Even when I remember
Either the iniquities of his youth he was made to possess; or his former state of outward happiness and prosperity he had enjoyed, and reviewed his present miserable case and condition, and called to mind the evil tidings brought him thick and fast of the loss of his substance, servants, and children, which were so terrible and shocking; or when he reflected on the instances of Providence he was about to relate in the following verses:
I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh;
which is sometimes the case of good men, both with respect to the judgments of God upon the wicked, and with respect to what befalls, or is coming upon, the people of God, ( Psalms 119:120 ) ( Habakkuk 3:16 ) ; and even the different treatment of good and bad men in this life, as that the one should be severely afflicted and distressed, and the other be in such prosperous and happy circumstances, is not only a sore temptation to them, but shocks their minds, and makes them shudder and stagger at it, and gives them great pain and uneasiness, ( Psalms 73:2 Psalms 73:3 Psalms 73:12-14 Psalms 73:16 ) ( Jeremiah 12:1 Jeremiah 12:2 ) .