And upon trial, he found them full of dross, as appears by their answer. But the comfort is, he hath promised to try his people indeed, but not as silver, Isaiah 48:10 ; lest they should not bear any so exact a trial, as having more dross in them than good ore. And where he finds any the least grain of true grace, he cherisheth and enhanceth it, by a further partaking of his holiness. The disciples here were as yet

Matthew 19:12 — gelded their souls. And the truth is, there they must begin, that will do anything in this kind to purpose. Incesta est, et sine stupro, quae stuprum cupit, saith Seneca. And St Paul’s virgin must "be holy both in body and in spirit," 1 Corinthians 7:34 .

Matthew 2:8 — underhand, to despatch the child immediately. But God befooled him. The Germans have a proverb, "Where God intends to blind any man, he first closes his eyes." Deus quem destruet dementat. God first deludes whom he will destroy. So the apostle, 1 Corinthians 3:19 , He taketh the wise ( σοφους ), the finest and choicest wits of the world, the rare and picked pieces: Mentemque habere queis bonam et esse corculis datum est: These he taketh, he catcheth and

Matthew 6:3 — away the vain affectation of human applause. Let not thy left hand (if it had so much skill) understand what thou givest, and to whom, how much, how often, at what time, … God sets down every circumstance in his book of remembrance, Malachi 3:16 , as our Saviour (that true Archdeacon, as well as Archshepherd, 1 Peter 5:4 ) sat and viewed the estate, mind, and gift of every one that cast money into the treasury, Mark 12:41 ; and as he took special observation of those that came to hear him,