thy master's wives; both the persons and houses and substance, that pertained to Saul, to be at thy disposing.

XII. 17. The elders of his house.

The chief officers of his house.

XII. 25. And he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD. And he called his name Jedidiah, Beloved of God, because of that gracious word of promise and acceptance, which the Lord had formerly spoken concerning him. 2 Sam. vii. 14, 15, &c.

XII. 31. And put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln. And he put them to very sore and painful deaths, upon the command of God; causing them to be sawn to death, and to be torn with harrows of iron, and hewn with axes; and, as they had been guilty of burning their children in the fire to Molech, so he caused them to be used, burning them in the brick-kiln.

XIII. 13. Thou shalt be as one of the fools in Israel.

Every one that hears it will condemn thee of great wickedness and folly; in that, by this lewd act, thou wilt cast thyself out of the likelihood of succeeding in the kingdom of Israel.

XIII. 20. He is thy brother; regard not this thing.

He is thy brother, and therefore, though he, of all other, should not have done this villany to thee; yet, since he hath done it, have thou so much respect to the honour of our blood and family, as not to prosecute it against him.

XIV. 9. My lord, O king, the iniquity be on me, and on my father's house and the king and his throne be guiltless.

:

If there be ought amiss, in forbearing to execute revenge upon the offender, I take it wholly upon myself; thou, O king, and thy throne shall be herein guiltless.

XIV. 14. For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; [because God hath not taken away his life, he hath also devised means,] that his banished be not expelled from him.

Our very life consists in his, and we are utterly lost if such a hope of succession be rigorously cut off; which, it is a sign that God would have continued, in that he hath not, all this while of his banishment, taken him away, but hath now made this means unto thee for his restoring.

XIV. 26. After the king's shekel.

According to the ordinary weight of the shekel, in civil use of trade; every shekel weighing two drams and sixteen grains.

XV. 19. Abide thou with the king.

Abide thou with this king that would be; this usurper Absalom. So also verse 35.

XVI. 10. So let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto him, curse David.

The Lord hath, for my trial and affliction, thought good to make use of this man's tongue, to revile and curse me; which, though it be a sin, in this wicked man, yet it is most wisely and justly ordered of God, for my humiliation, and exercise of my patience.

XVI. 12. It may be that the LORD will look on mine affliction, and that the LORD will requite me good for his cursing this day.

It may be, that the Lord will have pity upon my sorrow and aggravated affliction; and will graciously reward my patient suffering with a blessing, instead of those curses which are thrown at me this day.

XVI. 23. Was as if a man had enquired at the oracle of God. The counsel of Ahitophel was held so wise, so certain, so successful, as if it had come from the very oracle of God.

XVII. 3. The man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.

It is but one man, whom thou seekest: if he were taken away, which I shall this night undertake to do, all will be quiet; all the people will return to thee in peace.

XVII. 9. When some of them be overthrown at the first, that whosoever heareth it will say, &c.

When some of thy men shall be discomfited in the first encounter, the rest will be, with the noise thereof, disheartened.

XVII. 23. Home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself.

He returned home, and made his will; and, as one that took care for all things, save his soul, when that was done, hanged himself.

XVIII. 8. And the wood devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.

And the wood, by reason of the thickets and ditches and pits that were in it, was the occasion, that more were slain, than could have been slain in an open field, upon a clear pursuit, by the sword of the enemy.

XVIII. 9. And his head caught hold of the oak, and he was taken up between the heaven and the earth; and the mule that was under him went away.

And his head was caught fast within the grains of a spreading oak; and thus, his mule running from under him, he was hanged betwixt heaven and earth.

XVIII. 18. For he said, I have no son to keep my name in remembrance: and he called the pillar after his own name.

For he said; Those two sons which I had are now dead, and

I have no means to keep a remembrance of my name; this pillar therefore shall remain for a monument of me.

XIX. 13. And say ye to Amasa, Art thou not of my bone, and of my flesh? God do so to me, and more also, if thou be not captain of the host before me continually, in the room of Joab.

Go, say to Amasa, Art not thou my near kinsman, my sister's son; of the same flesh and blood with me? As I look for any favour from God, or would avoid his heaviest judgments, my full purpose and resolution is, that thou shalt be the general of all my forces, during thy life, in the stead of Joab; whom, upon the just reason of his murders and insolency, I have decreed to discard.

XIX. 22. Do not I know that I am this day king over Israel? Do not I know, that this is the day, wherein I am restored unto and settled in the kingdom of Israel?

XIX. 29. Why speakest thou any more of thy matters? I have said, Thou and Ziba divide the land.

Trouble not thyself about these matters. I have, in my first sentence, set an order in these affairs, which I do still decree to make good; That Ziba should till and husband those lands to thy use, so as he may receive one moiety of the profits for his labour, and the rest may accrue unto thee, whom I have made the Lord of them.

XX. 2. So every man of Israel went up from after David, and followed Sheba the son of Bichri.

So the men of Israel, taking advantage of that emulation which 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 adversaries.

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.

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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 lightning, 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 righteousness.

Therefore the Lord, who hath graciously wrought this sin

cerity in me, will crown his own work; and will deal with me according to my righteousness.

&c.

XXII. 26. With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful,

O Lord, thou art such to men, as they do approve themselves to thee; with the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful, &c. XXII. 27. And with the froward thou wilt show thyself un

savoury.

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