Job 11:3

Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?

Ver. 3. Should thy lies make men hold their peace?] Or, thy toys, toilsome toys, hammered in thine own head, hatched in thine own heart, which is deceitful above all things, and so a fit shop to frame lies in; but should we be silent at the hearing of them, and so become guilty of thy sin by a tacit consent? Can any mortal wight hear what thou hast said in behalf of thine own imaginary innocence, Job 6:29,30, and how bold an appeal thou hast made to God as a witness thereof, Job 10:7, and not reply upon thee, and reprove thee? The truth is, had Job been a liar, as Zophar would make of him (even mendaciorum loquacissimum, as Tertullian saith of Tacitus, one that fearing his many words would not carry his cause, had intermixed various untruths, the better to grace the business), he ought not to have been forborne by Zophar or any else that wished well to his soul: but it was far from good Job to be guilty of this foul sin, so hated of God, so like the devil, so inconsistent with religion. Christianus est, non mentietur, he is a Christian, you may be sure he will not lie, was the old argument; he will rather die than lie. David indeed, in a distress, roundly told two or three lies together to Abimelech the high priest, who suspected that he fled as a proscribed person, 1Sa 21:2; 1 Samuel 21:8; 1 Samuel 27:10. But that he allowed not this sin in himself it appeareth in that, 1. He had chosen the way of truth, his election was truth, Psa 119:30. And, 2. He prayed against the contrary evil, "remove from me the way of lying," Psalms 119:29. He was not one of those that took fast hold of deceit, as Jeremiah phraseth it, Job 8:5. Much less was Job; however, Zophar was mistaken in him, as he was much more in his next charge, wherein he maketh him a scoffer of God and good people.

And when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?] Job is made a mocker here; yea, a scorner, and derider, as the word signifieth, such as David describeth, Psalms 22:6, and the author to the Hebrews, Hebrews 11:36, where he speaks of cruel mockings, such as the Scripture everywhere (but especially in the Proverbs) brandeth for the worst sort of sinners. See Psalms 1:1, where the Septuagint translate for scorners, pests; as elsewhere incorrigible, Proverbs 21:1; naught, Proverbs 9:12; λοιμοι, ακολαστος, κακος, proud, Proverbs 3:34; workers of iniquity, υπερηφανοι παρηνομουν, Psalms 119:51. But where did Job mock in Zophar's judgment? First, he spoke contemptuously (as he thought) of God, as Job 10:3, "Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress?" &c. And whereas he spake better sometimes of God's wisdom and righteousness, Zophar thought it was but from the teeth outward; but poor Job had little list or leisure to mock and jeer. Next, he mocked his friends for saving that he was justly afflicted, saying that they were cold comforters, void of God s fear, merciless men, &c. This they took in very ill part, and Zophar thinks to make him ashamed of it; for saith he,

Shall no man make thee ashamed?] sc. By refuting thee, and by bringing thee to a due sight of thine error. This good office he that shall undertake to do for another, must be sure that he be able to do it effectually, else better not to attempt it. When Carolostadius opposed Luther's consubstantiation only weakly and insufficiently, Zuinglius said, he was sorry that so good a cause lacked shoulders, Non satis humerorum haberet.