_ELIPHAZ ASSERTS, THAT JOB'S JUSTIFICATION OF HIMSELF DOTH NOT PLEASE GOD, AND THAT HE IS SURROUNDED WITH SNARES, BECAUSE HE HAD BEEN GUILTY OF MANY INIQUITIES. HE EXHORTS HIM TO REPENTANCE, WITH PROMISES OF MERCY._ _Before Christ 1645._ _JOB 22:1. THEN ELIPHAZ THE TEMANITE ANSWERED_— Eliphaz here... [ Continue Reading ]
IS IT ANY PLEASURE? &C.— _Is it any advantage._ Heath.... [ Continue Reading ]
WILL HE REPROVE THEE— _Will he dispute with thee concerning thy religion?_ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THOU HAST TAKEN A PLEDGE— See chap. Job 24:7. Who that sees this ranked among the greatest enormities, says Bishop Warbuton, but will reflect that it must have been written by one studied in the law of Moses; which says, _If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT AS FOR THE MIGHTY MAN— _But if any one had sown a field for himself, being in thy favour, he received the fruit of it._ Houbigant, in part after the Syriac. Heath renders it, _but as for the mighty man, the whole land was for him; and thy particular favourite he might dwell in it._ The meaning o... [ Continue Reading ]
OR DARKNESS— _Thou beholdest darkness, and not light._ Houbigant. Heath renders it, _Or is it dark, that thou canst not see?_ Observing that the path of the wicked man is here represented as covered with darkness, so that he cannot see the snares which are laid for him, but falls into them: in antit... [ Continue Reading ]
IS NOT GOD IN THE HEIGHT OF HEAVEN?— _Is not God high above the heavens? Yea, see the summit of the stars how high they are._ This verse is the answer which he supposes Job to make; the consequences of which he draws out at large in the following verses. He takes his handle from Job 22:16 of the for... [ Continue Reading ]
HAST THOU MARKED? &C.— As the universal deluge was a most signal and memorable instance of God's displeasure against wickedness and wicked men, Eliphaz takes occasion to enlarge upon it for five or six verses together, as a proper lesson (so he thought it) for his friend; and then closes it with the... [ Continue Reading ]
ACQUAINT NOW THYSELF, &C.— _Humble thyself, I pray thee, before him, and make restitution._ Heath.... [ Continue Reading ]
RECEIVE, I PRAY THEE, &C.— This phrase, says Bishop Warburton, was taken from the verbal delivery of the Jewish law from Mount Sinai. He adds, "The rabbins were so sensible of the expressive peculiarity of this phrase, that they say the law of Moses is here spoken of by a kind of prophetic anticipat... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SHALT THOU LAY UP GOLD, &C.— _And count the fine gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks:_ Job 22:25. _For, the Almighty shall be thy fine gold,_ &c. Heath; who observes, that Grotius has given a right exposition of the 24th verse: _Value not the gold more than dust, nor... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN MEN ARE CAST DOWN, &C.— _For whoever humbleth himself shall be extolled and had in glory; he that hath lowly eyes shall be exalted:_ Job 22:30. _Whoever is innocent shall be safe, and delivered by the purity of his hands._ Houbigant, who understands the word אי _ai,_ with Grotius, to be an Arab... [ Continue Reading ]