INTRODUCTION TO JOB 36 This chapter, with the following, contains Elihu's fourth and last discourse, the principal view of which is to vindicate the righteousness of God; which is done by observing the dealings of God with men in his providence, according to their different characters, and from the... [ Continue Reading ]
ELIHU ALSO PROCEEDED, AND SAID. Or "added" f what follows to his former discourses; pausing a while to see whether Job would make any reply to what he had already said; but perceiving he had no inclination to do it, and having more upon his mind to deliver, went on with his discourse. f ויסף "et ad... [ Continue Reading ]
SUFFER ME A LITTLE,.... Bear with me a little longer, and allow me to say a few words more. I have but little more to say, and it will take but a little time to say it in; thus, proposing brevity, he hoped to be heard with patience, since he should not long trespass upon it. The word used has the si... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL FETCH MY KNOWLEDGE FROM AFAR,.... Not from himself; for it is but a small share of knowledge that a man gets of himself, or attains to by the light of nature, and especially concerning God and divine things; but from others, either from persons that lived in former ages, and in foreign countr... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR TRULY MY WORDS [SHALL] NOT [BE] FALSE,.... But strictly true; he would take the utmost care to say nothing but the truth, with the greatest impartiality and sincerity, so that what was said might be depended upon; truth spoken briefly, clearly, and on so important a subject as the righteousness... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, GOD [IS] MIGHTY,.... This is a clear plain truth, easy to be discerned, and worthy of notice, and therefore introduced with a "behold"; that God is mighty, the most mighty, the Almighty, as appears from his works of nature and providence; making all things out of nothing, upholding them by t... [ Continue Reading ]
HE PRESERVETH NOT THE LIFE OF THE WICKED,.... He makes a difference between wicked and righteous men, which shows him to be a holy and righteous God; though he preserves the life of all men so long as they live, yet not in the same way; he preserves the lives of wicked men in the common course of hi... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WITHDRAWETH NOT HIS EYES FROM THE RIGHTEOUS,.... His eyes of providence are upon them to supply their temporal wants, and to protect and defend them from their enemies, and they are never off of them; his eyes of love, grace, and mercy, are upon them; he always viewed them as righteous in his Son... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IF [THEY BE] BOUND IN FETTERS,.... Not the wicked, as the Targum, but the righteous spoken of in Job 36:7, with which this is closely connected; and this is not to be understood of righteous kings on the throne in particular, or their special favourites, but of the righteous in general; and not... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN HE SHOWETH THEM THEIR WORK,.... Either what they ought to do, so the Tigurine version; and which they have not done, their sins of omission; when they have been negligent either of the duty of prayer in private and public, or of attendance on the ordinances of the house of God; then he sends an... [ Continue Reading ]
HE OPENETH ALSO THEIR EAR TO DISCIPLINE,.... Or "to correction" o; to the rod of correction; to hear the voice of it and him that has appointed it; its reproving voice for sin, its directing voice to duty, and its commanding voice to return from iniquity, as in the next clause. Or "to instruction" p... [ Continue Reading ]
IF THEY OBEY AND SERVE [HIM],.... That is, God, to whom so many things are ascribed in the preceding verses; and who only is to be obeyed and served in a religious way, with the obedience of faith and love, in all his commands and ordinances. But here not so much obedience to his word, his law or Go... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF THEY OBEY NOT,.... Who seem to be righteous and are not; and when afflicted are not submissive to the will of God; attend not to the voice of his providence; receive no instruction thereby; but kick against the pricks, and rebel, against God; complain of him, and murmur at his dealings with t... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE HYPOCRITES IN HEART HEAP UP WRATH,.... Or "and the hypocrites" s; for these are the same with the disobedient in Job 36:12; who seem to be righteous, but are not; pretend to what they have not; have a double heart, Psalms 12:2, or say one thing with their mouth, and mean another thing in th... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY DIE IN YOUTH,.... They, or "their soul" u; which, though that dies not, being immaterial and immortal; yet being the principal part of man, is put for the whole person, and which being taken away, the body dies. All men must die, but all do not die at an age; there is a common term of human lif... [ Continue Reading ]
HE DELIVERETH THE POOR IN HIS AFFLICTION,.... The righteous or godly poor; who are not only poor in worldly things, but poor in spirit; who are humbled, brought low, and made contrite, through the afflicting hand of God: these, though the Lord does sooner or later deliver "out" of their afflictions,... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN SO,.... Here Elihu accommodates what he had said to the case of Job; that had he hearkened and been obedient to the voice of God in his rod, and had submitted to his chastening hand, and patiently bore his afflictions; HE, God, WOULD HAVE REMOVED THEE OUT OF THE STRAIT [INTO] A BROAD PLACE, W... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THOU HAST FULFILLED THE JUDGMENT OF THE WICKED,.... Some w take this to be a continuation of the happiness Job would have enjoyed, had he behaved in his affliction as he ought to have done; then he would have been filled to satisfaction, by seeing the judgments of God exercised on wicked men, as... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE [THERE IS] WRATH,.... Either wrath in Job, so some; indignation and impatience under the afflicting hand of God, expressed by cursing the day of his birth, and by his angry pleadings with God: and therefore Elihu advises him to beware of it, and check this impetuous spirit; cease from his an... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL HE ESTEEM THY RICHES? [NO], NOT GOLD, NOR ALL THE FORCES OF STRENGTH. Riches can be of no account, nor bear any weight with God; for they are of him and come from him, and what he has a right to take away and dispose of as he pleases. These cannot ward off the stroke of death, or secure from it... [ Continue Reading ]
DESIRE NOT THE NIGHT,.... Either in a literal sense, which Job might do; not for secrecy to commit sin, as the thief, murderer, and adulterer do; Elihu had no such suspicion of Job; nor for ease and rest, which he expected not; nor would his sores admit thereof; his nights were wearisome, and when c... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE HEED, REGARD NOT INIQUITY,.... Not any iniquity, as to show any approbation of it, love for it, and desire after it. All appearance of sin, of every sin, is to be abstained from; but particularly by the iniquity here meant may be the sin of impatience under his affliction; murmuring at the deal... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, GOD EXALTETH BY HIS POWER,.... He exalts himself, or causes himself to be exalted, and even above all the blessing and praise of his creatures; by his power, in the works of creation and providence, he makes such a display of his glorious perfections, as to set him on high, and out of the re... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH ENJOINED HIM HIS WAY?.... He teaches men his own ways, the methods of his grace and mercy towards them; and he prescribes to them the ways in which they should walk; but none can lead or prescribe to him; as the way of governing the world, in what manner he should act in it; who has "taught... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER THAT THOU MAGNIFY HIS WORK,.... Or his works; his works of creation and providence, which are great in themselves, and declare the greatness of God; and which, though they cannot be made greater than they are, men may be said to magnify them when they ascribe them to God, and magnify him on... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY MAN MAY SEE IT,.... Not only was to be seen by the wise and learned, the just and good, but by the common people; whether it is to be understood of the works of creation, or of the afflictive providences of God in general, or of Job's afflictions in particular; MAN MAY BEHOLD [IT] AFAR OFF; a... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, GOD [IS] GREAT,.... In his power and might, in his wisdom and knowledge, in his truth and faithfulness, in his love, grace, and mercy, and that to admiration; and it is worthy of notice and attention, which the word "behold", prefixed hereunto, is expressive of: or is "much" or "many" f; as... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE MAKETH SMALL THE DROPS OF RAIN,.... Elihu proceeds to give instances and proofs of the greatness of God, and begins with rain, as Eliphaz does, Job 5:9; a common phenomenon, what is very frequent, and well known in all ages and countries, and by all men, more or less; and yet there are some t... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH THE CLOUDS DO DROP [AND] DISTIL UPON MAN ABUNDANTLY. Not upon the persons of men, which they take care as much as possible to shun and avoid, but upon the fields of men, and so for the profit and advantage of men; and this denotes both the gentle manner in which the clouds let down rain, and t... [ Continue Reading ]
ALSO CAN [ANY] UNDERSTAND THE SPREADINGS OF THE CLOUDS,.... Or "of a cloud" l, a thick cloud, a single one; which sometimes at the beginning is very small, about the size of a man's hand, 1 Kings 18:44; and which in a little time spreads all over the heavens, and covers them with black clouds and d... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, HE SPREADETH HIS LIGHT UPON IT,.... Upon his tabernacle; that is, upon the clouds, which are his tabernacle; either the light of the sun, whereby the clouds are dispersed and blotted out; an emblem of the blotting out of sin, or the forgiveness of it, Isaiah 44:22, which is like a clear shi... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR BY THEM JUDGETH HE THE PEOPLE,.... That is, by the clouds; which the Lord uses both in a way of judgment, as expressed in this clause; and in a way of mercy, as in the following; by these, and what issue out of them, as rain, hail, winds, thunder, and lightning, he sometimes punishes the inhabit... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH CLOUDS HE COVERETH THE LIGHT,.... Either the lightning, which is hid and covered in the black dark cloud until it bursts out of it; or the light of the sun, which is wonderful, that waters naturally clear and transparent, when formed into clouds, should obstruct the rays of the sun and darken i... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NOISE THEREOF SHOWETH CONCERNING IT,.... The rain, that it is coming; it is a presage and prognostic of it, namely, the noise of the clouds in the air, the sound of abundance of rain there; or the noise of the winds, which is often a forerunner of it: or the noise of thunder when rain frequently... [ Continue Reading ]