John Trapp on Job 15:20

Verſe 20. The wicked man travelleth with pain all his dayes.] He tormenteth himſelf, or thruſteth himſelf through (ſo ſome read it) 1 Tim. 6.10. He takes no more reſt then one upon a Rack; he hath his hands on his loynes, as a woman in travel, Jer. 30.6. he ſmiteth upon his thigh; ſicut mulierculae in puerperio facere ſolent, ſaith Luther in his Marginal Note on Jea. 31.19. And if he would do ſo for his ſin (as he doth for his miſery) pia eſſet illa triſtitia. & (ſi dici poteſt) beata miſeria, as Auſtin hath it;Aug Epiſt. 545. his grief would be godly, and his miſery a bleſſing, God would pity him as he did his moan-making Ephraim and earneſtly remember him ſtill, ver. 20. But alas, the wicked wight, the hypocrite in heart, as he heaps up wrath, ſo he cryeth not, when God bindeth him, Job 36.16. Or if he do cry, 'tis perii. and not peccavi, I am undone, and not, I have done amiſſe. Hence God many times turneth looſe upon him thoſe three Vultures, Care, Fear and Grief, to feed upon his heart. It is ſeldome ſeen that God alloweth unto the greateſt darlings of the world a perfect contentment. In the very purſuit of theſe outward vanities is much anguiſh, many grievances, fears, jealouſies, diſgraces, interruptions, di[illegible: 1 letter]contentments. In the unſanctified enjoyment of them, ſomething the wicked ſhall have to complain of, that ſhal give an unſavoury verdure to their ſweeteſt morſels; and make their very felicity miſerable; witneſſe Ahab, Human, &c. But then followeth the ſting of conſcience, that maketh a Cain, a Paſhur, a Richard the third, to be a terrour to himſelf. And with this pain ſome wicked men travel all their dayes here, but hereafrer it ſhall infallibly and inexpreſſibly torment the ſouls of them all, through all eternity. And this with the following illuſtrations is that Oracle or divine ſentence which Eliphaz received from thoſe famous men above mentioned, and which he not obſcurely applyeth and wreſteth againſt Job, whom herehence he would prove a wicked man by his own conceſſions, chap. 3.25, 26. and 7.13; 14. compared with Devit. 26, 36. Deu[illegible: 1 letter]. 28.65. for that which Eliphaz had heard from his Anceſtors, was but the ſame Law, for ſubſtance, that was afterwards written by Moſes.

And the number of years is hidden to the Oppreſſour] Heb. to the terrible Tyrans, who as he hath not a more cruel Executioner, then his own conſcience, ſo not a more ſenſible diſpleaſure, then to know that he is mortal, and yet to be ignorant when his Tyranny muſt end, The number of the years of his Tyranny is uncertain, ſaith the Vulgar tranſlation. And from this uncertainty which he knoweth not how to remedy (though he run to light a candle at the devil ſometimes, viz. by conſulting with Soothſayers and Sorcerers to know of them how long he ſhall live, and who ſhall ſucceed him, as Tiberius and other Tyrants did) followeth ſuſpicion and fear, ſaith Aquinas upon this Text.