Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?
Ver. 15. Did not he that made me in the womb, make him?] In which regard have not we all one Father, and hath not one God created us? Malachi 2:10. Is it not he who formeth and shapeth us, and all by the book, Psalms 139:16. We are all of all sorts in this respect (whether kings or captives, lords or lowlies), made of the same mould, hewn out of the same rock, digged out of the same pit, cut out of the same piece, the shears only going between, as they say. Thus for our bodies, and for our better part, is not the meanest made in God's image, and as capable of heaven, if God please, as the greatest? In the law the servant paid the half shekel as well as the master; and in Christ Jesus, as there is neither Jew nor Greek, so neither bond nor free, Galatians 3:28. Truth it is, God hath made these distinctions and degrees among men, but himself is no respecter of persons. He acknowledgeth no faces (so the Hebrew expresseth it). He taketh no notice of any man's outward condition, as country, sex, wisdom, wealth, dignity, &c. These neither please God nor displease him, but as they are in a good or bad man; as a cipher by itself is nothing without a figure before it. This reason wrought with Job, and should do, doubtless, with all superiors, to bring them to a moderation. Why should a poor man be slighted or brow beaten? Is he not God's handiwork also? Was he not made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth? Psalms 139:15, that is, in his mother's womb, as it followeth.
And did not one (that is God) fashion (Heb. apt or fit) us in the womb?] Quum fortuna, non natura eos fecerit servos, cur, propter fortunam, eos contemptiores habuissem? Forasmuch as not Nature, but Providence, hath made them my servants, why should I for that cause deal hardly with them; and not rather favour them the more, for our common condition of birth, and death, and coming to judgment? Apte et concinne elaboravit (Brent.). Servus αυναδελφος vei ομοδελφος domini sui est.