He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.
Ver. 7. He scorneth the multitude of the city] Heb. He laugheth. Insignis metaphora. He would scorn to be set to work, as the tame ass is. Asinum oneramus et non curat, quia asinus est, saith Bernard, We load the ass, and he taketh it well for worth, because he is an ass. But the wild ass will not take so; he is not a beast born to bear burdens as the other. He is not tardum et pigrum animal as the other, a dull and slow creature; for which cause also, saith Bellarmine, God would none of him, Exodus 13:13; Exodus 34:20. Christ so far hateth dulness, that he bade Judas the traitor what he did do quickly. The wild ass is very swift, and fed by God's providence in the wilderness; scorning the multitude, or the hurrying noises of the city.
Neither regardeth he the crying of the driver] Heb. of the exactor, who rateth and rageth against the tame ass with words and blows, to hasten him to his work, and to bring him this way and that way. Oppressive princes do the like to their poor subjects (the king of France is called, Rex asinorum), which sometimes maketh them turn wild, and shake off subjection; as the Jews did that to the Romans, choosing rather to suffer the most exquisite torments than to be enslaved (Joseph. l. xviii. c. 2). But what a mad conceit was that of Martin Stembach, a Dutch sectary, A. D. 1566, who would needs correct the Lord's Prayer, Stultam et inefficacem asserens orationem in qua interiectione o uteremur; non secus enim hac exclamandi formula divinam gratiam impediri, quam asinarii, asinorum impetum hoc adverbio? (Lonicer. ex Theatre Vitro).