The just LORD [is] in the midst thereof; he will not do iniquity: every morning doth he bring his judgment to light, he faileth not; but the unjust knoweth no shame.
Ver. 5. The just Lord is in the midst thereof] The unjust princes were said to be in the midst of Jerusalem as roaring lions, Zephaniah 3:3. Here the just Lord is also said to be in the midst of her, as a sin revenging judge. He sitteth as God in the midst of those uncircumcised vicegods (as I may in the worst sense best term them), he sets a jealous eye upon all their unrighteous proceedings, and is with them in the judgment. Neither eyeth he them only, but all others in like sort; as the king in the Gospel came in to see his guests. His eye, like a well drawn picture, taketh view of all that come into the room. Oh that we could be in his fear all the day! Oh that we would ever walk in the sense of his presence, and light of his countenance! Noli peccare, nam Deus videt, angeli astant, diabolus accusabit, conscientia testabitur, Infernus cruciabit. Sin not; for God sees you, the good angels stand about you, Satan will accuse you, conscience will give in evidence against you, hell will torment you. A reverend and religious man had this written before his eyes in his study.
He will not do iniquity] i.e. He will not let enormities go unpunished, nor pass by the infirmities of his people without a sensible check, Psalms 99:8. See Habakkuk 1:13 .
Every morning doth he bring his judgment to light] Daily and diligently doth he both threaten by his prophets and execute with his hand the menaces of his mouth upon those that will not be warned, that refuse to be reformed. He hath in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, 2 Corinthians 10:6. Maturely he will do it, and accurately; it is his morning's work, Psalms 101:8, like as it is theirs to rise early, and corrupt all their doings, Zephaniah 3:7. He will be up and at it as soon as they.
He faileth not] As he may seem to do when he forbeareth. Non deest, he will not be wanting to his office to proceed against the uncounsellable.
But the unjust knoweth no shame] He can blush no more than a sackbut, as the proverb is. Such an impudence hath sin woaded a in his face, that he basheth nothing. Et pudet non esse impudentem, he is past all grace, as we say, and as good at resisting the Holy Ghost as ever those Jews were that had a whore's forehead, Jeremiah 3:3, sinews of iron and brows of brass, Isaiah 48:4. When neither fear of God nor shame of the world will rein men in, what hope is there of such? Illum ego periisse dico cui periit pudor, saith Curtius, a heathen. He is an undone man that knoweth no shame. Prevent it in time; for the modest beginnings of sin at first will make way for immodest proceedings. The thickest ice that will bear a cart beginneth with a thin trembling cover, that will not bear a pebble.
a A bluish dye the ancient British warriors covered themselves with when going to battle to make their appearance more terrible to the enemy.