For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
Ver. 25. For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me] Heb. I feared a fear, and it came upon me. Had Job been wicked, this had been no wonder, Pro 10:24 Job 15:21. Or had his fear been sinful, it had been less pity, Proverbs 29:25 John 11:48; for why should he, by a painful preconceit, suffer before he needed, and send for his crosses before they came? A good man should be careful (and so consequently fearful) in nothing, Philippians 4:6, he should hope the best, and bear bravely οτι αν Yεος διδω, saith Demosthenes, whatever God sendeth. The Epicureans held, that a good man might be cheerful under whatsoever miseries: 1. In consideration of honesty and integrity. 2. In consideration of those pleasures and comforts that formerly he had enjoyed, and now cheered up himself with, Ex praeteritarum voluptatum recordatione (Cie. de Finib. lib. 2). Of neither of these was Job to seek; but whereas it might be said unto him, Is it fit for thee, who hast hitherto been so happy, now to take on so heavily, because thus and thus afflicted? Truly, saith he, I was never so happy as you took me for; because (considering how moveable and mutable all outward things are) I always feared lest I should outlive my prosperity; that which now also is unhappily befallen me. Sulla had been happy, si eundem et vincendi et vivendi finem fecisset, saith one; that is, if he had made an end of conquering and of living together; but that he did not. In him and many others it hath appeared that mortality is but the stage of mutability. This holy Job had oft forecasted with himself: and though in his passion he here allege it as a reason why he took no comfort in his meat, &c., yet in true account it could be no grief unto him, nor offence of heart (as she once said to David, 1Sa 25:31), since it was a fear of wisdom and caution; a fear of the head, and not of the heart; a fear of diligence, and not of diffidence.