ELIHU ALSO PROCEEDED - Hebrew added - ויסף _vayâsaph_. Vulgate _“addens;”_ Septuagint, Ηροσθεὶς _Eerostheis_ - “adding, or proceeding.” The Hebrew commentators remark that this word is used because this speech is “added” to the number which it might be supposed he would make. There had been “three... [ Continue Reading ]
SUFFER ME A LITTLE - Even beyond the regular order of speaking; or, allow me to go on though I have fully occupied my place in the “number” of speeches. Jarchi remarks that this verse is “Chaldaic,” and it is worthy of observation that the principal words in it are not those ordinarily used in Hebre... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL FETCH MY KNOWLEDGE FROM AFAR - What I say shall not be mere commonplace. It shall be the result of reflection on subjects that lie out of the ordinary range of thought. The idea is, that he did not mean to go over the ground that had been already trodden, or to suggest such reflections as wou... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR TRULY MY WORDS SHALL NOT BE FALSE - This is designed to conciliate attention. It is a professed purpose to state nothing but truth. Even in order to vindicate the ways of God he would state nothing but what would bear the most rigid examination. Job had charged on his friends a purpose “to speak... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, GOD IS MIGHTY - This is the first consideration which Elihu urges, and the purpose seems to be to affirm that God is so great that he has no occasion to modify his treatment of any class of people from a reference to himself. He is wholly independent of all, and can therefore be impartial in... [ Continue Reading ]
HE PRESERVETH NOT THE LIFE OF THE WICKED - Elihu here maintains substantially the same sentiment which the three friends of Job had done, that the dealings of God in this life are in accordance with character, and that strict justice is thus maintained. BUT GIVETH RIGHT TO THE POOR - Margin, “or aff... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WITHDRAWETH NOT HIS EYES FROM THE RIGHTEOUS - That is, he constantly observes them, whether they are in the more elevated or humble ranks of life. Even though he afflicts them, his eye is upon them, and he does not forsake them. It will be remembered that one of the difficulties to be accounted f... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF THEY BE BOUND IN FETTERS - That is, if the righteous are thrown into prison, and are subjected to oppressions and trials, or if they are chained down, as it were, on a bed of pain, or crushed by heavy calamities, the eye of God is still upon them. Their sufferings should not be regarded eithe... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN HE SHOWETH THEM THEIR WORK - What their lives have been. This he does either by a messenger sent to them Job 33:23, or by their own reflections Job 33:27, or by the influences of his Spirit leading them to a proper review of their lives. The object of their affliction, Elihu says, is to bring t... [ Continue Reading ]
HE OPENETH ALSO THEIR EAR TO DISCIPLINE - To teaching; or he makes them willing to learn the lessons which their afflictions are designed to teach; coral). See the notes at Job 33:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THEY OBEY AND SERVE HIM - That is, if, as the result of their afflictions, they repent of their sins, seek his mercy, and serve him in time to come, they shall be prospered still. The design of affliction, Elihu says, is, not to cut them off, but to bring them to repentance. This sentiment he had... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF THEY OBEY NOT - If those who are afflicted do not turn to God, and yield him obedience, they must expect that he will continue their calamities until they are cut off. THEY SHALL PERISH BY THE SWORD - Margin, as in Hebrew “pass away.” The word rendered “sword” (שׁלח _shelach_) means properly... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE HYPOCRITES IN HEART HEAP UP WRATH - By their continued impiety they lay the foundation for increasing and multiplied expressions of the divine displeasure. Instead of confessing their sins when they are afflicted, and seeking for pardon: instead of returning to God and becoming truly his fri... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY DIE IN YOUTH - Margin, “Their soul dieth.” The word “soul” or “life” in the Hebrew is used to denote oneself. The meaning is, that they would soon be cut down, and share the lot of the openly wicked. If they amended their lives they might be spared, and continue to live in prosperity and honor;... [ Continue Reading ]
HE DELIVERETH THE POOR IN HIS AFFLICTION - Margin, “or afflicted.” This accords better with the usual meaning of the Hebrew word (עני _‛__ânı̂y_) and with the connection. The inquiry was not particularly respecting the “poor,” but the “afflicted,” and the sentiment which Elihu is illustrating is, t... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN SO WOULD HE HAVE REMOVED THEE - That is, if you had been patient and resigned, and if you had gone to him with a broken heart. Having stated the “principles” in regard to affliction which he held to be indisputable, and having affirmed that God was ever ready to relieve the sufferer if he would... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THOU HAST FULFILLED THE JUDGMENT OF THE WICKED - Rosenmuller explains this as meaning, “If under divine inflictions and chastisements you wish to imitate the obduracy of the wicked, then the cause and the punishment will mutually sustain them selves; that is, the one will be commensurate with th... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THERE IS WRATH - That is, the wrath of God is to be dreaded. The meaning is, that if Job persevered in the spirit which he had manifested, he had every reason to expect that God would suddenly cut him off. He might now repent and find mercy, but he had shown the spirit of those who were rebe... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL HE ESTEEM THY RICHES? - That is God will not regard thy riches as a reason why he should not cut you off, or as a ransom for your forfeited life. The reference here must be to the fact that Job “had been” a rich man, and the meaning is, either that God would not spare him because he “had been”... [ Continue Reading ]
DESIRE NOT THE NIGHT - That is, evidently, “the night of death.” The darkness of the night is an emblem of death, and it is not uncommon to speak of death in this manner; see John 9:4, “The night cometh, when no man can work.” Elihu seems to have supposed that Job might have looked forward to death... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE HEED, REGARD NOT INIQUITY - That is, be cautious that in the view which you take of the divine government, and the sentiments which you express, you do not become the advocate of iniquity. Elihu apprehended this from the remarks in which he had indulged, and regarded him as having become the ad... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, GOD EXALTETH BY HIS POWER - The object of Elihu is now to direct the attention of Job to God, and to show him that he has evinced such power and wisdom in his works, that we ought not to presume to arraign him, but should bow with submission to his will. He remarks, therefore, that God “exal... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH ENJOINED HIM HIS WAY? - Who hath prescribed to him what he ought to do? Who is superior to him, and has marked out for him the plan which he ought to pursue? The idea is, that God is supreme and independent; no one has advised him, and no one has a right to counsel him. Perhaps, also, Elihu... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER THAT THOU MAGNIFY HIS WORK - Make this a great and settled principle, to remember that God is “great” in all that he does. He is exalted far above us, and all his works are on a scale of vastness corresponding to his nature, and in all our attempts to judge of him and his doings, we should... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY MAN MAY SEE IT - That is, every man may look on the visible creation, and see proofs there of the wisdom and greatness of God. All may look on the sun, the moon, the stars; all may behold the tempest and the storm; all may see the lightning and the rain, and may form some conception of the maj... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, GOD IS GREAT, AND WE KNOW HIM NOT - That is, we cannot fully comprehend him; see the notes at Job 11:7. NEITHER CAN THE NUMBER OF HIS YEARS BE SEARCHED OUT - That is, he is eternal. The object of what is said here is to impress the mind with a sense of the greatness of God, and with the fol... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE MAKETH SMALL THE DROPS OF WATER - Elihu now appeals, as he proposed to do, to the works of God, and begins with what appeared so remarkable and inexplicable, the wisdom of God in the rain and the dew, the tempest and the vapor. That which excited his wonder was, the fact in regard to the susp... [ Continue Reading ]
UPON MAN ABUNDANTLY - That is, upon many people. The clouds having received the ascending vapor, retain it, and pour it down copiously for the use of man. The arrangement, to the eye even of one who did not understand the scientific principles by which it is done, is beautiful and wonderful; the bea... [ Continue Reading ]
ALSO, CAN ANY UNDERSTAND THE SPREADINGS OF THE CLOUDS? - The out spreading - the manner in which they expand themselves over us. The idea is, that the manner in which the clouds seem to “spread out,” or unfold themselves on the sky, could not be explained, and was a striking proof of the wisdom and... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, HE SPREADETH HIS LIGHT UPON IT - That is, upon his tabernacle or dwelling-place - the clouds. The allusion is to lightning, which flashes in a moment over the whole heavens. The image is exceedingly beautiful and graphic. The idea of “spreading out” the light in an instant over the whole of... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR BY THEM JUDGETH HE THE PEOPLE - By means of the clouds, the rain, the dew, the tempest, and the thunderbolt. The idea seems to be, that he makes use of all these to execute his purposes on mankind. He can either make them the means of imparting blessings, or of inflicting the severest, judgments... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH CLOUDS HE COVERETH THE LIGHT - The Hebrew here is, על־כפים _‛__al_-_kaphiym_ - “upon his hands.” Jerome, “In manibus abscondit lucem,” “he hideth the light in his hands.” Septuagint, Ἐπὶ χειρῶν ἐκάλυψε φῶς _Epi_ _cheirōn_ _ekalupse_ _fōs_ - “he covereth the light in his hands.” The allu... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NOISE THEREOF SHOWETH CONCERNING IT - The word “noise” here has been inserted by our translators as a version of the Hebrew word (רעו _rê‛ô_), and if the translators attached any idea to the language which they have used, it seems to have been that the noise attending the lightning, that is, t... [ Continue Reading ]