There shall no evil happen to the just: but the wicked shall be filled with mischief.
Ver. 21. There shall no evil happen to the just.] First, For evil of sin: God will not lead him into temptation, but will cut off occasions, remove stumbling blocks out of his way: devoratory evils, as Tertullian calls them, he shall be sure not to fall into. "That evil one shall not touch him," 1Jn 5:18 viz., tactu qualitativo, as Cajetan expounds it, with a deadly touch: nibble he may at their heels, but cannot reach their heads; shake he may his chain at them, but shall not set his fangs in them, or so far thrust his sting into them as to infuse into them the venom of that sin unto death. Pro 12:17 Next, For evil of pain: though "many be the troubles of the righteous," Psa 34:19 and they "fall into manifold temptations," Jam 1:2 they go not in step by step into these waters of Marah, but "fall into" them, being, as it were, precipitated, plunged over head and ears, yet are bidden to be "exceeding glad," as a merchant is to see his ship come laden in. Their afflictions are not penal, but probational; not mortal, but medicinal. "By this shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged, and this is all the fruit, the taking away of his sin." Isa 27:9 Look how the scourging and beating of a garment with a stick, drives out the moths and the dust; so doth affliction corruptions from the heart; and there is no hurt in that, no evil happens thereby to the just.
But the wicked shall be filled with mischief.] To treasure up sin, is to treasure up wrath. Rom 2:5 "Every bottle shall be filled with wine"; Jer 13:12 the bottle of wickedness, when once filled with those bitter waters, will sink to the bottom: the ephah of wickedness, when top full, shall be borne "into the land of Shiner, and set there upon her own base." Zechariah 5:8 ; Zec 5:11 He that makes a match with mischief, shall have his bellyful of it; Hos 4:17 Pro 14:14 he shall have an evil, "an evil, an only evil" Eze 7:5 - that is, "judgment without mercy," as St James expounds it. Jam 2:13 Non surgit hic afflictio, as the prophet Nahum hath it; Nah 1:9 affliction shall not rise up the second time: God will have but one blow at him; he shall totally and finally be cut down at once. The righteous are smitten in the branches, but the wicked at the root; Isa 27:8 those he corrects with a rod, yea, with the rods of men, hominum debilium, of weak or old men, as the word signifies, 2Sa 7:11 but these with a "grounded staff"; Isa 30:32 and yet the worst is behind too. For whatsoever a wicked man suffers in this world is but hell typical; it is but as the falling of leaves - the whole tree will one day fall upon them. It is but as a drop of wrath forerunning the great storm, a crack forerunning the ruin of the whole building; it is but as a paying the use money required for the debt that must be paid at last.