Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
Ver. 5. Ye have lived in pleasure] Ye have lain melting in sensual delights, which have drawn out your spirits, and dissolved them, τρυφη, of θρυπτω .
Upon earth] No place of pleasure to good men, but of purgatory, banishment, and bondage. A place of that nature, that (as it is reported of the Straits of Magellan) which way soever a man bend his course (if homeward) he is sure to have the wind against him. It was a heavy charge laid upon Dives, "Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things," Luke 16:25 .
And been wanton] Fulness breeds forgetfulness,Deuteronomy 32:15. The word εσπαταλησατε properly signifies, Ye have petulantly skipped up and down, like young kids; ye are so wanton that ye know not whether to go on your heads or on your feet. This was the guise of these rich roiters.
As in a day of slaughter] For sacrifice; when they used to have good cheer, Proverbs 7:14. And hereunto the wise man alludeth, Proverbs 17:1. The apostle here seemeth to intimate that these rich sensualists lived upon the cream of sinning, and had such plenty that they picked out none but the sweetest bits to nourish their hearts also.