Proverbs 24:12

If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider [it]? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth [not] he know [it]? and shall [not] he render to [every] man according to his works?

Ver. 12. If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not, &c.] As no wool is so coarse but will take some colour; so there is no sin so foul but will admit some excuse. Ignorance is commonly pleaded, - We know not this man's case, the justice of his cause, the means of his rescue, &c. But "be not deceived, God is not mocked." They that would mock him imposturum faciunt et patientur, defraud themselves, as the emperor said of him that sold glass for pearl. Deo obscura clarent, muta respondent, silentium confitetur. a God's "eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men." Psa 11:4 The former points out his knowledge, the latter his critical descant.

Doth not he that pondereth the heart consider?] No man needs a window in his breast - as the heathen Momus wished - for God to look in at; for every man before God is all window, Job 34:22 and his "eyes are as a flaming fire," Rev 1:14 that need no outward light, that see extra mittendo by sending out a ray, &c., that see through that transparent body, the world, called "a sea of glass." Rev 4:6

a Isidor.