_6thly_, Positive assertions are sometimes taken in a comparitive sense. Thus God says to Samuel, the people in asking a king, _have not rejected thee, but me_, 1 Sam. viii. 7. that is, they have cast more contempt on me than they have on thee, _q. d._ they have offered a greater affront to my government, who condescended to be their king; though they have been uneasy under thine administration, as appointed to be their judge. And, in Psal. li. 4. David says, _Against thee, thee only, have I sinned_. Whereas he had sinned against Uriah and Bathsheba, as having murdered the one, and tempted the other to commit adultery with him; he had sinned against the army, whom he occasioned to fall in battle, pursuant to the orders he gave Joab, with a design to destroy Uriah; yet says he, _against thee, thee only, have I sinned_; that is, the greatest aggravation of my sin is, that it contains rebellion against thee. And elsewhere, God says, _I desired mercy, and not sacrifice_, Hos. vi. 6. that is, more than sacrifice. _7thly_, There are several hyperbolical ways of speaking in scripture, whereby more is expressed than what is generally understood. Thus the vessel in the temple, in which things were washed, which was ten cubits from one brim to the other, is called _a molten Sea_, 1 Kings vii. 23. because it contained a great quantity of water; though, indeed, it was very small, if compared with the dimensions of the sea: And in 1 Kings x. 27, it is said, that Solomon _made silver to be in Jerusalem, as stones; and cedars as the sycamore-trees, which are in the vale for abundance_. Silver was not, strictly speaking, as plentiful as stones; but it implies, that there were vast treasures thereof, heaped up by the king, and many of his subjects, and no lack of it in any one. And, in Judges xx. 16. it is said, there were _some of the Benjamites left-handed, every one_ of whom _could sling stones at an hair-breadth, and not miss_; which only signifies that they had an uncommon expertness in this matter; and when we read of some of the cities in the land of Canaan, that were _great, and walled up to heaven_, Deut. i. 28. it only denotes that their walls were very high: And, in Kings i. 43. it is said upon the occasion of Solomon’s being anointed king, that _the people rejoiced with great joy; so that the earth rent with the sound of them_; the meaning of which is only this, that the shouts of the people were so great, that if the concussion of the air, that was made thereby, could have rent the earth, this would have done it.