Elihu spake moreover, and said, Ver. 1. _Elihu spake moreover, and said_] His speech was for God, as before; and therefore he spake moreover. For, as Austin saith of the feast of Pentecost, _Gaudet produci haec solennitas; _ so we may say of a discourse of this nature, _Gaudet produci haec sermocin... [ Continue Reading ]
Thinkest thou this to be right, [that] thou saidst, My righteousness [is] more than God's? Ver. 2. _Thinkest thou this to be right?_] Heb. Reckonest thou this to be right? _q.d._ I appeal to thine own conscience. This is a sign of great confidence in the appealer, yet may it be done by men of corru... [ Continue Reading ]
For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? [and], What profit shall I have, [if I be cleansed] from my sin? Ver. 3. _For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee?_] Here he endeavours to prove the charge, grounding upon some words of Job's, as Job 9:22; Job 10:15, which seem to h... [ Continue Reading ]
I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee. Ver. 4. _I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee_] Thy three friends (who have not so well quit themselves in this controversy, as having answered little or nothing to this unsavoury saying of thine), and to the rest of the bystanders which... [ Continue Reading ]
Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds [which] are higher than thou. Ver. 5. _Look unto the heavens and see_] Yea, look into them, if thou couldst, as did Stephen the proto-martyr, Acts 7:56, and as our Saviour Christ, as man, could do (say some) with his bodily eyes; and as a believ... [ Continue Reading ]
If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or [if] thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? Ver. 6. _If thou sinnest, what dost thou against him?_] What more than show thy teeth? or shoot at a rock, where the arrow rebounds upon thee? In the sack of Constantinople the image of... [ Continue Reading ]
If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand? Ver. 7. _If thou be righteous, what givest thou him?_] Nothing, since he is self sufficient, and independent. He needeth us not, neither doth our righteousness reach him, Psalms 16:2. The Pharisees dreamed of an over-do... [ Continue Reading ]
Thy wickedness [may hurt] a man as thou [art]; and thy righteousness [may profit] the son of man. Ver. 8. _Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art_] Wicked men are many ways mischievous to others; and have much to answer for their other men's sins. How many are undone by their murders, adulteries... [ Continue Reading ]
By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make [the oppressed] to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty. Ver. 9. By reason of the multitude (or magnitude) of oppressions, &c.] Or, of the oppressed, whom they (that is, whom the oppressors, not worthy to be named, as neither is th... [ Continue Reading ]
But none saith, Where [is] God my maker, who giveth songs in the night; Ver. 10. _But none saith, Where is God my maker_] Heb. my makers; to note the Trinity, _Hebrew Text Note_ say some; others think that he speaks of God in the plural number only for honour's sake. They call not upon God as their... [ Continue Reading ]
Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven? Ver. 11. _Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth_] This many wretched people never consider; and are therefore heavily, but worthily, vexed by oppressors, _ut vexatio det intellectum,_ that s... [ Continue Reading ]
_There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men._ Ver. 12. _There they cry, but none giveth answer_] Cry they do, but not to the true God, John 1:5. The Papists have their he saints and she saints, for several uses. Or, if to the true God, yet not in a due manner; not in f... [ Continue Reading ]
Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it. Ver. 13. _Surely God will not hear vanity_] Prayer without faith is but an empty ring, a tinkling cymbal. _Neque enim omnes qui citharam habent, sunt citharaedi,_ Every sound is not music, neither is every complaint and outcry of... [ Continue Reading ]
Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, [yet] judgment [is] before him; therefore trust thou in him. Ver. 14. _Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, &c._] This is that _tertium Iobi pronuntiatum,_ Job's third speech, which Elihu taketh upon him to reprehend and refute. It is taken out o... [ Continue Reading ]
But now, because [it is] not [so], he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth [it] not in great extremity: _Ver 15. But now, because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger_] Because thou hast not yet done as I have prescribed, God is forced thus to treat thee, and to increase his plagues upon... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge. Ver. 16. _Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain_] _Dilatat, divaricat, rictum diducit ut bellua._ An open mouth is oft a purgatory to the master; _digito compesce labellum._ He multiplieth words without knowledg... [ Continue Reading ]