Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said, Ver. 1. _Then answered Eliphaz, the Temanite, and said_] _Lapides locutus est._ In this second encounter Eliphaz falls upon Job, not so much with stronger arguments as with harder words; reproving him sharply, or rather reproaching him bitterly, _Facund... [ Continue Reading ]
_Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?_ Ver. 2. _Should a wise man utter vain knowledge_] Heb. Knowledge of the wind; light, frothy, empty discourses, that have no tack or substance in them, but only words that are no better than wind, a mere flash or airy n... [ Continue Reading ]
Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? Ver. 3. _Should he reason with unprofitable talk?_] Why? But if he do, should he, therefore, be thus rippled up, and roughly hewen? And not rather reduced and rectified with hard arguments and soft words? Man is... [ Continue Reading ]
Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God. Ver. 4. _Yea, thou casiest off fear_] Heb. Thou makest void fear; that is, religion, whereof the fear of God is both the beginning, Proverbs 1:7, and the end, Ecclesiastes 12:1. This is a heavy charge indeed; as if Job, by saying the ex... [ Continue Reading ]
For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. Ver. 5. _For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity_] Heb. Thy crooked, wry disposition, that standeth across to God and goodness, Psalms 51:5, _Homo est inversus decalogus._ Solomon speaketh of perverse lips, as if the u... [ Continue Reading ]
Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee. Ver. 6. _Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I_] Yes, you, and none but you. Job's heart condemneth him not (and thence his confidence toward God, 1Jn 3:21), much less his mouth, had not his words been miscon... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 15:7 [Art] thou the first man [that] was born? or wast thou made before the hills? Ver. 7. _Art thou the first man that was born?_] Or, Wast thou made before Adam? _Ut vox Rishon non significet primus, sed prius_ (Lavat., Bucholc.). Out of the mouth of Adam, as from a fountain, flowed whatsoeve... [ Continue Reading ]
Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? Ver. 8. _Hast thou heard the secret of God?_] Thus he goes on to jeer Job, and to accuse him of insolent arrogance, as if he had taken himself to be of God's cabinet council, and so to have known more of his mind than any... [ Continue Reading ]
What knowest thou, that we know not? [what] understandest thou, which [is] not in us? Ver. 9. _What knowest thou, that we know not?_] Here Eliphaz inveigheth against Job's pride, _sed maiori cam fastu,_ but with greater pride, else what meaneth this arrogant comparison? Did not a deceived heart tur... [ Continue Reading ]
With us [are] both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father. Ver. 10. _With us are the grayheaded, &c._] Job had said, Job 12:12, "With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days is understanding." This, though modestly spoken, yet was very ill taken; and is here replied unto... [ Continue Reading ]
Job 15:11 [Are] the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee? Ver. 11. _Are the consolations of God_] _Sic fastuose suas consolationes appellat et sociorum,_ saith Mercer; so Eliphaz, with state enough, calleth the comforts that he and his fellows had ministered to J... [ Continue Reading ]
Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at, Ver. 12. _Why doth thine heart carry thee away?_] Violently transport thee; _sc._ beyond all bounds of reason and modesty, _Quis te furor cordis exagitat?_ (Pineda.) There is another charge, and higher than the former, as if he had... [ Continue Reading ]
That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest [such] words go out of thy mouth? Ver. 13. _That thou turnest thy spirit against God_] A foul fault surely, but merely for want of a fair interpretation. It is as if Eliphaz should have said, Thy spirit was right when thou bravely barest up unde... [ Continue Reading ]
What [is] man, that he should be clean? and [he which is] born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Ver. 14. _What is man, that he should be clean?_] Eliphaz hath now done chiding (it is but time he should), and falls to reasoning; wherein nevertheless he showeth himself an empty and troublesom... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight._ Ver. 15. _Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints_] Here he proceedeth to prove that which Job never denied; and Bildad also hath the same, Job 25:1,6 _Lege eius verba, nam non male huc quadrant,_ saith Lava... [ Continue Reading ]
How much more abominable and filthy [is] man, which drinketh iniquity like water? Ver. 16. _How much more abominable and filthy is man?_] And therefore abominable because filthy, or stinking and noisome, as putrefied meat is to the nose and palate. Now this is every man's case by nature, Psalms 14:... [ Continue Reading ]
I will shew thee, hear me; and that [which] I have seen I will declare; Ver. 17. _I will show thee, hear me_] Here Eliphaz useth a short but a lofty preface, calling hard for attention, and raising in Job an expectation of no mean matters. But _ Quid dignum tanto feret hic promissor hiatu_ - (Hora... [ Continue Reading ]
Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid [it]: Ver. 18. _Which wise men have told from their fathers_] Who have carefully and faithfully transmitted it as a doctrinal truth to us, their posterity, from hand to hand. For in Job's time it is likely that the Scriptures were not ye... [ Continue Reading ]
Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. Ver. 19. _To whom alone the earth was given_] Noah and his pious posterity (as was above noted), whom Methodius and other ancients call, _Mundi chiliarchos,_ the lords of the whole world, given them by the possessor of heaven a... [ Continue Reading ]
The wicked man travaileth with pain all [his] days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. Ver. 20. _The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days_] He tormenteth himself, or thrusteth himself through (so some read it), 1 Timothy 6:10. He takes no more rest than one upon a rack; he... [ Continue Reading ]
A dreadful sound [is] in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. Ver. 21. _A dreadfid sound is in his ears_] Heb. A sound of fear and terror. Not one, but many at once, so that he is a _Magormissabib, factus a corde sua fugitivus_ (Tertul.), as Cain, that wretch, and those Hivite... [ Continue Reading ]
He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. Ver. 22. _He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness_] He despondeth and despaireth of a better condition, sighing out that doleful ditty, _Spes et fortuna valete; _ Farewell hope and fortune, he lo... [ Continue Reading ]
He wandereth abroad for bread, [saying], Where [is it]? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. Ver. 23. _He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it?_] He is hard put to it for necessaries, and would be glad of a piece of bread, as 1 Samuel 2:5; 1 Samuel 2:36. This was the... [ Continue Reading ]
Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. Ver. 24. _Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid_] Or scare him, not only out of his comforts, but out of his wits and senses too, as it did Charles the Great, Cardinal of Lorrain (Meutis in... [ Continue Reading ]
For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. Ver. 25. _For he stretcheth out his hand against God_] Worthy therefore to have a dead palsy transfused into it, or dried up, as Jeroboam's was, when but stretched out against a prophet; and as Valens the em... [ Continue Reading ]
He runneth upon him, [even] on [his] neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: Ver. 26. _He runneth upon him, even on his neck_] Vulgate, He runneth upon him (God) with an erected neck; such is his audaciousness and impudence, daring to do any heinous wickedness, and not fearing to run against t... [ Continue Reading ]
Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on [his] flanks. Ver. 27. _Because he covereth his face with his fatness_] This is given in as one chief cause of his insolence; he is a belly god, he maketh plaits upon the paunch, so Broughton rendereth it; he hath fattened... [ Continue Reading ]
And he dwelleth in desolate cities, [and] in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. Ver. 28. _And he dwelleth in desolate cities_] Such as had been before desolated, but are now by him edified again, to get him a name and a renown amongst men, and to make himself formidabl... [ Continue Reading ]
He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. Ver. 29. _He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance, &c._] If he be rich, it is for a mischief, neither is it likely long to continue with him, for God will blow upon... [ Continue Reading ]
He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. Ver. 30. _He shall not depart out of darkness_] But be held under remediless misery, being ever blasted and benighted, till God at last breathe forth upon him his final displea... [ Continue Reading ]
Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence. Ver. 31. _Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity_] Let it suffice him that he hath been once already deceived by the uncertainty of riches, which were never true to those which trusted them, nor ever will be, 1... [ Continue Reading ]
It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. Ver. 32. _It shall be accomplished before his time_] Heb. In not his day. That recompense before mentioned of calamity and death shall be hastened, so that they shall not live out half their days, Psalms 55:22, but die _te... [ Continue Reading ]
He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. Ver. 33. _He shall shake off his unripe grapes as the vine_] _Filios intelligit per batra, et pueros per florem,_ saith Vatablus: _i.e._ By unripe grapes he meaneth the wicked man's sons grown up; and by fl... [ Continue Reading ]
For the congregation of hypocrites [shall be] desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. Ver. 34. _For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate_] Heb. Of the hypocrite; where he seemeth to point at Job, as by the unripe grapes, and blasted flowers of the olive, he had unde... [ Continue Reading ]
They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit. Ver. 35. _They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity_] Here Elipbaz for a close, by an elegant and usual metaphor taken from child bearing, showeth that all such as conceive with guile or wrong to others, by that... [ Continue Reading ]