And these [are] the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth; and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam,
Ver. 13. These are the names of the sons of Ishmael.] When Isaac was twenty years married, and had no child; and afterwards, no so many as Ishmael, nor so great in the world. This is God's usual way of dealing forth his favours: saints suffer; wicked prosper. This made Pompey deny Divine Providence; Brutus cry out, W τλημων αρετν: Oh miserable virtue, slave of fortune, &c. a The Athenians, in Thucydides, b when they had lost Nicias their good general, who, together with his whole army perished in Sicily, were at a great stand, and much offended; seeing so pious a person fare nothing better than those that were far worse. And what wonder, when Jeremiah and David stumbled at the same stone, ran upon the same rock, and were well-nigh shipwrecked? Jer 12:1 Psa 73:3-4 Neither they only, but many other of God's dear servants, as it is in the same Psalm Psa 73:10, "Therefore his people return hither"; that is, are every whit as wise (or rather, as foolish) as I have been, to miscensure and misconstrue God's dealings on this manner; to repent me of my repentance, and to condemn the generation of the just, "because waters of a full cup are wrung out to the wicked." When David went into God's sanctuary, and there consulted his Word, he was better resolved: then he saw that the sunshine of prosperity doth but ripen the sin of the wicked, and so fits them for destruction: Hos 14:9 as fatted ware are but fitted for the slaughter. What good is there in having a fine suit with the plague in it? Poison in wine works more seriously than in water. Had Haman known the danger of Esther's banquet, he would not have been so brag of it. The prosperity of the wicked hath ever plus deceptionis, quam delectortonis, saith one; more deceit than delight; able to entice, and ready to kill the entangled. As cunning to do that, as the spirit that seduced Ahab; and as willing to do the other, as the ghost that met Brutus at the battle of Philippi. In which respect, David having spoken of these "men of God's hand, that have their portion in this life," Psa 17:14 &c., wishes them make them merry with it, and subjoins, "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." Psa 17:15 As who should say, I neither envy nor covet their happiness, but long after a glorious resurrection, and have, in the meanwhile, that which is sufficient to sustain me; "I shall behold thy face in righteousness," that is, Beshechinah, in Christ, as Rabbi Menachem c expounds it. And one good look of God is worth all the world. It is better to feel his favour one hour, than to sit whole ages, as these Ishmaelites did, under the world's warmest sunshine.
a Dογος ορ ησθα αλλως εγω δε σε ως εργον ησκουν ου δ απ εδουλευες τυχη. - Dio Cassius.
b Aνδρα ορωντες θεοφιλη, ουδενος επεικεστερα τυχη χρησθαι των κακιστως. - Thucyd.
c Menach. on Levit. x.