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Ecc_8:13 But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong [his] days, [which are] as a shadow; because he feareth not before God.
Ver. 13. But it shall not be well with the wicked.] (1.) Not always well, {Isa_3:12} for "sin will be sure to find him out," {Num_32:23} and he that hath guilt in his bosom hath vengeance at his back. {a} Where iniquity breaks fast, calamity will be sure to dine, and to sup where it dines, and to lodge where it sups. When iniquity is once ripe in the field, God will not let it shed to grow again, but cuts it up by a just and seasonable vengeance. (2.) Not at all well; since prosperity slayeth these fools, and as sunshine ripens their sin, and so fits them for ruin. Hence Bernard calls it, Misericordiam omni indignatione crudeliorem. Poison in wine works more furiously. The fatter the ox, the sooner to the slaughter.
Neither shall he prolong his days.] See Psa_55:23 Jer_17:11. He dies tempore non suo {Ecc_7:17} though he lives long; he dies before he desires, and when it were better for him to do anything than to die; since he hath "walked in a vain show, disquieting himself in vain," {Psa_39:6} tumbling his tub to no purpose, lengthening out "his days as a shadow": the longer the shade, the nearer the sun is to setting. His sun also sets in the burning lake, and it hasteneth to the descent: "An end is come, is come, is come." {Eze_7:6-7}
Because he feareth not before God.] But in hypocrisy before men, whose laces he feareth, and would be much ashamed that they should see what he doth in secret. {Eph_5:12} But what saith the honest heathen? Si scirem homines ignoraturos et deos ignoscituros, tamen propter peccati turpitudinem, peccare non vellem. A good resolution surely, if as well put in execution. Sed libertas affuit scribent; non viventi, saith Augustine {b} of this author: He was a better speaker than liver. That of David was spoken from his heart, "I foresee the Lord always before my face; I set him at my right hand," &c. {Psa_16:8 Act_2:25} "Be thou in the fear of the Lord all day long." {Pro_23:17}
{a} Oõäåéò áíèñùðùí áäéêùí ôéóéí ïõê áðïôéóåé . Nemo culpam gerit in pectore qui non idem Nemesin in tergo.
{b} Aug. De Civ. Dei, lib. vi. c. 10.