John Trapp on Proverbs 12:21

Verſ. 21. There ſhall no evil happen to the juſt] Firſt, for evil of ſin, God wil not lead him into temptation, but will cut off occaſions, remove ſtumbling-blocks out of his way: devoratory evils, (as Tertullian calls them) hee ſhall be ſure not to fall into. That Evil one ſhall not touch him, 1 John 5.18. viz. tactu qualitativo, as Cajetan expounds it, with a deadly touch; nibble hee may at their heels, but cannot reach their heads; ſhake hee may his chain at them, but ſhall not ſet his fangs in them; or, ſo far thruſt his ſting into them, as to infuſe into them the venome of that ſin unto death, verſ. 17. Next for evil of pain; Though many be the troubles of the righteous, Pſal. 34. and they fall into manifold temptations, Jam. 1.2. they go not in ſtep by ſtep into theſe waters of Marah, but fall into them, being as it were precipitated, plunged over head and ears; yet are bidden to bee exceeding glad, as a Merchant is to ſee his ſhip come laden in. Their afflictions are not penal, but probational, not mortal, but medecinal, &c. By this ſhall the iniquity of Jacob bee purged, and this is all the fruit, the taking away of his ſin, Iſa. 27.9. Look how the ſcourging and beating of a garment with a ſtick, drives out the moths and the duſt, ſo doth afflictions corruptions from the heart; and there is no hurt in that, no evil happens thereby to the juſt.

But the wicked ſhall bee filled with miſchief] To treaſure up ſin, is to treaſure up wrath, Rom. 2. Every bottle ſhall bee filled with wine, Jer. 13.12. the bottle of wickedneſs, when once filled with thoſe bitter waters, will ſink to the bottome: The Ephah of wickedneſs, when top full, ſhall be born into the land of Shinar, and ſet there upon her own baſe, Zach. 5.8, 11. Hee that makes a match with miſchief, ſhall have his belly full of it, Hoſ. 4.17. Prov. 14.14. hee ſhall have an evil, an evil, an onely evil, Ezek. 7.5. that is, judgement without mercy, as St. James expounds it, Chap. 2.13. Non ſurgit hic afflictio, as the Prophet Nahum hath it, Chap. 1.9. affliction ſhall not riſe up the ſecond time: God will have but one blow at him, hee ſhall totally and finally bee cut down at once. The righteous are ſmitten in the branches, but the wicked at the root, Iſa. 27.8. thoſe, hee corrects with a rod (yea, with the rods of men) hominum debilium, of weak or old men, as the word ſignifies, 2 Sam. 7.11. but, theſe, with a grounded ſtaff, Iſa. 30.32, and yet the worſt is behinde too. For whatſoever a wicked man ſuffers in this world, is but hell typical, it is but as the falling of leaves; the whole tree will one day fall upon them. It is but as a drop of wrath fore-running the great ſtorm, a crack fore-running the ruine of the whole building: It is but as a paying the uſe-mony required for the debt that muſt bee paid at laſt.