Lo, mine eye hath seen all [this], mine ear hath heard and understood it. Ver. 1. _Lo, mine eye hath seen all this_] _sc._ All those effects of God's providence, declared in the former chapter. I have not discoursed about God's powerful and wise dispensation by rote, or without book; I have not blu... [ Continue Reading ]
What ye know, [the same] do I know also: I [am] not inferior unto you. Ver. 2. _What ye know, the same do I know also_] Heb. According to your knowledge I also know. This may seem an unseemly boast; which, if his friends had taxed him for, he might have answered, as Paul did in a like case, Ye have... [ Continue Reading ]
Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. Ver. 3. _Surely I would speak to the Almighty_] It were far better for me to speak to God than to you, and much fairer dealing from him I might expect. "A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he," Deuteronomy 32:... [ Continue Reading ]
But ye [are] forgers of lies, ye [are] all physicians of no value. Ver. 4. _But ye are forgers of lies_] _i.e._ Ye create false maxims to judge me by; ye gather up without any order, and to no purpose, whatsoever cometh in your way to strengthen and maintain your false accusation against me. You ar... [ Continue Reading ]
_O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom._ Ver. 5. _O that you would altogether hold your peace_] Heb. In being silent, would be silent: _q.d._ I thought much of your seven days' silence, Job 2:13, and now I am no less troubled at your speeches. Oh that you had eith... [ Continue Reading ]
Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips. Ver. 6. _Hear now my reasoning, &c._] Or, hear, I pray you. Be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; suffer the word of exhortation and of reprehension; sharp though it be, and to the flesh irksome, yet suffer it, since it is fo... [ Continue Reading ]
Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him? Ver. 7. _Will ye speak wickedly for God?_] Ought ye to defend God's justice by unjustly accusing me? Or must ye needs so free him from injustice, that ye must charge me with hypocrisy? Job had before called them physicians of no value; h... [ Continue Reading ]
Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God? Ver. 8. _Will ye accept his person?_] While you think to gratify him, and to ingratiate with him by oppressing me? Can you find no other way of justifying God's proceedings than by condemning me for wicked, because by him so afflicted? The truth i... [ Continue Reading ]
Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye [so] mock him? Ver. 9. _Is it good that he should search you out &c._] _q.d._ Could you have any joy from such a search? Will not all your warpings and partialities, your colloguing and sinisterity, be laid open to your... [ Continue Reading ]
He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons. Ver. 10. _He will surely reprove you_] That is all the thank you are like to have from God; your work in pleading for him so stoutly, though it be materially good, yet it will never prove so formally and eventually, because you so confid... [ Continue Reading ]
Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you? Ver. 11. _Shall not his excellency make you afraid?_] Heb. His highness, his majesty, his surpassing sublimity and transcendent glory; shall not this frighten you, and rein you in from wrongly dealing and warping? "Who would not... [ Continue Reading ]
Your remembrances [are] like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay. Ver. 12. _Your remembrances are like unto ashes, &c._] Mr Beza readeth the whole verse thus: Your speeches are the words of ashes, and your stately bulwarks are but bulwarks of clay. And thus he paraphraseth: For these things w... [ Continue Reading ]
Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what [will]. Ver. 13. _Hold your peace, let me alone, &c._] This he had requested of them before, Job 13:5, and now having nipped them on the crown by these rebating arguments, he calls upon them again for silence and audience; whi... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand? Ver. 14. _Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth?_] _q.d._ Do ye think, O my friends, that I am in a fit of spiritual frenzy, and so far out of my wits, that tearing, as it were, my flesh with mine own hands, I mean to sue an... [ Continue Reading ]
Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. Ver. 15. _Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him_] Though he should multiply my miseries, and lay stroke after stroke upon me, till he had dashed the very breath out of my body, yet he shall not be so rid... [ Continue Reading ]
He also [shall be] my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him. Ver. 16. _He also shall be my salvation_] So long as I judge myself God will not judge me, 1 Corinthians 11:32; nay, he will surely save me: for God will save the humble person, Job 22:29. What is humiliation but humility... [ Continue Reading ]
Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears. Ver. 17. _Hear diligently my speech_] Heb. Hearing hear, that is, incline your ears and hear, as Isaiah 55:3. Mark and attend; hear me not only, but heed me too; interrupt me not, neither give me the slip, as it may seem they were ready... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold now, I have ordered [my] cause; I know that I shall be justified. Ver. 18. _Behold now, I have ordered my cause_] Heb. My judgment. He had spoken before of his declaration, which is conceived to be a term of law; for in law suits, the plaintiff putteth in a declaration of his grievance. Job... [ Continue Reading ]
Who [is] he [that] will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost. Ver. 19. _Who is he that will plead with me?_] Of my justification in both respects I am so confident, that I dare encounter any that shall deny it. Who is he, and where is he, that shall lay anything to... [ Continue Reading ]
Only do not two [things] unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee. Ver. 20. _Only do not two things unto me_] Accord me only two conditions, and then I will not fly the combat. He knew he might have anything from God that was fit and lawful to be asked. When poor men make requests to princes... [ Continue Reading ]
Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid. Ver. 21. _Withdraw thy hand from me, and let not, &c._] Neither afflict me nor frighten me. See the same request, Job 9:34, and granted by God, Job 38:3; Job 40:7. They must be very sorry prayers indeed that God will not hear, i... [ Continue Reading ]
Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me. Ver. 22. _Then call thou, and I will answer, &c._] Here Job gives God his choice, offering to be either defendant or plaintiff, respondent or opponent: _Hoc multum erat,_ saith Lavater. This was much, and indeed too much; for i... [ Continue Reading ]
How many [are] mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin. Ver. 23. _How many are mine iniquities and sins?_] How many? too many to be reckoned: sin imputed to thee, sins inherent in thee, sins issuing from thee; commissions, omissions, failings in the manner of performan... [ Continue Reading ]
Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy? Ver. 24. _Wherefore hidest thou thy face_] Who wast wont to shine upon me, Job 29:2,3. He that hideth his face showeth that he neither pitieth nor purposeth to relieve. God seemed to look upon Job no otherwise than as under Satan's clo... [ Continue Reading ]
Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble? Ver. 25. _Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? &c._] _q.d._ _Egregiam vero laudem,_ Thinkest thou to get any honour by encountering and overturning me, who was at my best but as a leaf, or as stubble, weak and wort... [ Continue Reading ]
_For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth._ Ver. 26. _For thou writest bitter things against me_] As it were by a judicial rescript thou decreest my doom; and accordingly thou inflictest hard and heavy things upon me, as is most elegantly descri... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet. Ver. 27. _Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks_] Mercer here observeth an elegant gradation in God's proceeding with Job, as himself describeth it, rising higher and h... [ Continue Reading ]
And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten. Ver. 28. _And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth_] Heb. Waxeth old. He, that is, this poor man, this silly wretch, as David speaketh of himself, Psalms 34:6. Or this body of mine, as Job 19:26; Job pointing to it, as it is like he... [ Continue Reading ]