Voices and influences
John Gill
The self-taught Baptist Hebraist who pastored one London congregation for fifty-one years and wrote a comment on every verse in the Bible.
Summary
This site quotes John Gill 5,991 times across 66 books, and lists 0 works.
- Lived 1697 to 1771.
- Quoted here most in Psalms: 639 of 5,991.
John Gill
- Lived
- 1697 to 1771
- Tradition
- Reformed Baptist
5 of 5,991 quotations
Own words
Quoted in full, because John Gill died in 1771 and these works are out of copyright. Each citation below names its edition and its year. A citation naming a modernised text means that edition makes its own editorial changes, and that edition's terms are not in this site's record.
A bruised reed shall he not break,.... Various are the thoughts of interpreters, about what is meant by this, and by the smoking flax shall he not quench.
Undated in the archive this site cites.
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Some think the Scribes and Pharisees are designed, whose power Christ could easily crush, and their wrath and fury restrain, but would not, till the time of his vengeance was come. Others that the publicans and sinners are intended, of whose conversion and salvation there were more hope than of the Scribes and Pharisees; and which Christ greatly sought after, and therefore cherished and encouraged them in his ministry and conversation.
Matthew 12:20 A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish, till He leads justice to victory. BSB
And Cain talked with Abel,.... Or "said", or "spoke unto" him (l); either what the Lord God said to him in the foregoing verses, as Aben Ezra; or he spoke to him in a kind and friendly manner, and thereby got him to take a…
Undated in the archive this site cites.
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walk in the field with him.
Genesis 4:8 Then Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let us go out to the field.” And while they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. BSB
And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace offering unto the Lord,.... This, as Ben Gersom observes, is distinguished from a burnt offering; for though it was to be perfect, and without blemish, yet not obliged to be a male as that, Lev 3:
Undated in the archive this site cites.
Leviticus 22:21 When a man presents a peace offering to the LORD from the herd or flock to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without blemish or defect to be acceptable. BSB
So David and Abishai came to the people by night,.... Josephus (l) wrongly says, that he took with him both Abishai and Ahimelech; he chose to have but one, for the greater secrecy.
Undated in the archive this site cites.
1 Samuel 26:7 That night David and Abishai came to the troops, and Saul was lying there asleep in the inner circle of the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. And Abner and the troops were lying around him. BSB
Therefore, behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam,.... Calamities, destruction, and ruin: and will cut off from Jeroboam him that pisseth against the wall; not leave a dog of his, or rather a male, see 1Sa 25:22.
Undated in the archive this site cites.
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and him that is shut up and left in Israel; in garrisons or in prisons, in cities or in fields, or in whatsoever situation or circumstances they may be.
1 Kings 14:10 Because of all this, behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both slave and free, in Israel; I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns up dung until it is gone! BSB
Influence, on the record
This site quotes John Gill 5,991 times across 66 books.
This site’s own count of what it does with the voice
The life, in order
The life told as one accountfrom this site's record
John Gill was born at Kettering in Northamptonshire on November 23, 1697, the son of a wool merchant who served as a deacon in the dissenting congregation there. Because the family were Nonconformists, the local grammar school effectively closed to him around the age of eleven. So he taught himself. What he taught himself was languages. He worked through Latin and Greek on his own, then Hebrew — and then kept going, into the Targums, the Talmud, and the medieval rabbis. Almost no English Christian of his century read Jewish sources as widely as Gill did, and he read them in the original. He was baptized in 1716, began preaching, and in 1719 was called to a small Particular Baptist congregation at Horsleydown in Southwark, south London. He stayed fifty-one years, until his death. That pulpit had a long life ahead of it: the congregation later moved and eventually became the church that called Charles Spurgeon a century afterward, and Spurgeon spoke of Gill as one of his predecessors. The work he is remembered for is the commentary. Gill wrote an exposition of the entire Bible, verse by verse, book by book — the New Testament first, in three volumes (1746–1748), then the Old Testament in six (1748–1763). It was the first complete verse-by-verse commentary on the whole Bible written by a Baptist, and it is thick with rabbinic material nobody else was bringing to English readers. He also wrote The Cause of God and Truth (1735–1738), a four-part defense of Calvinist doctrine against the Arminian arguments of Daniel Whitby, and late in life A Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity (1767–1770), the first full systematic theology produced by an English Baptist. The University of Aberdeen gave him a doctorate in divinity in 1748; he remarked that he had neither asked for it nor deserved it. His theology was high Calvinism, and he pressed it further than most. Gill held to eternal justification and was reluctant to make a free offer of Christ to all who heard him — a position later called hyper-Calvinism, and one that Andrew Fuller and then Spurgeon worked hard to undo among the Baptists. Historians still argue about exactly how far he went. Robert Hall's jab has followed the commentary ever since: it was, he said, a continent of mud. But the mud kept getting reprinted. Augustus Toplady defended him fiercely. Spurgeon kept him on the shelf and praised his learning in Commenting and Commentaries, while rejecting outright his restraint about inviting sinners to come. He preached his last sermon in 1771 and died at Camberwell on October 14 of that year, aged seventy-three. Fifty-one years in one pulpit, a comment on every verse in the Bible, and a body of theology his own denomination has been arguing with ever since. Sources: John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments and A Body of Doctrinal and Practical Divinity; John Rippon, A Brief Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Late Rev. John Gill, D.D.; C. H. Spurgeon, Commenting and Commentaries; Timothy George and David Dockery, eds., Baptist Theologians.
5,991 quotations across 66 books
Where this voice is quoted
For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry.
“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,.... Or divination (e), in whatsoever way it was exercised; for there were various sorts of it among the Heathens, and all condemned by the law of God, Deu 18:”
“I will not return with you,” Samuel replied. “For you have rejected the word of the LORD, and He has rejected you as king over Israel.”
“And Samuel said unto Saul, I will not return with thee,.... Not being satisfied with his repentance and confession, he still extenuating his sin, and laying the blame of it on the people.”
As Samuel turned to go, Saul grabbed the hem of his robe, and it tore.
“And as Samuel turned about to go away,.... From Saul, a different way from Gilgal, perhaps towards his own city Ramah, with an intention to have nothing more to say to Saul, or to do with him, or to see his face no more; so…”
Then Samuel went to Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul.
“Then Samuel went to Ramah,.... His native place, and where was his usual residence: and Saul went up to his house to Gibeah of Saul; which was also his birth place, and where was his father's house, and where he had his palace, and kept…”
When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and said, “Surely here before the LORD is His anointed.”
“And it came to pass, when they were come,.... Jesse and his sons, into the house where the entertainment was; and perhaps before they sat down, went into a private apartment by the direction of Samuel, where he acquainted Jesse with the business he came…”
Then Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel, who said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.”
“Then Jesse called Abinadab,.... His second son, 1Sa 17:13. and made him pass before Samuel: that he might take a full view of him: and he said, neither hath the Lord chosen this; which he knew by a private suggestion from him.”
Next Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.”
“Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by,.... His third son, 1Sa 17:13, sometimes called Shimma, and Shimeah, 1Ch 2:13. and he said, neither hath the Lord chosen this; which he knew in the same way as before.”
Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel told him, “The LORD has not chosen any of these.”
“Again Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel,.... Not seven more, for he had but eight sons in all with David, 1Sa 17:12 but four more, which with the other three made seven; three of these four are mentioned by name, Nathanael, Raddai…”
Saul’s servants said to him, “Surely a spirit of distress from God is tormenting you.
“And Saul's servants said unto him,.... His courtiers, who observing him to act in a frantic manner, to be dull and melancholy, timorous, and irresolute, unsteady, divided, and distressed; or his physicians, who were called in to assist him, and remove his disorder from him…”
The Philistines stood on one hill and the Israelites stood on another, with the valley between them.
“And the Philistines stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain on the other side, Before the Israelites are said to encamp in or by the valley; but here they are said to take the higher ground, and face…”
If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will be your servants.
“If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants,.... For which it does not appear he had any commission or authority to say; nor did the Philistines think themselves obliged to abide by what he said…”
but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.
“But David went, and returned from Saul,.... Or "from above Saul"; Josephus (u) says, the physicians of Saul advised to get a man to stand υπερ κεφαλνς, "over his head", and sing psalms and hymns to him; and Saul being recovered from his frenzy and…”
For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening to take his stand.
“And the Philistine drew near morning and evening,.... Twice a day he came near the camp, within the hearing of it. The Jews (w) say, he took those seasons on purpose to disturb them in reading their "Shema", or "hear, O Israel", &c.”
And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him!”
“And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him,.... The Philistine, though so gigantic, mighty, and blustering: this he said within himself, so Kimchi; as David perceived the hearts of most, if not all, did, since none dared to go out…”
Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.
“So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone,.... And with them only, without any other warlike weapon: and smote the Philistine, and slew him; smote him with the stone, which brought him to the ground, and then slew him with…”
“Whose son are you, young man?” asked Saul. “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David replied.
“And Saul said unto him, whose son art thou, thou young man?.... Still the question was such as did not necessarily imply ignorance of his person, but of his family: and David answered, I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite; which doubtless…”
and he continued to prosper in all his ways, because the LORD was with him.
“And David behaved himself wisely in all his ways,.... Both in the court and in the camp, in whatsoever service he was employed; or "prospered" (u), as the word also signifies; for, generally speaking, those that behave wisely succeed well; in this he was a…”
But all Israel and Judah loved David, because he was leading them out to battle and back.
“And all Israel and Judah loved David,.... The verb is singular, and denotes that everyone of them loved him in all the tribes of Israel, as well as in Judah his own tribe; in such general esteem was he, and so much had he got…”
“I will give her to David,” Saul thought, “so that she may be a snare to him, and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.”
“And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him,.... The cause and occasion of his fall and ruin, by means of what he should propose to him as the condition of marriage; but instead of proving a snare…”
he grew even more afraid of David. So from then on Saul was David’s enemy.
“And Saul was yet the more afraid of David,.... Because the Lord was with him, and his wife loved him; so that he feared he should never be able to accomplish his designs, and that this marriage, which he intended as the means of his…”
So Michal lowered David from the window, and he ran away and escaped.
“So Michal let David down through a window,.... In like manner as Rahab let down the spies from her house in Jericho, when the king's messengers were in quest of them, Jos 2:15; and as the disciples let down the Apostle Paul at Damascus, to…”
Then Michal took a household idol and laid it in the bed, placed some goat hair on its head, and covered it with a garment.
“And Michal took an image,.... Or "teraphim", as the word is; which, if the same with those that Rachel stole from her father, they seem to be of the same sort with the penates or household gods of the Heathens, which were privately kept by…”
So Saul went to Naioth in Ramah. But the Spirit of God came upon even Saul, and he walked along prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah.
“And he went thither to Naioth in Ramah,.... He went on from the well towards the place: and the Spirit of God was upon him also; as well as upon his messengers; even the spirit of prophecy, as the Targum: and he went on and…”
Then Saul stripped off his robes and also prophesied before Samuel. And he collapsed and lay naked all that day and night.
“And he stripped off his clothes also,.... Not all his clothes, but his upper garments, as men in such circumstances used to do, as the prophets sometimes did, and as it seems his messengers had done; according to Jarchi, R.”
Then David asked Jonathan, “Who will tell me if your father answers you harshly?”
“Then said David to Jonathan, who shall tell me?.... The disposition of Saul's mind towards him, whether he gave a kind answer to the report of Jonathan concerning him: or what if thy father answer thee roughly?”