INTRODUCTION TO JOB 23
This and the following chapter contain Job's reply to the last oration
of Eliphaz; in this he first declares his present sorrowful estate and
condition, Job 23:1; wishes he knew where to find God, as a judge
sitting on a throne, before whom he might lay his cause, and plead i... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN JOB ANSWERED AND SAID. In reply to Eliphaz; for though he does
not direct his discourse to him, nor take any notice of his friends;
yet, as a proof of his innocence, against his and their accusations
and charges, he desires no other than to have his cause laid before
God himself, by whom he had... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN TODAY [IS] MY COMPLAINT BITTER,.... Job's afflictions were
continued on him long; he was made to possess months of vanity; and,
as he had been complaining ever since they were upon him, he still
continued to complain to that day, "even" after all the comforts his
friends pretended to administer... [ Continue Reading ]
O THAT I KNEW WHERE I MIGHT FIND HIM,.... That is, God, who is
understood, though not expressed, a relative without an antecedent, as
in Psalms 87:1; Jarchi supplies, and interprets it, "my Judge", from
Job 23:7; and certain it is Job did desire to find God as a judge
sitting on his throne, doing ri... [ Continue Reading ]
I WOULD ORDER [MY] CAUSE BEFORE HIM,.... Either, as a praying person,
direct his prayer to him, and set it in order before him, see Psalms
5:3; or else as pleading in his own defence, and in justification of
himself; not of his person before God, setting his works of
righteousness in order before hi... [ Continue Reading ]
I WOULD KNOW THE WORDS [WHICH] HE WOULD ANSWER ME,.... Being a God
hearing and answering prayer, who always hears, and sooner or later
answers the petitions of his people in his own way; and which when he
does, they know, take notice, and observe it: or then he should know
the reason why the Lord co... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL HE PLEAD AGAINST ME WITH [HIS] GREAT POWER?.... God will not
plead against his people at all, but for them: much less will he plead
against them with his great strength, use all his power to run them
down, crush, and oppress them; for he is a great God, and of great
power, he is mighty in stren... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE THE RIGHTEOUS MIGHT DISPUTE WITH HIM,.... That is, at his seat,
either at his mercy seat, where even God allows sinners to come and
reason with him, for pardoning grace and mercy, upon the foot of his
own declarations and promises, and the blood and sacrifice of his son,
Isaiah 1:18; or at his... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I GO FORWARD, BUT HE [IS] NOT [THERE],.... Job here returns to
what he had said before, Job 23:3; as Jarchi observes, where he
expresses his earnest desire after God, that he might know where he
was, and come up to his seat; here he relates the various ways he took
to find him, and his fruit... [ Continue Reading ]
ON THE LEFT HAND, WHERE HE DOTH WORK, BUT I CANNOT BEHOLD [HIM],....
The northern part of the world, where his seat is, or the circle of
the earth, says Bar Tzemach, and who has stretched out the north over
the empty place, Job 26:7. Jarchi's note is, when he created it, he
did not make it the place... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE KNOWETH THE WAY THAT I TAKE,.... This he seems to say in a way
of solace to himself, comforting and contenting himself, that though
he could not find God, nor knew where he was, or what way he took, nor
the reasons of his ways and dispensations with the children of men,
and with himself, yet... [ Continue Reading ]
MY FOOT HATH HELD HIS STEPS,.... Trod in the steps he has walked in;
he followed God closely, imitated him in acts of holiness and
righteousness, of mercy, kindness, and beneficence; and he continued
therein; as he set his foot in the steps of God, which were to him for
an example, he persisted ther... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER HAVE I GONE BACK FROM THE COMMANDMENT OF HIS LIPS,.... From
any of the commandments his lips had uttered; meaning not the ten
commandments given to Israel, which perhaps as yet were not given, or
had not come to the knowledge of Job; some speak of the seven
commandments, given to the sons of... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE [IS] IN ONE [MIND],.... Either with respect to his
commandments, every precept remains in full force, he never alters the
thing that is gone out of his lips, or delivers out other commandments
different from, or contrary to what he has given; and therefore Job
thought it his duty to abide by... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE PERFORMETH [THE THING THAT] IS APPOINTED FOR ME,.... The same
word is used as at the end of Job 23:12; where it is rendered, "my
necessary food"; or appointed food a certain portion of it; food
convenient, daily bread; and this has led some interpreters to take it
in the same sense here, and... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE AM I TROUBLED AT HIS PRESENCE,.... Not at his gracious
presence, which he wanted, and every good man desires; but at his
appearance as an enemy, as he apprehended him, laying and continuing
his afflictive hand upon him, and indeed at his appearance as a Judge
to try his cause; for though h... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR GOD MAKETH MY HEART SOFT,.... Not tender as Josiah's was,
2 Kings 22:19, or as the heart of every penitent is, when God makes it
humble and contrite by his spirit and grace, or takes away the stony
heart, and gives an heart of flesh; though Job had such an heart, and
God made it so; but he mean... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE I WAS NOT CUT OFF BEFORE THE DARKNESS,.... That is, it was
amazing to him, and troubled him when he thought of it, that he was
not cut off by death, before the darkness of afflictions, or this dark
dispensation came upon him; as sometimes righteous ones are taken from
the evil to come, as Me... [ Continue Reading ]