I said in my heart; and further I considered with myself. Concerning the estate of the sons of men; concerning their condition and deportment in this present world. That God might manifest them; God suffers these horrible disorders among men, expressed Ecclesiastes 3:16, that he might discover men to themselves, and by permitting these actions show what strange creatures they are, and what vile hearts they have, which men would not otherwise understand or believe. See 2 Kings 8:13,14. That they themselves are beasts, Heb. that they are beasts to themselves; either,
1. One to another, devouring and destroying one another. Or,
2. In their own judgment, or themselves being judges; that although God made them men or reasonable creatures, yet they have made themselves beasts by their brutish practices; and that men, considered only with respect unto the present life, which is the only thing valued and regarded by most men, and the vanity whereof is the principal subject of this book, are as vain and miserable creatures as the beasts themselves, the great differences between men and beasts being such as respect the other life. For men seem here to be called beasts in both these respects, and the latter he prosecutes more largely in the following verses.