look toward thee, nor see thee." 2 Kings 3:14. Thus was the wicked
vile in his sight; thus did he not flatter the ungodly. In like
manner godly Mordecai, the Jew, having Haman the ambitious and proud
Agagite in contempt, would in no wise bow the knee unto him in sign
of honour, as the rest of the people did; for which cause he was
extremely hated, menaced, and molested of proud and wicked Haman. To
wink at their wickedness, to uphold them in their iniquity, to fawn
upon them and flatter them, to praise them when they deserve just
reproof, is, as it were, an honouring of them; to which, as to a most
grievous sin, the prophet denounces a most bitter curse: "Woe unto
them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light,
and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for
bitter!" Isaiah 5:20. Richard Turnbull.
Verse 4. "In whose eyes a vile person is contemned." To
contemn the wicked and honour the godly, are opposite the one
to the other. But the former may seem not to be sufficiently
beseeming to a godly man. For why should he contemn or despise
others, who is commanded by all means to care for the credit of
others, as we heard even now? Nay, a godly man, letting others go,
ought to search into himself, and to accuse himself, but not to judge
of others. But this saying of the prophet is to be understood rather
of the faults than of the person. As every man therefore is to be
loved, so are the faults of every man to ne hated of the godly. For
so is God himself, whom we desire to be like unto, that we might
dwell with him, affected and disposed. For why? he hateth no man,
nay, he hateth nothing at all in this whole universal world, but only
sin. For he is the author and preserver of all things that be; and
therefore doth good and wisheth well to all; only of sin he is not
the author, but the free and unconstrained will of man and Satan.
Notwithstanding God doth so greatly hate sin, that by reason thereof
he doth sometimes neglect and forsake men, yea, and have them in
contempt. So then a godly man, nor contemneth any; but yet
notwithstanding he disliketh sin in sinful men, and that he sticketh
not to let them perceive either by reproving them, or shunning their
company, or by doing of some other thing, whereby they may know they
are misliked of good men for their enormities, and see themselves to
be contemned of others for their wicked and ungodly life. A good man
therefore must not flatter the ungodly in their ungracious attempts,
but must freely declare that he disalloweth their course and
conversation. Peter Baro.
Verse 4. "In whose eyes a vile person is contemned."
Augustine, as Posidonius writeth, showing what hatred he had to
tale-bearers and false reporters of others, had two verses written
over his table; by translation these:
"He that doth love with bitter speech the absent to
defame,
Must surely know that at this board no place is for the same."
Richard Turnbull.
Verse 4. "In whose eyes a vile person is contemned."
The burgess of the New Jerusalem, reprobos reprobat, et probos
probat; he cannot flatter any man, nor fancy such as in whom he
findeth not aliquid Christi, something of the image of God. A
golden Colosse, stuffed with rubbish, he cannot stoop to, "But he
honoureth them that fear the Lord," as the only earthly angels,
though never so mean and despicable in the world's eye. Mr. Fox,
being asked whether he remembered not such a poor servant of God who
had received succour from him in time of trouble? answered, "I
remember him well; I tell you, I forget the lords and ladies, to
remember such." John Trapp.
Verse 4. "He honoureth them that fear the Lord." Though
the godly some way or other be injurious unto us, we ought
nevertheless to honour and not to despise them. So Joseph did Mary,
though he supposed her to have dealt injuriously with him; and she
had done so, indeed, if it had been with her as he imagined. Calvin's
resolution concerning Luther was very admirable in this respect. They
differed much about the presence of Christ in the sacrament; and
Luther being of a vehement spirit, wrote bitterly against those who
did hold otherwise in that point than himself did. This enforced
some, who were more nearly concerned in the business, to prepare to
answer Luther; which Calvin understanding, and fearing lest they
being provoked by Luther's tartness, should deal with him in the like
kind, he wrote unto Bullinger, a prime man among them, persuading and
exhorting him to carry the business so as to show all due respect
unto Luther, considering what worth and excellency there was in him,
however he had demeaned himself in that particular. And he adds, that
he often used to say, that although Luther should call him devil, yet
he would do him that honour, to acknowledge him a choice servant of
God. Christopher Cartwright.
Verse 4. "He honoureth them that fear the Lord." I have
read of one that said, If he should meet a preacher and an angel
together, he would first salute the preacher and then the angel.
Charles Bradbury's "Cabinet of Jewels," 1785.
Verse 4. "He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth
not."
"His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles;
His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate;
His tears pure messengers, sent from his heart;
His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth."
William Shakspere.
Verse 5. The Puritanic divines are almost all of them against
the taking of any interest upon money, and go to the length of saying
that one penny per cent. per annum will shut a man out of heaven if
persisted in. It appeared to me to be useless to quote opinions in
which I cannot agree, especially as this would occupy space better
employed. The demanding of excessive and grinding interest is a sin
to be detested; the taking of the usual and current interest in a
commercial country is not contrary to the law of love. The Jews were
not engaged in commerce, and to lend money even at the lowest
interest to their fellow farmers in times of poverty would have been
usurious; but they might lend to strangers, who would usually be
occupied in commerce, because in the commercial world, money is a
fruitful thing, and the lender has a right to a part of its products;
a loan to enable a non-trader to live over a season of want is quite
another matter. C. H. S.
Verse 5. "He that putteth not out his money to usury."
By usury is generally understood the gain of anything above the
principal, or that which was lent, exacted only in consideration of
the loan, whether it be in money, corn, wares, or the like. It is
most commonly taken for an unlawful profit which a person makes of
his money or goods. The Hebrew word for usury signifies biting. The
law of God prohibits rigorous imposing conditions of gain for the
loan of money or goods, and exacting them without respect to the
condition of the borrower, whether he gain or lose; whether poverty
occasioned his borrowing, or a visible prospect of gain by employing
the borrowed goods. It is said in Exodus 22:25, 26, "If thou lend
money to any of my people that is poor by thee, thou shalt not be to
him an usurer , neither shalt thou lay upon him usury,"
etc. And in Leviticus 25:35, 36, 37, "If thy brother be waxen poor,
and fallen into decay with thee, then thou shalt relieve him; yea,
though he be a stranger, or a sojourner, that he may live with thee:
take thou no usury of him," etc. This law forbids the taking
usury from a brother that was poor, an Israelite reduced to
poverty, or from a proselyte; but in Deuteronomy 23:20, God seems to
tolerate usury towards strangers; "Unto a stranger thou mayest
lend upon usury." By strangers , in this passage, some
understand the Gentiles in general, or all such as were not Jews,
excepting proselytes. Others think that by strangers are meant
the Canaanites, and the other people that were devoted to slavery and
subjection; of these the Hebrews were permitted to exact
usury, but not of such strangers with whom they had no
quarrel, and against whom the Lord had not denounced his judgments.
The Hebrews were plainly commanded in Exodus 22:25, etc., not to
receive usury for money from any that borrowed from necessity,
as in that case in Nehemiah 5:5, 7. And such provision the law made
for the preserving of estates to their families by the year of
jubilee; for a people that had little concern in trade, could not be
supposed to borrow money but out of necessity: but they were allowed
to lend upon usury to strangers, whom yet they must not
oppress. This law, therefore, in the strictness of it, it obligeth us
to show mercy to those we have advantage against, and to be content
to share with those we lend to in loss, as well as profit, if
Providence cross them. And upon this condition, a valuable
commentator says, It seems as lawful for me to receive interest for
money, which another takes pains with, improves, but runs the hazard
of in trade, as it is to receive rent for my land, which another
takes pains with, improves, but runs the hazard of in husbandry."
Alexander Cruden, 1701-1770.
Verse 5. "He that putteth not out his money to usury." "If
thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee." Exodus
22:25. Rather, according to the letter of the original, "If thou lend
money to my people, even to a poor man with thee." The Israelites
were a people but little engaged in commerce, and therefore could not
in general be supposed to borrow money but from sheer necessity; and
of that necessity the lender was not to take advantage by usurious
exactions. The law is not to be understood as a prohibition of
interest at any rate whatever, but of excessive interest or usury.
The clause, "Thou shalt not be to him as an usurer," is equivalent to
saying, 'Thou shalt not domineer and lord it over him rigorously and
cruelly.' That this class of men were peculiarly to be extortionate
and oppressive in their dealings with debtors would seem to be
implied by the etymology of the original term for usury (Heb.
neshek ), which comes from a root signifying to bite;
and in Nehemiah 5:2-5, we have a remarkable case of the bitter and
grinding effects resulting from the creditor's rights over the
debtor. A large portion of the people had not only mortgaged their
lands, vineyards, and houses, but had actually sold their sons and
daughters into bondage, to satisfy the claims of their grasping
creditors. In this emergency Nehemiah espoused the cause of the poor,
and compelled the rich, against whom he called the people together,
to remit the whole of their dues; and, moreover, exacted from them an
oath that they would never afterwards oppress their poor brethren for
the payment of those debts. This was not because every part of those
proceedings had been contrary to the letter of the Mosaic law, but
because it was a flagrant breach of equity under the circumstances.
It was taking a cruel and barbarous advantage of the necessities of
their brethren, at which God was highly indignant, and which his
servants properly rebuked. From this law the Hebrew canonists have
gathered a general rule, that "Whoso exacteth of a poor man, and
knoweth that he hath not aught to pay him, he transgresseth against
this prohibition, Thou shalt not be to him as an exacting creditor."