XXXVI. (1) ELIHU ALSO PROCEEDED. — It is not easy to acquit Elihu of some of the “arrogance” he was so ready to ascribe to Job. He professes very great zeal for God, but it is hard to see that some of his great professions are warranted. For instance, he says —... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL FETCH MY KNOWLEDGE FROM AFAR. — But is not this what Bildad had said before him? (Job 8:8, &c.); and yet the teaching of Job 36:6 is not very different from his.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE THAT IS PERFECT IN KNOWLEDGE. — We may presume that he meant God; but in the Authorised Version it looks very much as though he meant himself. (Comp. Job 37:16.) So apparently Vulg., “_perfecta scientia probabitur tibi.” _... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE RIGHTEOUS — _i.e._, the righteous man. (Comp. Psalms 113:5.)... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN HE SHEWETH THEM THEIR WORK. — The true nature of their conduct and their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly. This is Elihu’s special doctrine, that God’s chastisements are by way of discipline, to reform the future rather than to chastise the past.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL SPEND THEIR DAYS IN PROSPERITY. — It is, perhaps, not more easy to reconcile this teaching of Elihu’s with the realities of actual fact than it is the notions of Job’s friends as to direct retribution in life.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HYPOCRITES IN HEART. — The words rather mean _the godless or profane in heart._ THEY CRY NOT. — That is, cry not for help. WHEN HE BINDETH THEM. — That is, as in Job 36:8, he has been speaking especially of one kind of affliction, like that, namely, of Joseph.... [ Continue Reading ]
HE DELIVERETH THE POOR IN HIS AFFLICTION. — The point of Elihu’s discourse is rather that He delivereth the afflicted by his affliction; He makes use of the very affliction to deliver him by it as a means, “and openeth their ears by oppression.”... [ Continue Reading ]
EVEN SO WOULD HE HAVE REMOVED THEE. It is possible to understand this verse somewhat otherwise, and the sense may perhaps be improved. Elihu may be speaking, not of what God would have done, but of what He has actually done: “Yea, also He hath removed thee from the mouth of an adversary, even case a... [ Continue Reading ]
BECAUSE THERE IS WRATH. — “For there is wrath: now, therefore, beware lest He take thee away with one stroke, so that great ransom cannot deliver thee.” Literally it is, _let not a great ransom deliver thee,_ but the sense is probably like the Authorised Version.... [ Continue Reading ]
NO, NOT GOLD, NOR ALL THE FORCES OF STRENGTH. — The words here are doubtful. Some render, “Will He esteem thy riches, that thou be not in distress?” or, “all the forces of thy strength;” others, “Will thy cry avail, that thou be not in distress?” &c.; but there is authority for the Authorised Versio... [ Continue Reading ]
DESIRE NOT THE NIGHT — _i.e.,_ of death, as Job had done (Job 16:22; Job 17:13, &c., Job 19:27), or as, at all events, his words might be understood. For “people,” read _peoples: i.e.,_ nations.... [ Continue Reading ]
REGARD NOT INIQUITY. — Or, perhaps, the special sin of longing for death, for thou hast desired to die rather than bear thine affliction. Alas! Job’s case is not a solitary one, for who that has been tried as he was has not longed for the end?... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, GOD EXALTETH BY HIS POWER. — The rest of Elihu’s speech is splendidly eloquent. He dilates on the power and majesty of God, and appears to be speaking in contemplation of some magnificent natural phenomenon — as the tempest, or hurricane, or whirlwind — out of which the Lord ultimately spake... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH MEN BEHOLD. — Some render it, “Whereof men sing,” but the other seems to suit the context best.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DROPS OF WATER. — The origin and first beginnings of the tempest are described. “He maketh small,” or draweth up by exhalation. “They pour down rain,” or “they distil in rain from His vapour,” or “belonging to the vapour thereof.” The rain is first absorbed, and then distilled and poured down.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SPREADING OF THE CLOUDS — _i.e._, how the clouds are spread over the heavens, and heaped up one upon the other like mountains in the skies when the storm gathers. OR THE NOISE OF HIS TABERNACLE? — Or the thunderings of His pavilion (Psalms 18:12).... [ Continue Reading ]
HIS LIGHT appears to mean here the lightning which flashes forth from the cloud. AND COVERETH THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA. — Literally, _it hath covered the roots of the sea: i.e.,_ it, the lightning, or He, God, hath covered those clouds which are composed of the roots of the sea, that is, the drops of... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR BY THEM — _i.e.,_ these roots of the sea, these drops of water, these rain-clouds. “He judgeth peoples” by withholding them, or “giveth meat in abundance” by sending rain on the earth; or He may use them in excess, to chastise nations by inundations and the like. The change from _roots of the se... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH CLOUDS. — The word here rendered “clouds” really means _hands,_ and there seems to be no good reason why it should be otherwise understood. The verse will then read, “He covereth the lightning with His hands, and giveth it a charge that it strike the mark;” or, according to some, “giveth it a c... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NOISE THEREOF SHEWETH CONCERNING IT. — This verse is extremely difficult, and the sense very uncertain. We may translate the first clause, “The noise thereof (_i.e._, the crash of the thunder) declareth concerning Him:” it is His voice, and speaks of Him; but the last clause is almost unintellig... [ Continue Reading ]