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I. OFFER THREE GENERAL REMARKS.

1. All the afflictions to the wicked have the nature of punishment: they are not salutary. Grace turns the serpent into a rod; but sin turns the rod into a serpent. The former turns poison into a remedy; the latter, the remedy into poison.

2. Punishment is the natural and necessary consequence of sin. If we drink of the cup of abominations, God will give us the cup of trembling (Psalm 75:8).

3. Whoever are the immediate instruments of inflicting punitive evils, God is the author of them.

II. CONSIDER THE SOLEMN INQUIRY IN OUR TEXT. "What wilt thou say when He shall punish thee?"

1. Wilt thou charge God with injustice, or say that the punishment is undeserved? To admit such a thought betrays the greatest insolence and pride, as well as an entire ignorance of all the principles of truth and righteousness (Romans 3:5, 6; Revelation 15:3; Revelation 16:7).

2. Wilt thou say that God is severe and that though punishment be deserved, yet it is too great for the offence? (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10.)

3. Wilt thou say that thou wast taken by surprise, without being warned; and that, therefore, judgments came unlooked for? The very heathens cannot say this; for as the creatures instruct them, so conscience warns them.

4. Wilt thou desire a further time of trial, that judgment may be deferred, and a longer season of probation be afforded thee? Instead of wishing for a greater extension of Divine forbearance, God might say to the dying and desponding sinner, The measure of thine iniquities is already full, and further forbearance would only make it run over. "Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe."

5. Wilt thou say that thou hast sinned by an inevitable necessity, and that thy ruin was predetermined? But if this be the language of sinners in this world, it will not be so in the world to come. They will then know that if they were the slaves of sin and Satan, they were so voluntarily, and by choice; that if they were sold to commit iniquity, like Ahab, they sold themselves; and that if any spiritual blessing were withheld, it was that to which they had no claim and for which they had no desire (Jeremiah 7:10; Isaiah 63:17; Matthew 23:37 John 5:40; Acts 2:23; John 12:39; John 15:22; Romans 9:19, 20).

6. The question proposed in the text implies that the sinner will have nothing to say when he falls into the hands of God.

(B. Beddome, M. A.)

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KJV: What wilt thou say when he shall punish thee? for thou hast taught them to be captains, and as chief over thee: shall not sorrows take thee, as a woman in travail?

WEB: What will you say, when he shall set over you as head those whom you have yourself taught to be friends to you? shall not sorrows take hold of you, as of a woman in travail?