Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
Ver. 25. Agree with thine adversary quickly] Habent aulae suum Cito, cito. God's work also must be done with expedition; opportunities are headlong, delays dangerous. Let not therefore the sun go down upon your wrath, lest it grow inveterate, as it proves in many, who not only let the sun go down once or twice, but run his whole race, ere they can find hearts and means to be reconciled. a "Cursed be their wrath, for it is deadly. O my soul, come not thou into their secret," Genesis 49:6,7. It were much to he wished, that, as Livy hath it, Amicitiae immortales, inimicitiae mortales essent, enmities were mortal among us, amities immortal.
Lest thine adversary deliver thee to the judge] By his groans and moans to God, who is gracious (though thou art stiff), and will pay thee for thy pertinacy, Exodus 22:26; (and him for his patience), with extremity of law. Compound, therefore, and take up the suit before it come to execution and judgment. Suffer it not, as ill husbands do, to run on, and charges to grow from term to term, lest we pay not only the main debt, but the arrears too, the time of God's patience, &c.
Thou be cast into prison] Into hell, worse than any prison. Of Roger, Bishop of Salisbury, the second man from King Stephen, it is reported, that he was so tortured in prison with hunger and other calamities accompanying such men, ut vivere noluerit, mori nescieret, live he would not, die he could not. This and much worse is the case of those that are cast into hell; they seek death, but find it not; they desire it, but it fleeth from them, Revelation 9:6 .
a Si quid benefeceris, levius pluma est: at si offenderis, plumbeas iras gerunt. Plaut.