Bible Commentaries

Amos 4:2 — The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks. The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness — He hath sworn for more assurance, Hebrews 6:16-18 , it being hard to persuade secure sinners of the certainty and infallibility of the threatenings; which yet will as surely befall them without repentance, as the coat is on their back, or the heart in their bodies. And, "by his holiness,"

Amos 7:2 — small. When they had made an end of eating — Not the grain only, but the grass, to the very roots; besides a pestilent stench left behind them; when, I say, they had done their worst. Prayer is the best lever at a dead lift; as is to be seen, James 5:18 ; upon the prayer of Elias the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit, after three years and a half’s drought; when it might well have been thought that root, and fruits, and all had been dried up, and that prayer had come too

Obadiah 1:12 — unless it be to pity and relieve them. He observed Cain’s lowering upon his brother, Genesis 4:6 , and the Jews’ wagging their heads, Matthew 27:39 , Rabshakeh’s lofty looks, Isaiah 37:28 , Laban’s change of countenance, Genesis 31:2 . Men may not look at liberty, and as they list. Vultu saepe laeditur charitas. It was not for nothing, therefore, that in Queen Elizabeth’s days, at a meeting of the borderers in the marches between England and Scotland, about goods unjustly

Micah 2:10 — your fardels and prepare for a deportation. Here is no longer being for you unless ye were better. Behold, "the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants," Leviticus 18:25 . This is not your rest — As you falsely, fancy and vainly vaunt, binding upon the promise, but not performing the condition. It is the guile of graceless men to stuff themselves with promises, till they have made them a pillow for sin. Et

Micah 6:7 — Lacedaemonian made a law that no man should be at very great charge for a sacrifice, lest he should grow weary of God’s service; yet when the famous carver Phidias advised the Athenians to make the statue of Minerva rather of marble than of ivory, 1. Because more durable (this passed with allowance), 2. Because less chargeable, at the mention hereof, with infinite indignation, they commanded him silence. Pliny tells us of Alexander the Great, that when, as being yet a youth, he cast great store

Micah 7:14 — the Jewish synagogue) that Christ (the chief shepherd) would do all good offices for his poor people, feeding them with his rod, that is, with his word and Spirit, guiding them with his eye, Psalms 32:8 , leading them in the way everlasting, Psalms 139:24 , lest, seduced by their own lusts, or other men’s evil lives, they should any way miscarry. The flock of thine heritage — Those poor of the flock, Zechariah 11:7 , that hear his voice and follow him, John 10:3-5 ; John 10:27 , being

Micah 7:4 — brier: the most upright [is sharper] than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen [and] thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. The best of them is as a brier — Which a man cannot handle without harm. See 2 Samuel 23:6 Psalms 55:21 ; Psalms 58:10 Ezekiel 2:6 Matthew 7:16 ; Matthew 13:7 ; Matthew 13:22 ; so, you cannot deal with them without danger; guilt, or grief you shall be sure of. Lot felt it so at Sodom, 2 Peter 2:7-8 , and so did those that set up that bramble Abimelech

Micah 7:5 — confidence in a guide — Potenti et pollenti consilio et auxilio. Be he never so potent or politic, beyond thousand others, as the word importeth: and as the people said to David, "But now thou art worth ten thousand of us," 2 Samuel 18:3 , thou art the light of Israel, thou art the breath of our nostrils; so that if thou miscarry, we shall all breathe out our last. All which notwithstanding, princes are not to be trusted, Psalms 62:7 ; Psalms 118:8-9 ; Psalms 146:3 , for either they

Nahum 2:13 — from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard. Behold, I am against thee — Ecce me conira te (Hoc ecce non excitat mode sed perterrefacit ). Behold, I, who am of myself a whole army of men, van and rear both, Isaiah 52:12 . I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts ( Deus serierum ) God of order, who have all creatures at command, if need were, as auxiliaries; and can arm your forces against you, sheath your own swords in your own bowels. Woe be to those that have

Nahum 3:4 — et famosa, fair and famous, but foolish and filthy. Meretrix meretricissima; she multiplied her whoredoms, both corporal and spiritual; for these are seldom sundered; as we see in that once well favoured, but now withered, whore of Rome, Revelation 17:1 . Roma inverted is amor ; preposterous love, unnatural filthiness, is there as commonly practised as idolatry. And as a common harlot paints and decks herseff to please her lovers, so did Nineveh, so doth Rome in her pompous and men-pleasing worships.

Habakkuk 2:13 — shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? Behold, is it not of the Lord of hosts that the people shall labour in the fire — Labour in vain to quench the fire, wherewith Babylon shall be burnt, Jeremiah 51:58 . Or have laboured to no purpose in building that city and enlarging that empire, which now God will have down. Is it not evident, that they have lost oleum et operam, oil and work, yea, hazarded their own lives, as those do that strive against a

Zephaniah 3:19 — Ezekiel 36:22 ; Ezekiel 36:32: your unworthiness shall serve for a foil to set forth the freeness of my love; your unlikeliness the greatness of my power; "my grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is perfected in thy weakness," 2 Corinthians 12:9 . Again, look not to thine enemies, how many and mighty they are, how witty and wealthy, how active and combined ( loricatus incedit Satan et cataphractus, saith Luther), let thine eyes be upon me, as Jehoshaphat’s were, when he knew not whither

Zephaniah 3:5 — A reverend and religious man had this written before his eyes in his study. He will not do iniquity — i.e. He will not let enormities go unpunished, nor pass by the infirmities of his people without a sensible check, Psalms 99:8 . See Habakkuk 1:13 . Every morning doth he bring his judgment to light — Daily and diligently doth he both threaten by his prophets and execute with his hand the menaces of his mouth upon those that will not be warned, that refuse to be reformed. He hath in a

Haggai 2:2 — Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, Speak now to Zerubbabel, … — The better to hearten them on in the work, the prophet is sent again to them, with a like message as before. Note here, 1. That there are none so forward for God and his work but may stand in need of continual quickening; there being more snares and backbiting earth than there are stars in heaven; and the good gift of God having so much need of righting up; for, like a

Zechariah 12:6 — for his pleasure’s sake, set Rome on fire, among other stately buildings that were quickly burnt down, the circus or race yard was one, being about half a mile in length, of an oval form, with rows of seats one above another, capable of at least 150,000 spectators, without uncivil shoulderings. "As the fire burneth a wood; and as the flame setteth the mountains on fire; so persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm," saith the Church, Psalms 83:14-15 . Thus

Zechariah 14:10 — blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellence of our God," Isaiah 35:1-2 . The prophet here showeth that all the land shall be inhabited, from one end unto another; from Geba, the northern confines, to Rimmon, the southborder, Joshua 15:32 ; Joshua 15:57 . And from Benjamin’s gate unto the place of the first (or

Zechariah 2:8 — the nations, for it is a sending in judgment; and perhaps against either the Chaldeans, destroyed by the Persians, See Trapp on " Zechariah 2:7 " or the Persians, afterwards destroyed by the Grecians and by Alexander the Great, see Isaiah 33:1 . Now, whereas some object that Christ is here said to be sent by his Father, and this seems to import an inferiority; it is answered: First, that two equals by mutual consent may send one another. Mission doth not always import inequality. Secondly,

Zechariah 3:3 — righteousnesses are as filthy rags," Isaiah 64:6 . And that of Job, "If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean, shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall make me to be abhorred," Job 9:30-31 . This is the same in effect with that of Paul, "I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord," 1 Corinthians 4:5 ; who, when he comes to turn up the bottom of the bag, as the steward did Benjamin’s

Zechariah 4:10 — the hand of Zerubbabel [with] those seven; they [are] the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth. For who hath despised the day of small things? — Nay, who had not? The generality of the Jews were clearly guilty, Ezra 8:13 , and are therefore here justly, reproved. As Naaman once looked on God’s Jordan with Syrian eyes, and so slighted the notion of washing therein; so these distrustful Jews despised the small beginnings of this great work, and the little likelihood

Zechariah 5:6 — But when the oppressors be named, and the Jews plainly described the people whom God defendeth, then the eighth chapter and all after he writes in Hebrew (a tongue less known and studied), and hath commandment to keep close the plain exposition Daniel 12:4 . There is a great deal of wisdom required of those that are intrusted with the dispensation of divine truths. Our Saviour spake as the people could hear, and not as he could have spoken. See Hebrews 5:11-12 . This is an ephah that goeth forth —