The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What [is] the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
Ver. 28. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream.] Or, Let him tell it as a dream, and not as a divine revelation, making more of it than the matter comes to, and
“ Laudans venales quas vult obtrudere merces. ”
What are dreams ordinarily but very vanities, Ecc 5:7 Zec 10:2 pleasant follies and delusions, the empty bubbles of the mind, children and tales of fancy, idle and fruitless notions, mere baubles? Why, then, should men make so much of them? why should they tell their Midianitish dreams to others with so much confidence, as if they were oracles?
And he that hath my word.] So he be sure he hath it, and can on good ground say, I believed, therefore have I spoken.
What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the Lord,] i.e., What is false doctrine to true? surely nothing in comparison; you may better set Palea, that is, chaff, upon it, than the Pope doth upon anything in the decrees of his predecessors that pleaseth him not. Shall not the whole body of Popery, founded, most part of it, upon revelations and feigned miracles (think the same of Ranters, Quakers, and some Anabaptists) prove palea - that is, chaff, hay, and stubble that shall be surely burnt. 1Co 3:11-15 Some render the text Quid paleae cum tritico? what hath chaff to do with the wheat? as Hos 14:9 Joh 2:4 Away with any such mixtures. In the writings of some sectaries,
“ Sunt bona mista malis, sunt mala mista bonis. ”
The speech in the text seemeth to have been proverbial, and is not unlike that of the apostle, 2Co 6:14-16 and those in human authors, Quid sceptro et plectro? Quid specillo et gladio? quid lecytho et strophio? quid hyaenae et cani? quid bovi et delphino? quid cani et balneo? a What has a septre to do with a quill, a surgeon's knife with a sword, bottle with a head band, a hyena with a dog, a cow with a dolphin, a dog with a bath. So what communion hath faith and unbelief, zeal and passion? &c. And yet unbelief may be with faith - "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief" Mar 9:24 - zeal with passion; yea, in young Christians, heat and passion goeth sometimes for zeal; and yet it is but chaff, which, when blown away, the heap is little else but wheat - that is, faith, zeal, humility, though we have less pride, passion, presumption. But this by the way only.
a Suid.