Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
Ver. 11. In respect of want] The wicked in the fulness of his sufficiency is in straits, Job 20:22. Contrariwise, the godly man in the midst of his straits is in a sufficiency. "He hath all things," as having the haver of all things.
For I have learned] In Christ's school, for nature teacheth no such lesson.
" Optat ephippia bos piger, optat arare caballus. "
Horat.
The labourers were not content with their penny,Matthew 20:13. They that have enough to sink them, yet have not enough to satisfy them; as a ship may be overladen with gold and silver, even unto sinking, and yet have compass and sides enough to hold ten times more. It is God only that fills the heart, and maketh a man say truly with Jacob, and not feignedly, as Esau, I have enough, my brother. Esau had a deal, but Jacob had all, because he had the God of all (Rabb-li, Col-li, Genesis 33:9; Gen 33:11).