It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take thou heed that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
Ver. 29. It is in the power of my hand.] It was, he might have said, till God forbade him: though indeed it never was (as our Saviour told Pilate, upon a like bravado, Joh 19:10-11), further than "given him from above." "To God belong the issues of death," Psa 68:20 whatever tyrants dream they can do. Rideo, dicebat Caligula, Consulibus, quod uno nutu meo iugulare vos possim, et uxori tam bana cervix, simul ac iussero, demetur. And Caesar told Metellus, that he could as easily take away his life, as bid it to be done. But what saith our Saviour? "Fear not them that kill the body"; Mat 10:28 to wit, by divine permission. He saith not, them that can kill the body, have power to do it at their own pleasure: for that is a royalty belongs to God only.
But the God of your father spake unto me, &c.] Hypocrites forbear sin, as dogs do their meat; not because they hate the carrion, but fear the club. These are as wicked, in their fearful abstaining from sin, as in their furious committing of it. Lupus venit ad ovile: quaerit invadere, iugulare devorare vigilant pastores, latrant canes. - Lupus venit fremens, redit tremens: lupus est tamen, et fremens et tremens, saith Augustine. a
a Aug., De Verb. Apost., ser. 21.