If we, &c. — He speaks with great modesty. He will not undertake the cause alone, but joins his friends with him. He will not promise much, but only assay, or try if he could propose any thing pertinent to Job's case. Withhold — When he hears such words from such a person as thou art.... [ Continue Reading ]
Feeble knees — Such as were weak hearted, and fainting under their trials.... [ Continue Reading ]
Thy fear — We now plainly see what was the nature of thy fear of God, thy confidence in him, the uprightness of thy ways, and thy hope in God's mercy. Thy present carriage discovers that it was but mere talk and appearance.... [ Continue Reading ]
Innocent — Therefore thou art guilty of some great, though secret crimes, and thy sin hath now found thee out. Cut off — By the sickle of Divine vengeance before his time, which is like to be thy case. Eliphaz here advances another argument to prove Job an hypocrite; taken not only from his impatien... [ Continue Reading ]
Even — As thou hast never seen any example of a righteous man cut off, so I have seen many of wicked men cut off for their wickedness. They — They that designedly work wickedness, first preparing themselves for it, and then continuing to execute it, as husbandmen first plow the ground, and then cast... [ Continue Reading ]
The blast — Of his nostrils, as it follows; by his anger, which in men shews itself, in the nostrils, by hot and frequent breathings there, by a secret, but mighty judgment of God, they are blown away as chaff by the wind.... [ Continue Reading ]
The roaring — Nor can they escape, even were they strong as lions, yea, as the strongest and fiercest of them. Broken — Which is true literally; the lions when taken having most commonly their teeth broken, as ancient and modern writers relate. But this is meant of powerful tyrants, who are fitly co... [ Continue Reading ]
Scattered — Gone from their dens several ways to hunt for prey, and can find none.... [ Continue Reading ]
Now — To convince Job of the sin and folly of impatience, Eliphaz relates a vision he had had, perhaps since he came to him. Which in that age and state of the church, before the holy scriptures were written, was the usual way of God's discovering his mind to those that sought him. A thing — Heb. a... [ Continue Reading ]
In thoughts — These thoughts arose from the visions of the night, which it is probable he had seen before. Visions differed from dreams herein, that God imparted his mind to men in dreams when asleep, but in visions, when they were awake. And these visions sometimes happened by day, but most frequen... [ Continue Reading ]
A spirit — An angel in visible shape, otherwise he could not have discerned it. Stood up — Through that excessive horror caused by so glorious, unusual, and terrible a presence.... [ Continue Reading ]
Stood — Having passed by him to, and again, he made a stand, and addressed himself to speak. The form — Exactly and distinctly. An image — I saw some visible resemblance, though in a confused manner. Silence — The spirit, which possibly had made some noise with his motion, now standing still made no... [ Continue Reading ]
More just — Pretend more strictly to observe the laws of justice? Shall (enosh) mortal, miserable man (so the word signifies) be thus insolent? Nay, shall geber, the strongest and most eminent man, stand in competition with God? Those that find fault with the directions of the Divine law, the dispen... [ Continue Reading ]
Servants — They are called his servants by way of eminency, that general name being here appropriated to the chief of the kind, to intimate that sovereign dominion which the great God hath over the angels, and much more over men. With folly — Without all doubt, this refers to those angels who foolis... [ Continue Reading ]
How, &c. — The sense is, what strange presumption then is it for a foolish and mortal man, to make himself more just than God. In them — Who though they have immortal spirits, yet those spirits dwell in mortal bodies, which are great clogs, and incumbrances, and snares to them. These are called hous... [ Continue Reading ]
Destroyed — All the day long, there is not a moment wherein man is not sinking towards death and corruption. Perish — In reference to this present worldly life, which when once lost is never recovered. Regarding — Heb. without putting the heart to it, this is so common a thing for all men, though ne... [ Continue Reading ]
Excellency — Whatsoever is by common estimation excellent in men, all their natural, and moral, and civil accomplishments, as high birth, great riches, power and wisdom, these are so far from preserving men from perishing, that they perish themselves, together with those houses of clay in which they... [ Continue Reading ]