Job 36:16

_EVEN SO WOULD HE HAVE REMOVED THEE OUT OF THE STRAIT INTO A BROAD PLACE, WHERE THERE IS NO STRAITNESS; AND THAT WHICH SHOULD BE SET ON THY TABLE SHOULD BE FULL OF FATNESS._ Literally, He would have led forth thee also out of the jaws of a strait" - namely, if thou hadst humbled thyself as the pious poor in affliction, and hadst opened thine ear to admonition in thy straits (Job 36:15; Psalms 18:19; Psalms 118:5). х_ MIPIY_ (H6310) _ TSAAR_ (H6862)] The "broad place" expresses the liberty, and the well-supplied "table" the abundance of the prosperous ...

15-23 Elihu shows that Job caused the continuance of his own trouble. He cautions him not to persist in frowardness. Even good men need to be kept to their duty by the fear of God's wrath; the wisest and best have enough in them to deserve his stroke. Let not Job continue his unjust quarrel with God and his providence. And let us never dare to think favourably of sin, never indulge it, nor allow ourselves in it. Elihu thinks Job needed this caution, he having chosen rather to gratify his pride and humour by contending with God, than to mortify them by submitting, and accepting the punishment. It is absurd for us to think to teach Him who is himself the Fountain of light, truth, knowledge, and instruction. He teaches by the Bible, and that is the best book; teaches by his Son, and he is the best Master. He is just in all proceedings....

Verse Job 36:16. _EVEN SO WOULD HE HAVE REMOVED THEE_] If thou hadst turned to, obeyed, and served him, thy present state would have been widely different from what it is....

EVEN SO WOULD HE HAVE REMOVED THEE - That is, if you had been patient and resigned, and if you had gone to him with a broken heart. Having stated the “principles” in regard to affliction which he held to be indisputable, and having affirmed that God was ever ready to relieve the sufferer if he would apply to him with a proper spirit, it was natural to infer from this that the reason why Job “continued” to suffer was, that he did not manifest a proper spirit in his trials. Had he done this, Elihu says, the hand of God would have been long since withdrawn, and his afflictions would have been removed. OUT OF THE STRAIT INTO A BROAD PLACE - From the narrow, pent up way, where it is impossible to move, into a wide and open path. Afflictions are compared with a narrow path, in which it is impossible to get. along; prosperity with a broad and open road in which there are no obstructions; compar...

EXPOSITION JOB 36:1 The two chapters, Job 36:1; Job 37:1, form a single discourse, and ought not to have been separated; or, at any rate, not so unskilfully as they are, in the middle of a description of a thunderstorm. They constitute a final appeal to Job, who is exhorted to submission, resignation, and patience, in consideration of God's inscrutability, and of his perfect justice, wisdom, and strength. Job 36:1 begins with a short preface (Job 36:1), in which Elihu seeks to prove his right to offer counsel to Job, after which God's justice is

EVEN SO,.... Here Elihu accommodates what he had said to the case of Job; that had he hearkened and been obedient to the voice of God in his rod, and had submitted to his chastening hand, and patiently bore his afflictions; HE, God, WOULD HAVE REMOVED THEE OUT OF THE STRAIT [INTO] A BROAD PLACE, WHERE [THERE IS] NO STRAITNESS: that is, out of the strait circumstances in which he was, into liberty; would have brought him into a large place, where he might walk at liberty, as David experienced, Psalms 4:1; and may be understood both in a temporal and spiritual sense. In a temporal sense; he was now in great straits, in poverty and affliction; these pressed him hard on every side, so that his way, as he says, was "fenced up, that he could not pass", Job 19:8. Now had he be

CHAPTER 36:1-21 _ 1. God's care over the godly (Job 36:1)_ 2. The purposes of affliction (Job 36:8) 3. Job to consider this (Job 36:19) Job 36:1. Elihu had told Job in the last verse of the preceding chapter that he had opened his mouth in vanity and had multiplied words without knowledge. That should have explained to Job the reason why God did not answer. There could be no reply from Job and so Elihu continues. He is not through yet with speaking in behalf of God. Sublimely he stands up for God. “I will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.” He tells Job, “One that is perfect in knowledge is with thee.” How could he say this? Becau

The godless cherish angry thoughts about God's discipline they refuse to cry for God's help (Job 36:13). They die young, perishing like the sodomites (those religiously consecrated to unnatural vice; see Deuteronomy 23:17). God saves the afflicted by his affliction, and opens their ear by adversity (following in Job 36:15 b mg. instead of text). So God would have dealt with Job (Job 36:16). As it is, Job is visited by the Divine judgment (Job 36:17). Let not Job be led astray by his sufferings (Job 36

Elihu's doctrine is in a word: God is great and despiseth not, He is great in strength of heart. His greatness is that of understanding, which enables Him to estimate all rightly, to see through all right and wrong, and to adapt His providence to the strong and to the weak, the evil and the good. This thought with the illustrations of it, Job 36:6, and the application of it to Job, vv16-25, exhaust the first half of this concluding speech....

EVEN SO WOULD HE HAVE REMOVED THEE, &C.— _He would have also screened thee from the edge of the broad sword, against which nothing can make resistance; and the provision of thy table should have been full._...