Matthew Poole and continuators on Job 9:23

23. If the scourge slay suddenly , he will laugh at the trial of the innocent .

Either 1. If some common and deadly Judgment come upon a people, which destroys both good and bad. Or 2. If God inflicts some grievous and unexpected stroke upon an innocent person, as it follows.

As he doth at the destruction of the wicked, Psal. 2. 4. His outward carriage is the same to both; he neglects the innocent, and seems not to answer their prayers, and suflers them to perish with others, as if he took pleasure in their r[illegible: 1+ letters]ne also. But withal, he intimates the matter and cause of this laughter or complacency which God takes in their afflictions, because to them they are but trials of their saith, and patience, and perseverance, which tends to God's honour, and their own eternal advantage.