When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth [his] face, who then can behold him? whether [it be done] against a nation, or against a man only:
Ver. 29. When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?] Ipse tranquillabit, et quis inquietabit? This is like that of the apostle, saith Brentius, Romans 8:31,39, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" "Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" &c. It is he alone who giveth peace, both of country and of conscience; Peace, peace, Isaiah 26:3, Pacem omnimodam; external, internal, eternal; and then, who can disturb or unsettle? Surely as Isaac once said to Esau, concerning Jacob, He is blessed, and he shall be blessed; so may it be said of such as have made their peace with God; peace shall be upon them and mercy, contra gentes, whosoever saith nay to it; yea, though it be the devil himself, that ο πονηρος, as he is oft called, the troublesome one; who, even since he was cast out of heaven, keeps ado on earth, and seeks to disquiet all such as, by patient continuance in well doing, seek for glory, and honour, and immortality, Romans 2:7 .
And when he hideth his face, who then can behold him?] Him? whom? God; who dare look upon him, or toward him for help, when he is thoroughly displeased and looketh irefully? Or, the party frowned on by God; who will smile upon him, or show him any favour and furtherance? Here Aben Ezra giveth a good note, Aversio vultus Dei, &c., The turning away of God's pleased countenance is the cause of all wars and other disasters. The physiologer in Epiphanius telleth of the bird charadius, that being brought into the room where a man lieth sick, if he look with a steady and fixed eye upon the sick man, he recovereth; but if he turn away from him, and look another way, the disease is to death. Apply this to God, and it fitteth.
Whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only] All is a case (as they say) to God, he stands not upon multitudes, as men use to do in case of mutinies or the like, to punish the tenth man or so, in terrorem, for a terror to the rest. This is not God's way of punishing; but as a thousand years are to him but as a day, and one day as a thousand years; so when he proceeds to execution of justice, whether it be done against a nation, &c. All nations to him are but as a drop of a bucket or dust of a balance, Isa 40:15 And hence he buried a world full of people in one universal grave of waters. And the wicked (be they never so many) shall be turned into hell, with whole nations that forget God, Psalms 9:17. God seemeth to say, Fiat iustitia, ruat orbis.