Job 34:32

Job 34:32 [That which] I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.

Ver. 32. That which I see not, teach thou me] For I am yet in the dark, and know not the right cause wherefore thou afflictest me. Herein men are very apt to mistake themselves, and when God calls one way to run another, as young Samuel did, i Sam. iii. 5. The devil also dealeth by the afflicted as the Jews did by Christ, blindfolds them, and then bids them prophesy who smote them, and for what? Hence in afflictions we many times grope as blind men, guessing at this cause and at that, but seldom fasten on the right. Here, then, God must be sought unto for direction, and besought that he would graciously point us to the sin he strikes at. This Job had done once and again, Job 10:2; Job 13:23. But Elihu would have him to do it yet better.

If I have done iniquity, I will do no more] Thus men must both vow and perform to the Lord their God, Psalms 76:11, and not promise amendment, as children do when taken up to be whipped; or as men in danger at sea, or on their sick beds, use to do largely; but then Sciaputo il morbo, fiaudato il santo, as the Italian proverb hath it, When the disease is removed the saint is defrauded. Pharaoh promised fair while upon the rack; but got off once, he hardened his heart, and would do nothing. So those slippery votaries, Jeremiah 34:11 .