And I am very sore displeased with the heathen [that are] at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.
Ver. 15. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease] Heb. I am in such a heat as causeth fuming and foaming. I am boiling hot, and even ready to burst out upon them to destroy them; for the word here used hath great affinity with another word that signifieth to cut down and to destroy, 2 Kings 6:6, and importeth a higher degree of displeasure, a greater height of heat, than either anger or wrath, as may be seen in that signal gradation, Deuteronomy 29:28 "The Lord rooted them out of their land in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation." The last of these three is this word in the text, Fervore maximo ferveo, I am as hot as may be against those heathens that are at ease, at heart's ease, that come not in trouble, like other men, neither are they plagued as better men, Psalms 73:5, and are therefore secure and insolent above measure, Job 21:23, haughty and haunty, so that the Church cannot rest for them; they thrust with the shoulder and push with the horn (as afterwards, Zec 1:18-19 cf. Dan 8:4), yea, they push the diseased, Ezekiel 34:21, which is a singular cruelty.
They help forward the addiction] They fall like dogs upon the wounded deer. This David complains of as an unsufferable grievance, Psalms 69:26. For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten: and they talk to the grief of those whom thou bast wounded. God smiteth his in mercy and in measure, in the branches only, Isaiah 27:10, and not at the root, neque ad exitium sed ad exercitium neither for destruction but for training. (Aug.). Displeased he may be with his own, and make bloody wales upon their backs, if need be; but then he looks that others should pity them, and not lay on more load, and seek to bring them to utmost extremity. God puts his people sometimes into the hands of his enemies for correction sake. Now they commonly being enraged with haughty, revengeful, and malicious desires, exceed their commission, and so derive the mischief upon themselves, see Pro 24:17-18 they cannot do but they must overdo (as Nebuchadnezzar, the rod in God's hand, Isa 10:5), and thereby utterly undo themselves for ever: for their cruelty comes up to heaven, 2 Chronicles 28:9, and God soon heareth the cry of his oppressed (for he is gracious), and avengeth himself on their pitiless enemies; standing over them and saying, as Isaiah 47:6 "I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand: thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient hast thou heavily laid thy yoke." And again, "Because these Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with a despiteful heart, to destroy it for the old hatred: therefore I will execute great vengeances upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them," Ezekiel 25:15; Ezekiel 25:17; Ezekiel 26:2. Joab never pleased David better than when he made intercession for banished Absalom, for the soul of King David longed to go forth unto Absalom, 2 Samuel 13:39, whom yet he had very just cause to be greatly displeased with. God, in a heat, as it were, against Israel, offereth Moses a great fortune, Exodus 32:10, but would have taken it very ill that Moses should have taken him at his word.
He is but a little angry with his people] And soon repenteth him of the evil; but woe be to those that help forward the indignation, that deal by God's afflicted as the herd of deer do; which, when any of the herd is shot, the rest push him out of their company. It is said of Queen Elizabeth, that she hated, no less than did Mithridates, such as maliciously persecuted virtue forsaken of fortune. Think the same of God. He weareth his rod to the stumps, and then throws it into the fire. He sets his horseleeches to his people (when he finds them sick of a plethory of pride, when fulness hath bred forgetfulness, saturity security), and suffereth them to suck till they burst; and then treads them under his feet, and puts them away as dross, Psalms 119:118,119 .