Shall [any] teach God knowledge?
&c.] Who is a God of knowledge, and knows all things, that
teaches men knowledge; will any one take upon him to teach him
the path of judgment, and the way of understanding, how he shall
govern the world, and dispose of men and things in it? see (
Isaiah
40:13 Isaiah 40:14
) . Will anyone be so bold and audacious as to pretend to direct
and instruct him whom he shall afflict, and whom not, and when he
shall do it, and in what manner? should not these things be left
to him, who does all things after the counsel of his own will?
shall his dealings with men in an outward way of providence be
the criterions of the characters and estates of men, as if love
and hatred were to be known by those things, and therefore God
must be taught what he should do in order to fix them?
seeing he judgeth those that are high;
not the high heavens, as the Targum, nor the angels in them,
though he has judged them that sinned, and cast them down to
hell; but the high ones on earth, kings, princes, and civil
magistrates, such as are in high places, and are lifted up with
pride above others: God is above them; he is higher than the
highest, and judges them; he is the Judge of all the earth, that
will do right, the Governor of the universe, and who overrules
all things for his own glory and the good of his creatures; and
therefore none should pretend to direct him what is fit and
proper to be done by him, who is a Sovereign, and distinguishes
men in his providence, in life, and at death, as follows; but
their characters, as good or bad men, are not to be determined
thereby.