John Lightfoot (1602-1675)

John Lightfoot was another Cambridge-educated man. He had a reputation for oratory. His early career was chiefly scholarly and pastoral in several assignments. As a delegate to the Assembly he kept a journal; this has become a valuable historical record for the first year or so of the Assembly's meetings in which he participated with great vigor and influence, often taking a position distinctly in the minority (he was Erastian in perspective). In his later career he wrote numerous commentaries on the Bible and became something of a Hebrew scholar.

Studying Jewish writings, he showed from rabbinic teachings that Jesus was clearly identifiable as the Messiah. "Even the Lord's prayer is derived from expressions that had long been familiar in the schools and synagogues of Judea." His book Horae Hebraicae explained the New testament in light of knowledge he had gleaned from the writings of rabbis. Many later commentators consulted it. John was also prominent in the formulation of the Westminster Confession of Faith.