He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD.
Ver. 7. He shall not be afraid of evil tidings] When the miserly miscreant is ready to make away himself, for fear of what evil may follow, this man is undaunted and unappalled. The fear of God so ballasteth his heart, that he floateth steadily; and blow what wind it will, he saileth safe to the port. Fides famem non formidat, Faith feareth no famine, nor anything else; when as a sound of fear is ever in the wicked man's ears, Job 15:4
His heart is fixed] viz. Upon the promise of God; and hence he hath a spiritual security, a blessed sabbath of spirit; he is freed, if not from the common destruction, yet from the common distraction; for he knoweth whom he hath trusted. Praeclara est aequabilitas in omni vita, et idem semper vultus, eademque frons, saith Cicero. It is a brave thing to have a well composed spirit in all changes, and to look alike, however the world goeth. The heathens tell us that Gaius Laelius was such a one, and Archimedes, and Socrates, who are said to have been far above all fear of, or grief at, any disaster (Aelian. lib. 9). But that could not be, because their hearts were not fixed, trusting in the Lord. And how Socrates (the best of them) staggered and faltered when he came to die, appeareth by his last speech, as it is related both by Plato and Cicero.