Who [is] the wise man, that may understand this? and [who is he] to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth [and] is burned up like a wilderness, that none passeth through?
Ver. 12. Who is the wise man, that he may understand this?] This who and who, denoteth a great paucity of such wise ones, as consider common calamities in the true causes of them, propter quid pereat haec terra, for what the land perisheth, and that great sins produce grievous judgments. The most are apt to say, with those Philistines, It is a chance; to attribute their sufferings to fate or fortune, to accuse God of injustice, rather than to accept of the punishment of their iniquity.
And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord hath spoken?] q.d., Is there never a one of your prophets that will set you right herein? but the dust of covetousness hath put out their eyes, and they can better sing Placentia than Lachrymae, &c.