Woe to thee, O land, when thy king [is] a child, and thy princes eat in the morning!
Ver. 16. Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child,] s.c., In understanding, though not in years, such as was Shechem, Genesis 34:19 , Neque distulit puer and Rehoboam. 1 Kings 14:21 2Ch 13:7 Solomon was a child king; so was Josiah, Uzziah, our Edward VI; and yet it was well with the land in their days.
“ Hic regum decus et iuvenum flos, spesque honorum,
Deliciae saecli, et gloria gentis erat. ”
As Cardan sings of King Edward in his epitaph, a As he was the highest, so I verily believe he was the holiest in the whole kingdom, saith Mr Ridley, martyr. And whilst things were carried on by himself, in his health time, all went very well here; and si per leges fas illi fuisset omnia proprio nutu et voluntate regere, if by the laws of the land he might have done all himself without officers, all should have been far better done, saith Mr Cartwright upon this text. By "child" is here therefore meant a weak or wicked king, that lets loose the golden reins of government, is carried by his passions, lieth heavy upon his subjects. See Isaiah 3:6, compared with Ecclesiastes 10:13. Such princes are threatened as a plague to a people, Lev 26:17 and they prove no less. This childhood of theirs is the maturity of their subjects' misery; the land itself is woe, and woe itself the land, as one expositor observed from the word, אי, here used, which signifieth both woe and land. See Job 34:30 .
And the princes eat in the morning.] As children use to call for food as soon as they have rubbed sleep out of their eyes. If the king is a child, the state officers will be loose and luxurious; yea, like morning wolves, will devour the prey, and "nourish themselves as in a day of slaughter." Jam 5:5 The morning is a time to seek God, and search for wisdom, Pro 8:17 to sit in counsel, and despatch business, as was the manner of Moses, Exo 18:13 and of the ancient Romans. Scipio Africanus was wont before day to go iuto the capitol, in cellam Iovis into Jupiter's chapel, and there to stay a great while quasi consultans de republica cum Iove, saith Gellius, b as if he were consulting with Jupiter, concerning the public welfare; whence his deeds were pleraque admiranda admirable for the most part, saith that heathen author.
a Acts and Mon
b Lib. vii. cap. 1.