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Ecc_7:17 Be not over much wicked, neither be thou foolish: why shouldest thou die before thy time?
Ver. 17. Be not wicked over much,] viz., Because thou seest some wicked men live long, and scape scot free for the present, as Ecc_7:15. For God may cut thee short enough, and make thee die before thy time - i.e., before thou art fit to die - and when it were better for thee to do anything rather than die, since thou diest in thy sins, which is much worse than to die in a ditch. Now they are too much wicked, and egregiously foolish, that "add rebellion to sin," {Job_34:37} "drunkenness to thirst," {Deu_29:19} "doing wickedly with both hands earnestly," {Mic_7:3} refusing to be reformed, hating to be healed. These take long strides toward the burning lake, which is but a little before them. The law many times lays hold of them, the gallows claims its right, they preach in a Tyburn tippet, as they say; or otherwise, God cuts them off betime, even long before, as he knows their thoughts and dispositions long before. We used to destroy hemlock even in the midst of winter, because we know what it will do if suffered to grow. "Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days." {Psa_55:23} God cut off Eli’s two sons in one day for their excessive wickedness; and further threatened their father, that there should not be an old man left in his house for ever. {1Sa_2:32} Wicked men die tempore non suo, as the text is by some rendered. The saints die not till the best time, not till their work is done - and then God sends them to bed; the two witnesses could not be killed while they were doing it - not till that time, when if they were but rightly informed, they would even desire to die.