_A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520._ Elihu desires a further hearing, Job 36:1. Describes the methods of providence, Job 36:5. Warns and counsels Job, vv16-21. Shows God's sovereignty and omnipotence, Job 36:22; Job 36:33.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Elihu also proceeded_ Having reprehended some of the unwarrantable expressions in Job's discourses, Elihu comes closer to the business, and speaks to the very cause itself, showing, from the nature of God, and the methods of his providence, that he will administer impartial justice to all men. That... [ Continue Reading ]
_Suffer me a little_ Give me thy patient attention but a little longer, and I have done. _I will show I have yet to speak on God's behalf_ That I have not yet said all that can be said to justify God's dispensations toward thee. _I will fetch my knowledge from afar_ From remote times, and places, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_God is mighty, and despiseth not any_ His greatness doth not cause him (as the greatness of men causeth them) to despise or oppress such as are mean. _He is mighty in strength and wisdom_ His strength is guided by wisdom, and therefore cannot be employed to do any thing unbecoming him, or unjust to... [ Continue Reading ]
_He preserveth not the life of the wicked_ Namely, for ever: but will in due time forsake them, and give them up to the destroyer. Ab. Ezra interprets it, _The years of the wicked shall be shortened. But giveth right to the poor_ He upholds, and will certainly, at the proper time, deliver his poor,... [ Continue Reading ]
_If they be bound in fetters_ If, through the vicissitude of worldly affairs, they are brought from their throne into a prison, as sometimes hath been done. _Then he showeth them their work_ Their evil works: by these afflictions he brings them to a sight of their sins; _that then have exceeded_ Tha... [ Continue Reading ]
_If they obey_ God's admonition and command; _they shall spend their days in prosperity_ They shall be restored to their former prosperity, and shall live and die in it. This he says according to the tenor of God's promises, especially in the Old Testament state of the church, and according to the c... [ Continue Reading ]
_But the hypocrites in heart_ Such as are truly void of that piety which they profess; _heap up wrath_ By their impenitence and obstinacy in all conditions they treasure up God's wrath against themselves; _they cry not_ Unto God for help. They live in the gross neglect of God and of prayer; _when he... [ Continue Reading ]
_And openeth their ears_ That is, causeth them to hear, and understand, and do the will of God; hearing being often put for obeying; _in oppression_ That is, in the time of their oppression; or, _by oppression_, or _tribulation_, as the means of opening their ears and hearts. He will not deliver all... [ Continue Reading ]
_But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked_ Or, the _cause_, or _sentence_, as the word דין _din_, most properly signifies. Thou hast fully pleaded their cause, and justified the hard speeches which wicked men utter against God. Therefore the just judgment of God _takes hold_ on thee. Thou... [ Continue Reading ]
_Because there is wrath_ Conceived by God against thee; because, by thy pleading the cause of the wicked, thou hast provoked God's wrath against thee; _beware lest he take thee away by his stroke_ בשׂפק, _besaphek_, properly, with the stroke of his hand or foot, an allusion to men's expressing their... [ Continue Reading ]
_Desire not the night_ The night of death, which Job had often desired, for then thou art irrecoverably gone: take heed of thy foolish and often-repeated desire of death, lest God inflict it upon thee in anger. _When people are cut off in their place_ By which individuals, and even whole nations and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, God exalteth by his power_, &c. God is omnipotent; and therefore can either punish thee far worse, or deliver thee, if thou dost repent. He is also infinitely wise; and as none can work like him, so none can teach like him: therefore do not presume to teach him how to govern the world. None... [ Continue Reading ]
_Remember_ Call to mind this thy duty; _that thou magnify his work_ Every work which he doth; do not condemn any of his providential works, but adore them as done with admirable wisdom and justice. _Behold_ With admiration and astonishment. _Every man may see it _ Namely, his work last mentioned. Th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, God is great_ Infinite in majesty, and power, and wisdom, and all perfections, and therefore just in all his ways; _and we know him not_ Namely, perfectly. Though we see something of him in his works, it is but little in comparison of that which is in him. He is incomprehensibly great in hi... [ Continue Reading ]
_For he maketh small_, &c. Having affirmed that God's works are incomprehensibly great and glorious, he now proves it from the most common works of nature and providence. And hence he leaves it to Job to consider how much more deep and inconceivable the secret counsels of God must be. _The drops of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Can any understand the spreadings of the clouds?_ Hebrew, _of a cloud:_ whence it comes to pass that a small cloud, no bigger than a man's hand, suddenly spreads over the whole heavens: how the clouds come to be suddenly gathered and so condensed as to bring forth thunder and lightning. _Or the noi... [ Continue Reading ]
_For by them he judgeth the people_ By thunder and lightning, and rain from the clouds, he executes his judgments against ungodly people. _He giveth meat_ By the same clouds by which he punisheth wicked men, he provideth plentiful showers to drop fatness upon the earth. _With clouds he covereth the... [ Continue Reading ]