I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst [it].
Ver. 9. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth] Or better thus, I should have been dumb, and not have opened my mouth, according to my first resolution. I should not have reasoned, or rather wrangled, with thee, as Psalms 39:4, but have kissed thy rod in a humble submission, and have known that the rod of Aaron and pot of manna must go together. Macrobius writeth that the image of Angeronia among the old Romans was placed on the altar of Volupia with the mouth closed and sealed up; to signify, that such as patiently and silently bear their griefs do thereby attain to greatest pleasures.
Because thou didst it] This is indeed a quieting consideration, and will notably quell and kill unruly passions. Set but God before them when they are tumultuating, and all will be soon hushed. This made Jacob so patient in the rape of his daughter Dinah; Job, in the loss of his goods by the Sabaean spoilers; David, in the barkings of that dead dog Shimei; that noble lord of Plessis, in the loss of his only son, a gentleman of marvellous great hopes, slain in the wars of the Low Countries. His mother, more impatient, died of the grief of it; but his father laid his hand on his mouth when God's hand was on his back; and used these very words, "I was dumb, and opened not my mouth, because thou didst it."