Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

was betwixt them and the men of Judah, fell off from their lawful king, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri.

XX. 18 Then she spake, saying, They were wont to speak in old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel at Abel and so they ended the matter.

:

They said in the beginning of this war; Surely they will treat with the men of Abel, for peace, according to the charge which God hath given in his Law; which if you had done, this business had been at an end.

XXI. 2 And Saul sought to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.

And Saul thought to slay the Gibeonites, in a misgrounded zeal to the children of Israel and Judah; in that he desired to free the land of all that were strangers in blood, according to the misapplied charge which they had of old received from God; and to put it clearly into the hands of the Israelites.

XXII. 8 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.

God did by manifest tokens declare his power, and his gracious will, to deliver me; and to avenge mine enemies: he caused the earth therefore to tremble and shake; and the very heavens seemed to be moved, in the sense of his heavy displeasure against my ad

versaries.

XXII. 9 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

He gave testimonies of his fury and indignation against mine enemies so vehement was his wrath, that even smoke seemed, to speak after the manner of men, to come out of his nostrils; and so hot a fire out of his mouth, that even coals were kindled by it. XXII. 10 He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.

This lower part of the heaven was so affected, as if God had, in the demonstration of his power, come down into it; and, if we may describe him by our weak human representations, under his feet, in the lowest region of his air, there was a palpable darkness. XXII. 11 He rode upon a cherub, and did fly: 'and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.

He used the ministration of his angels and of his winds, to exhibit his powerful presence unto men; and in them was his mighty power acknowledged.

XXII. 12 He made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.

And, as we men are wont by tents and pavilions to shelter ourselves from the view of others, so did he cast darkness and thick clouds round about the place of his appearance.

XXII. 13 Through the brightness before him were coals of fire

kindled.

Then the Lord sent abroad his flashes of lightnings, with the flames whereof much combustible matter was consumed.

XXII. 15 He sent out arrows.

He sent out his thunderbolts out of his clouds, as arrows from his bow.

XXII. 17 He drew me out of many waters.

He delivered me from many troubles and persecutions, which, as some deep and violent waters, would have drowned me.

XXII. 24 I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity.

I was sound and sincere in my intentions and carriages before him; and have, by his grace, kept myself free from giving full scope to those sins, whereto I am inclined.

XXII. 25 The LORD hath recompensed me according to my righ

teousness.

Therefore the Lord, who hath graciously wrought this sincerity in me, will crown his own work; and will deal with me according to my righteousness.

XXII. 26 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, &c. O Lord, thou art such to men, as they do approve themselves to thee; with the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, &c.

XXII. 27 And with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavory. With those that are wicked and walk perversely in their evil ways, thou wilt deal severely; and by thy heavy judgments wilt let them feel the weight of thy displeasure.

XXII. 30 For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.

By thy power I have broken through the troops of my enemies, and have discomfited the Moabites, and Ammonites, and Philistines, and other my professed adversaries; and, when they have betaken themselves to their strong forts, by thy help I have scaled and won them.

XXII. 34 He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places.

Thou hast given me agility of body, and quickness of motion to surprise mine enemies unexpectedly, and hast by this means settled me in the possession of their strongest holds.

XXII. 46 Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places.

Those strangers, which, for fear, have dissembled their submission to me, are ready, upon every occasion, to fall off from me; but when they have thus revolted, they shall be stricken with fear of me, even in their most retired and defenced places.

XXIII. 3 The Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just.

He, that is the sure refuge and defence of Israel, hath said of me, to Samuel his prophet, that I, whom my God hath appointed to rule over Israel, should be upright and just in my government.

XXIII. 5 Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant.

Although I have not in every point been answerable to that, which God hath required of me, and foretold concerning me, yet, in his great mercy, he hath made an everlasting covenant with me.

XXIII. 17 Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives?

Is not this water purchased with the extreme hazard of the blood and life of those men, which went to fetch it?

XXIV. 1 And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. See 1 Chron, xxi, 1,

After God was appeased for his former displeasure, and had taken away the famine from Israel, God was again moved to anger, by the sins of Israel; and thereupon he left David to himself; and gave power unto Satan, to suggest unto David thoughts of presumption, stirring him up to number the people of Israel and Judah; that he might raise unto his own heart a proud confidence in his own strength.

XXIV. 16 The LORD repented him of the evil, &c.

The Lord did, as men do when they repent them of what they have done, inhibit any further proceedings of that plague. XXIV. 23 All these did Araunah, as a king give.

All these did Araunah, in a bountiful and royal manner, offer to give unto king David.

I. KINGS.

I. 11. That Adonijah doth reign.

That Adonijah hath plotted for the kingdom; and hath, in a sort, possessed himself of it.

I. 50 And Adonijah arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar.

And Adonijah, which had not the grace to consult with God in his challenge of the crown of Israel, now, through fear, had recourse to the altar of God; as thinking, under the protection thereof, to avoid that death, which by his usurpation he had de

served.

II. 5 And shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet.

How, in a profession of peace, he did, after a hostile manner, shed the blood of two noble captains, Abner and Amasa; and put up his sword, all bloody, into his sheath; and walked with his feet distained with innocent blood, in a bold and careless fashion, thinking to bear out his hateful murder.

II. 9 Hold him not guiltless.

Take thou all advantages, to let him feel how heinously he hath offended; and proceed against him, upon any other just pretence. II. 22 Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is mine elder brother; even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.

Adonijah bath already the advantage of age, for he is my elder brother; and of the guard and strength of soldiery, for Joab is joined to him; and of the countenance of the priesthood, for Abiathar is for him; and now, what wants he but a match with the king's own bed-fellow? yield him this, and I, by that wisdom, wherewith God hath endued me, know well, that his next step will be into the throne.

II. 31 Do as he hath said, and fall upon him, &c.

Since he will needs die there, there let him die; for the Law of God doth not allow any protection for wilful murder, from his own tabernacle or altar: rather he defiles the altar, than the altar can assure him.

III. 1 And took Pharaoh's daughter, &c.

And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh, king of Egypt; and took Pharaoh's daughter to wife, upon her yielded conformity to that holy religion, which he professed.

III. 2 Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until those days.

In the mean time, till the house of God was finished, wise and holy Solomon would not allow the people to sacrifice any other where, than in those high places, which his father had consecrated; that is, in Gibeon, where was the Tabernacle, and in Jerusalem, where the ark was.

IV. 21 From the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt.

From the famous river Euphrates, unto the land of the Philistines; and from thence, unto the borders of Egypt.

IV. 30 And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. Whereas, those of the East and of Egypt were famous above all the world, for the fame of their wisdom, and knowledge of all the secrets of nature, of the motions of the heavens, and of the virtues and operations of all plants, and of the qualities of all sensitive creatures; Solomon exceeded them all, in all these kinds.

IV. 32 He spake three thousand proverbs.

He spake three thousand wise sentences; out of which are collected those, which, in the book of his Proverbs, are reserved to the use of posterity, as the sacred monuments of a divine wisdom.

IV. 33 And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall. Out of that divine illumination, which was given to him from above, he discoursed of all plants, from the tallest cedar to the very hyssop, or moss, that grows upon the wall.

V. 4 There is neither adversary nor evil occurrent.

There is neither any public enemy, nor any cross accident, that might hinder this holy work of building a temple to the Lord.

VI. 1 In the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month.

So great a work could not be suddenly done: there must be a just time for the gathering of all the materials; for felling, hewing, seasoning of the timber, In the fourth year therefore of his reign, did Solomon begin this magnificent structure of the Temple; and in the second month, which, by God's own computation, was the month of April.

VI. 4 And for the house he made windows of narrow lights. And for the Temple he made windows, narrow without and large within, for the more clear transmitting of the light into all the parts of the house.

VI. 30 And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without.

And the floor of the Temple he overlaid with gold; not only in that part which was within the partition of the oracle or Holy of Holies, but in the outer part thereof also.

VI. 38 In the month Bul,

In the month of October.

VII. 21 And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz. To figure out the firmness and stability of his Church for ever, he erected two brazen pillars in the porch of the Temple; and called the one, God shall establish, and the other, In it is strength, implying, both what invincible strength the Church of God should have, and whence it should be received.

VII, 23 And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other.

And he made a large and vast vessel of brass, for the use of their manifold washings, which seemed like to some spacious pond or sea, for the quantity of water which it contained: the wideness whereof was ten cubits, from the one side to the other.

VII, 26 It contained two thousand baths.

It contained two thousand of those measures, whereof every one held six gallons of our account.

VIII. 9 There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone. Within the ark under the cover thereof, there was nothing but the two tables of the Law; but on the verge of the ark, were Aaron's blossomed rod and the pot of manna reserved.

VIII. 12 The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. The Lord hath said, that the thick cloud in his most Holy Place should be the testimony of his presence there.

VIII. 31 If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an

« VorigeDoorgaan »