Yet he {x} passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.

(x) So that the prosperity of the wicked is but as a cloud, which vanishes away in a moment.

Wesley's Notes

37:36 Yet - He was gone in an instant. But - There was no monument or remainder of him left.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

36. he was not-(Compare Ps 37:10).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

37:34-40 Duty is ours, and we must mind it; but events are God's, we must refer the disposal of them to him. What a striking picture is in ver. 35,36, of many a prosperous enemy of God! But God remarkably blights the projects of the prosperous wicked, especially persecutors. None are perfect in themselves, but believers are so in Christ Jesus. If all the saint's days continue dark and cloudy, his dying day may prove comfortable, and his sun set bright; or, if it should set under a cloud, yet his future state will be everlasting peace. The salvation of the righteous will be the Lord's doing. He will help them to do their duties, to bear their burdens; help them to bear their troubles well, and get good by them, and, in due time, will deliver them out of their troubles. Let sinners then depart from evil, and do good; repent of and forsake sin, and trust in the mercy of God through Jesus Christ. Let them take his yoke upon them, and learn of him, that they may dwell for evermore in heaven. Let us mark the closing scenes of different characters, and always depend on God's mercy.