The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he [is] not.
Ver. 19. The rich man shall lie down] That is, the wicked rich man, as James 5:1. Magna cognatio ut rei sic nominis, divitiis, et vitiis. He shall lie down, viz. in the streets, as being left homeless.
But he shall not be gathered] i.e. Taken into house or harbour by any man; but abhorred by all for his former cruelty.
He openeth his eyes, and he is not] He looketh about him on every side, but findeth no succour. There are that understand it of death: The rich man shall lie down, sc. in the dust of death; but shall not be gathered, that is, nec honorifice funerabitur; he shall not have the honour of a comely burial (Tigur.). Besides, he openeth his eyes, and he is not; upon his death bed he looks about for comfort (the mole, they say, never openeth her eyes till the pangs of death are upon her); but instead thereof shall see that threefold terrible spectacle, death, judgment, hell, and all to be passed through by his poor soul; hence, and no wonder.