XXIII. (1) THEN JOB ANSWERED. — Job replies to the insinuations of Eliphaz with the earnest longing after God and the assertion of his own innocence; while in the twenty-fourth chapter he laments that his own case is but one of many, and that multitudes suffer from the oppression of man unavenged,... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN TO DAY. — Or, _Still is my complaint bitter_ or _accounted rebellion; yet is my stroke heavier than my groaning: my complaint is no just measure of my suffering. _... [ Continue Reading ]
_(_3_)_ OH THAT I KNEW WHERE I MIGHT FIND HIM. — The piteous complaint of a man who feels that God is with him for chastisement, but not for healing.... [ Continue Reading ]
PLEAD AGAINST ME. — Rather, _Would he plead with me,_ or _contend with me in the greatness of his power? Nay; but he would have regard unto me; he would consider my case._ Eliphaz had bidden Job to acquaint himself with God, and return unto Him (Job 22:23); Job says there is nothing he longs for mor... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE THE RIGHTEOUS MIGHT DISPUTE. — He has learnt this marvellous truth, which the Gospel has so effectually brought to light, that it is God the Saviour who is Himself the refuge from God the Judge (John 12:47); and then, in the solemn conviction of His presence, he makes use of the most sublime l... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE ESTEEMED THE WORDS OF HIS MOUTH MORE THAN MY NECESSARY FOOD. — Comp. John 4:32. Or, _I have treasured up the words, &c., according to the statute prescribed to me,_ or _from my own law: i.e._, “I made it a principle with myself to treasure up the words of His mouth.” The LXX. and the Vulg. ha... [ Continue Reading ]
HE IS ONE, OR IN ONE. — Job either declares His unique sovereignty or His unchangeable purpose. The context seems to support the latter, in which case the sense given by the Authorised Version is correct.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE PERFORMETH THE THING THAT IS APPOINTED FOR ME. — “He will accomplish my appointed lot; He will complete that which He has decreed for me; and like these things there are many (more) with Him” (Job 10:13). Job is disposed to take the full measure of the worst, like a pessimist, that being steeled... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE AM I TROUBLED AT HIS PRESENCE. — _i.e.,_ invisible though it be, and undiscoverable as He is on every hand (Job 23:8), Job is in a strait betwixt two (Philippians 1:23). The victim of an ever present paradox and dilemma; afraid of God, yet longing to see Him; conscious of His presence, yet... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR GOD MAKETH MY HEART SOFT. — That is, “He has made it full of apprehension and fear, and the Almighty hath troubled me in these two respects: that He did not cut me off before the darkness, so that I had never been born, or that He did not hide darkness from mine eyes after giving me life.” (Comp... [ Continue Reading ]