How oft! this phrase notes either,
1. The rarity and seldomness of it. This. I confess, sometimes happens, but not oft. Or rather,
2. The frequency of it. I grant that this happens oft, though not constantly, as you affirm. And this seems best to agree both with the use of this phrase in Scripture, where it notes frequency, as Psalms 78:40 Matthew 18:21 Luke 13:34, and never seldomness; and with the foregoing words, as a reason why the counsel of the wicked was far from him, because they ofttimes pay dear for it in this life, and always in the next life; and with the following verses, wherein he discourseth largely, not of the prosperity of the wicked, (as he should have done, if the sense of these words were this, that such were but seldom afflicted,) but of their calamities. The candle, or lamp, i. e. their glory and outward happiness; as Job 8:6 2 Samuel 21:17 Psalms 132:17. God distributeth: God is manifestly understood out of the following words, this being God's work, and proceeding from God's anger.