Job 22:5

Job 22:5 [Is] not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?

Ver. 5. Is not thy wickedness great?] Why, no; God of his grace had kept Job innocent of the great transgression, Psalms 19:13, and that wicked one had not touched him, 1 John 5:18, sc. with a deadly touch, Tactu qualitativo (Cajetan); had not thrust his sting into him, or transformed him into sin's image. Had Eliphaz ever found Job to be such a one as here he maketh him? Or doth he not, by these interrogatories, cunningly come over him (in kindness, as we say), to make him confess it? Had all been true that is alleged, Job's wickedness must needs have been great, and his iniquity infinite. But to be accused is not enough to render a man guilty; for then who should be innocent? Novit sapiens se ad hoc scamma productum, ut depugnet cum iis qui maledictis aluntur, ut venems capreae. Cato was thirty-two times accused, and as often absolved.

And thine iniquities infinite?] Heb. There is no end of thine iniquities; and hence it is that thy miseries are so many and so long lasting; commeruisti tanta tuis sceleribus. The wicked indeed are eternally tormented: 1. Because, being worthless, they cannot satisfy God's justice in any time; 2. Because they have an infinite desire for sinning against God. But neither of these could be truly affirmed in Job. That so grave a man as Eliphaz (whom the Jewish doctors account a prophet) should fall so foul upon his innocent friend, and taking occasion by his great afflictions only, conjecture and conclude him so heinous an offender, cannot possibly be excused, Coniectura duntaxat, non rei veritate nititur.