JOB CHAPTER 4 Eliphaz speaketh, though it will grieve Job, JOB 4:1,2. Job had instructed and strengthened others in their sorrows, but now fainted himself, JOB 4:3. Eliphaz reproacheth him with his confidence in his uprightness, which he now suspecteth; for that God's judgments were not against the... [ Continue Reading ]
WILT THOU BE GRIEVED? or, (without a note of interrogation,)_ thou wilt be grieved_. Our words will undoubtedly vex thee, and not comfort thee, as we intended and desired to do. We must not use words of comfort, but of sharp reproof, which will be irksome to thee; and this makes me desire to be sile... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST INSTRUCTED MANY; teaching them those lessons which thou hast not learned, and wilt not practise, to wit, patiently to bear afflictions, and to submit to God's will and providence in all things, which thou most shamefully refusest to do. THOU HAST STRENGTHENED THE WEAK HANDS, by administeri... [ Continue Reading ]
HIM THAT WAS FALLING; ready to sink under their pressures, or to fall from God, or into sin, (as that word is used, 1 CORINTHIANS 10:12 GALATIANS 6:2, and elsewhere,) through despondency and distrust of God's providence and promise, or through impatience. THE FEEBLE KNEES; such as were weak-hearted,... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW IT IS COME, i.e. the evil which thou didst fear, JOB 3:25, and which was come upon those whom thou didst so comfort. THOU FAINTEST; thou allowest in thyself what thou wouldst not bear in others. What in them was a vice, in thee, it seems, is become a virtue. Thou art wise for others, but not for... [ Continue Reading ]
So the sense is, We now plainly see what was the nature and complexion of thy fear of God, thy confidence in him, the uprightness of thy ways, and thy hope in God's mercy, which thou didst make show and boast of, and for which thou wast become so famous. Thy present carriage discovereth to thyself a... [ Continue Reading ]
Give me one example hereof out of all thy experience or reading. WHO EVER PERISHED, i.e. was so utterly undone, as thou art, so miserably afflicted by such unparalleled and various judgments from God and men, all conspiring against thee? BEING INNOCENT; who had not by his wickedness provoked so merc... [ Continue Reading ]
As thou hast never seen any example of a righteous man cut off, so on the contrary I have seen many examples of wicked men cut off for their wickedness. Or, _As far as I have observed_; or, _But as I have seen or experienced_. THEY THAT PLOUGH INIQUITY, AND SOW WICKEDNESS; they that designedly and i... [ Continue Reading ]
BY THE BLAST OF GOD, to wit, _of his nostrils_, as it here follows, i.e. by his anger, which in men shows itself in the nostrils, by hot and frequent breathings there, and therefore by an anthropopathy is ascribed to God; by a secret, and oft undiscerned, but mighty and powerful, judgment of God, by... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VOICE OF THE FIERCE LION;_ understand vanisheth_, or _perisheth_, out of JOB 4:9; or, is restrained, or suppressed, as may be gathered out of the following branch of this verse. THE TEETH OF THE YOUNG LIONS ARE BROKEN; which is true literally; the lions when taken having most commonly their teet... [ Continue Reading ]
THE OLD LION PERISHETH FOR LACK OF PREY; because they cannot go abroad to seek it, and their young ones either cannot find or do not bring it to them. See PSALMS 49:14,15 PSALMS 119:10. ARE SCATTERED ABROAD; gone from their dens several ways to hunt for prey, and can find none.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW, Heb. _and_, or _moreover_, I will further convince thee by a vision which I had relating to such matters as these. That here follows a relation of a vision is apparent from the punctual description of all its circumstances. To think as some do, that this was but a fiction and artifice which Eli... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THOUGHTS; in the midst of my thoughts, or by reason of my thoughts, my perplexing thoughts. the word properly signifies a _branch_, and thence a thought, as 1 KINGS 18:21, which proceeds from the mind as branches from a tree, and a _perplexing thought_, which is entangled like the branches of a t... [ Continue Reading ]
FEAR CAME UPON ME; either caused by the apparition following; or sent by God to humble him, and to prepare him for the more diligent attention to, reverent reception of; and ready compliance with, the Divine message.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN, Heb. _and_, or _for_, as this particle is oft used. So this was the reason of the foregoing thoughts and fear. A SPIRIT; an angel in some visible shape, otherwise he could not have discerned it, nor would have been affrighted at it. THE HAIR OF MY FLESH, i.e. of my body, as flesh is taken, GEN... [ Continue Reading ]
IT STOOD STILL; having passed by him to and again he made a stand, as one that had some business with him, and addressed himself to speak to him. I COULD NOT DISCERN THE FORM THEREOF; to wit, exactly and distinctly, so as to know what or who it was. AN IMAGE WAS BEFORE MINE EYES; I saw some corporal... [ Continue Reading ]
The sense is, Thou, O Job, dost presumptuously accuse God for dealing harshly and unrighteously with thee, in sending thee into the world upon such hard terms, and punishing all innocent and righteous man with such unparalleled severity; but consider things calmly within thyself; if God and thou com... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD; this deserves thy serious consideration. These and the following words seem to be the words of Eliphaz, explaining the former vision, and applying it to Job's case, and enforcing it by further arguments. IN HIS SERVANTS, i.e. in his angels, as appears both by the next words of this verse, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW MUCH LESS, understand, _doth he put trust in them_, &c.! Or, _How much more, _ understand, doth he charge folly on them, &c.! Either of these supplements are natural and easy, being fetched out of the former verse, and necessary to make the sense complete. The sense is, What strange presumption... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM MORNING TO EVENING; either, 1. Speedily, between morning and evening, like the grass; they flourish in the morning, and in the evening are cut off, PSALMS 90:5,6. Or rather, 2. _All the day long_, as the phrase is, 2 CORINTHIANS 11:25. There is not a moment wherein man is not sinking and drawin... [ Continue Reading ]
Whatsoever is really or by common estimation excellent in men, all their natural, and moral, and civil accomplishments, as high birth, great riches, power, and wisdom, &c.; these are so far from preserving men from perishing, as one would think they should do, that they perish themselves, together w... [ Continue Reading ]