They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
Ver. 13. They spend their days in wealth] Or, in mirth. Heb. In good. They wallow in wealth, and have the world at their will, even more than heart could wish, as David phraseth it in Psalms 73:2,12, which may well serve for a comment upon this text; and the rich glutton for an instance. He in his lifetime received good things, and in a moment went down to the grave, Luke 16:25. True it is, that this is not every wicked man's case; for some of them live wretchedly and die lamentably, being held long upon the rack of a torturing disease (as Jehoram), all which is to them none other than a type and foretaste of hell, whither they are hastening.
And in a moment they go down to the grave] Ad inferna, to hell, saith the Vulgate; they spend their days in wealth, and end their days in woe; their merry dance determineth in a miserable downfall. Thus that "rich man died, and was buried; and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment," &c., Luke 16:22,23. But though the same Hebrew word signifieth hell and the grave (both which have their names from their unsatiableness, Pro 30:15-16), yet here, in a suitableness to what went before, the grave is to be understood; and the sense is, Dicto citius moriuntur, they die easily, suddenly, sweetly, without much pain of body or trouble of mind; "there are no bands in their death," saith David, Psalms 73:4. They die without much ado, like a lamb, or like a lamp, that goeth out of itself when the oil faileth; they go quickly and quietly to the grave. Some wicked persons indeed die piecemeal by a complicated disease, and a long lingering death, as did Antiochus, Herod, Philip II of Spain, &c. Dionysius the tyrant is said to have envied a beast, whose throat he saw cut, because he died so soon. Julius Caesar wished he might die speedily, saith Suetonius. Pliny commendeth sudden death as the chief felicity of life. That is a good death to nature which is neither feared nor expected; yet that is the best death which hath been longest expected and prepared for. Mors iucunda cuius nulla praecessit expectatio aut metus. Happy is he that, after due preparation, is passed through the gates of death ere he be aware. Happy is he that, by the holy use of long sickness, is taught to see the gates of death afar off, and addresseth for a resolute passage. The one dieth like Elijah, the other like Elisha, both blessedly.