He causeth it to come, whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy.
Ver. 13. He causeth it to come, whether for correction] Heb. For a rod, εις παιδειαν (Sept.). God hath his rods sticking up in every corner of his house for chastisement of his children, and they shall take it for a favour too, Hebrews 12:7 1 Corinthians 11:32. Sinite virgam corripientem, ne sentiatis malleum conterentem, saith Bernard. Be content with the rod of correction, that ye feel not the maul of confusion. Better suffer immoderate rains and lightnings, than that terrible tempest, Job 27:21, and the black flashes of hell fire, that πυριφλεγεθων, as Plato calleth it; the fiery lake, as the Scripture.
Or of his land] i.e. His Church, Hosea 9:3. A land that he watereth and watcheth over from one end of the year to the other, Deuteronomy 28:12. His vineyard cared for, and kept to himself night and day, Isaiah 27:3. Or, the earth at large, which is God's great field, Psalms 24:1 (as the Church is his fold, Psa 100:3), and especially that part of it which is desert and uninhabited. There also God causeth his sun to shine, and his rain to fall, Mat 5:45 Job 38:26,27, that the wild beasts also may have food.
Or for mercy] Some singular and extraordinary mercy, as 2 Samuel 21:10 1 Kings 18:45. Sive ad faciendum beneflcentiam; or to bestow his bounty, and to bestow a largess; as princes sometimes make a scatter of monies among the multitude. Clouds are God's storehouses, which he soon opens to our profit, Deuteronomy 28:12; by them he maketh them a scatter of riches upon the earth, which good men gather, and bad men scramble for.