For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham's wife.
Ver. 18. For the Lord had fast closed up all, &c.] In quibus peccamus, in iisdem plectimur. God oft takes notice of the offending member. Dives was tormented most in his tongue, quia lingua plus peccaverat, saith Cyprian. a Nestorii lingua vermibus exesa. Archbishop Arundel was so smitten in his tongue, that he could neither swallow nor speak, for serveral days before his death. Atque id multi tum fieri putabant, quod verbum Dei alligasset, ne suo tempore praedicaretur, saith the historian. b The like is reported of Stephen Gardiner, Fertur Heraclius Imp. inguine sursum converso faciem suam perminxisse, nisi urina (tabella imo ventri appossita) averteretur. Id ei accidisse creditum, ob incestum cum fratris filia coitum. c
a Evag., lib. i.
b Theo. Gascon. in Diction. Theolog.
c Act. and Mon. 1622.