For he doth not afflict willingly
Or, "from his heart" {e}; he does afflict; for all afflictions
are from God, but they do not come from the mere motion of his
heart, or are the effects of his sovereign will and pleasure, as
the good things he bestows upon his people do, without any
respect to any cause or occasion in them; but sin is the cause
and occasion of these, as Jarchi well observes: it is with
reluctance the Lord afflicts his people; he is as it were forced
to it, speaking after the manner of men; see ( Hosea 11:8 ) ; he does
not do it with delight and pleasure; he delights in mercy, but
judgment is his strange act; nor does he do it with all his heart
and soul, with all his might and strength; he does not stir up
all his wrath: for then the spirit would fail before him, and the
souls that he has made; and especially he does not do it out of
ill will, but in love, and for their good: nor grieve the
children of men:
that is, he does not from his heart, or willingly, grieve the
children of men, by, afflicting them; which must be understood of
those sons of men whom he has loved, and made his sons and heirs;
those sons of men that wisdom's delights were with from
everlasting, ( Proverbs
8:31 ) .