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Job Chapter
Fifteen
New King James Version (NKJV)
INTRODUCTION TO JOB 15
Job's
three friends having in their turns attacked him, and he having given answer
respectively to them, Eliphaz, who began the attack, first enters the debate
with him again, and proceeds upon the same plan as before, and endeavours to
defend his former sentiments, falling upon Job with greater vehemence and
severity; he charges him with vanity, imprudence, and unprofitableness in his
talk, and acting a part unbecoming his character as a wise man; yea, with
impiety and a neglect of religion, or at least as a discourager of it by his
words and doctrines, of which his mouth and lips were witnesses against him, Job 15:1; he
charges him with arrogance and a high conceit of himself, as if he was the
first man that was made, nay, as if he was the eternal wisdom of God, and had
been in his council; and, to check his vanity, retorts his own words upon him,
or however the sense of them, Job 15:7; and also
with slighting the consolations of God; upon which he warmly expostulates with
him, Job 15:11; and in
order to convince him of his self-righteousness, which he thought he was full
of, he argues from the angels, the heavens, and the general case of man, Job 15:14; and then
he declares from his own knowledge, and from the relation of wise and ancient
men in former times, who made it their observation, that wicked men are
afflicted all their days, attended with terror and despair, and liable to
various calamities, Job 15:17; the
reasons of which are their insolence to God, and hostilities committed against
him, which they are encouraged in by their prosperous circumstances, Job 15:25;
notwithstanding all, their estates, riches, and wealth, will come to nothing, Job 15:28; and the
chapter is closed with an exhortation to such, not to feed themselves up with
vain hopes, or trust in uncertain riches, since their destruction would be
sure, sudden, and terrible, Job 15:31.
Job 15:1 Then
Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
YLT
1And Eliphaz the Temanite
answereth and saith: --
Then answered Eliphaz the
Temanite,.... Or, who was of Teman, as the Targum, the first of Job's
friends and comforters, the oldest of them, who first began the dispute with
him; which was carried on by his two other companions, who had spoken in their
turns; and now in course it fell to him to answer a second time, as he here
does,
and said,
as
follows.
Job 15:2 2 “Should a wise man answer
with empty knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind?
YLT
2Doth a wise man answer
[with] vain knowledge? And fill [with] an east wind his belly?
Should a wise man utter
vain knowledge,.... As Job had been thought to be, or as he himself thought he
was, which he might say sarcastically; or as he really was, not worldly wise,
nor merely wise in things natural, but in things divine; being one that had the
fear of God, which is the beginning of wisdom, and wisdom itself; believed in
Christ, and walked wisely and circumspectly before men; now it is not becoming
such a man to utter vain knowledge, or such knowledge as is like the wind, or,
as the Targum, windy knowledge; empty, not solid, nor satisfying, but swells
and puffs up, and is knowledge falsely so called; but it does not appear that
Job did utter such vain and fruitless things as deserved to be compared to the
wind:
and fill his belly with the east wind; which is
noisy and blusterous, rapid and forcible, bearing all before it, and very
infectious in hot countries; and such notions Job, according to Eliphaz,
satisfied himself with, and endeavoured to insinuate them into others; which
were nothing but great swelling words of vanity, and tended to subvert the
faith of men, and overthrow all religion, and were very unwholesome,
infectious, and ruinous to the minds of men, as suggested.
Job 15:3 3 Should he reason with
unprofitable talk, Or by speeches with which he can do no good?
YLT
3To reason with a word not
useful? And speeches -- no profit in them?
Should he reason with
unprofitable talk?.... That is, the wise man, such a man as Job; does it become him
to talk such idle stuff? that which is false, and foolish, and frothy, that
does not minister grace to the hearer, and is not for the use of edifying; as
whatever is untrue, unwise, vain, and empty, must be useless and answer no good
end; nothing is profitable but what tends to increase solid wisdom and
spiritual knowledge, and to exercise grace, and influence an holy life;
wherefore what are profitable to the souls of men are the doctrines of the word
of God, and the experiences of the grace of God, communicated by his people one
to another; and nothing but these, or what agrees with them, should come out of
the mouth of a wise and good man; nor can such an one expect to convince men of
their errors, or reprove them for their sins with success, who deals in words
of no profit:
or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? but may do a
great deal of hurt both to himself and others; but the same thing is here
signified in different words,
Job 15:4 4 Yes, you cast off fear, And
restrain prayer before God.
YLT
4Yea, thou dost make
reverence void, And dost diminish meditation before God.
Yea, thou castest off fear,.... Not of
man; a slavish fear of man is to be cast off, because that brings a snare,
deters men from their duty, and leads into sin; though there is a fear and
reverence of men which ought to be given to them, "fear to whom
fear", Romans 13:7; but
here the fear of God is meant, which is to be understood of the grace of fear,
of which Job was possessed; that could not be cast off, for this is not what is
in a man naturally, or is by the light of nature, and arises from natural
conviction, which may be cast off, as was by Pharaoh; but this is a blessing of
the covenant of grace, sure and firm, and is one of the gifts of grace that are
without repentance; it is a part of internal grace, which can never be lost; it
is improved and increased by fresh discoveries of the grace and goodness of
God, and is an antidote and preservative against apostasy: perhaps the whole
worship of God may be meant, external worship, or outward religion in the form
of it, which is sometimes signified by the fear of God: Ecclesiastes 12:14;
and it is cast off when it is neglected and not attended to, or when men become
profane, after they have made a profession of religion; but as neither of these
can be thought to be the case of Job, rather the meaning of Eliphaz may be,
that Job did not show that reverence to God he should, as his words may seem,
in Job 13:20; or that
by his way of talk and reasoning, and by the notions he had imbibed and gave
out, and the assertions he laid down, all religion would be made void among
men; for if, as he had said, God "destroys the perfect and the wicked, and
the tabernacles of robbers prosper, and the just men are laughed to
scorn", Job 9:22; who would
fear God? it might be inferred from hence, that it is a vain thing to serve
him, and there can be no profit got by keeping his ordinances, and walking
before him; this is the way to put an end to all religion, as if Eliphaz should
say, and discourage all regard unto it:
and restrainest prayer before God; prayer is to be made to
God and to him only, it is a part of religious worship, directed to by the
light of nature, and ought to be performed by every man; it is a special
privilege of the saints, who have a covenant God on a throne of grace to go to,
and can pray in a spiritual manner for spiritual things; and especially is to
be observed in times of trouble, in which Job now was, and never to be disused;
now this charge either respects Job himself, that he left off praying, which
can hardly be supposed; or that he drew out prayer to a great length, as some
understand the wordsF23תגרע
"tulisti", V. L. "traheres", Cocceius;
"multiplicasti", so some in Bar Tzemach. , like the tautologies of
the Heathen; or he diminished prayer, as othersF24"Imminues",
Montanus; "imminuisti", Bolducius; "diminuis", Schmidt;
"minuis", Schultens. , lessened the times of prayer, and the
petitions in it: or rather it may respect others; not that it can be thought he
should lay his injunctions on those over whom he had any authority, forbidding
his servants, or those about him, to pray; but that by his manner of reasoning
he discouraged prayer, as Eliphaz thought, as an useless thing; for if God
laughs at the trials and afflictions of the innocent, and suffers wicked men to
prosper, who would pray to him, or serve him? see Job 9:23.
Job 15:5 5 For your iniquity teaches
your mouth, And you choose the tongue of the crafty.
YLT
5For thy mouth teacheth
thine iniquity, And thou chooseth the tongue of the subtile.
For thy mouth uttereth
thine iniquity,.... Which was in his heart, and so was an evidence against him,
and proved him perverse, and made good the above charges exhibited against him:
or "thine iniquity teaches thy mouth"F25יאלף עונך פיך
"docuit iniquitas tua os tuum", V. L. Pagninus, Bolducius;
"docebit", Montanus; "docet", Piscator, Cocceius; so
Tigurine version. ; the wickedness that was in his heart prompted his mouth to
speak the things he did, see Matthew 12:34; and
this, as it was an instance of his folly, Proverbs 15:2; so a
proof of his casting off the fear of the Lord; for if that had been before his
eyes, he would have bridled his lips, and not uttered all the wickedness of his
heart: for he that "bridleth not his tongue, this man's religion is
vain", James 1:26;
and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty; coloured over
things under specious pretences of religion and godliness, so that the simple
and ignorant took him for a holy good man, when he was at heart an hypocrite;
in this light Eliphaz puts Job, as one that walked and talked in craftiness,
and was a deceitful worker, and imposed upon men with false glosses and
plausible pretences.
Job 15:6 6 Your own mouth condemns
you, and not I; Yes, your own lips testify against you.
YLT
6Thy mouth declareth thee
wicked, and not I, And thy lips testify against thee.
Thine own mouth condemneth
thee, and not I,.... Or shows thee to be a wicked person, guilty of things
charged upon thee; out of thine own mouth thou art convicted, there needs no
other evidence to be brought against thee, that is sufficient: and thou savest
me, and any other, the trouble of passing the sentence of condemnation upon
thee; thou hast done it thyself, thine own mouth is judge and jury, and brings
in the verdict, and pronounces it, as well as is the witness, as follows, and
is instead of a thousand witnesses, Job 9:20;
yea, thine own lips testify against thee; and therefore
there were no need of producing any other testimony; what he had said showed
that his talk was vain and unprofitable, unbecoming a wise man, and tending to
make null and void the fear of God among men, to discourage all religious
exercises, and particularly prayer before God.
Job 15:7 7 “Are you the first
man who was born? Or were you made before the hills?
YLT
7The first man art thou
born? And before the heights wast thou formed?
Art thou the first man that was born?.... The first
Adam, who was created in wisdom and knowledge, and had a large share of
understanding in things natural, civil, and moral; knew much of God and his
perfections, of the works of nature, and of the wisdom and power of God
displayed in them; one instance of which is his giving names to the creatures;
dost thou think thou art that selfsame individual person, the father of all
mankind, who had such a stock and fund of knowledge, until, by seeking after
more, and that unlawful, he lost much of what he had? dost thou imagine that
thou hast lived ever since, and seen or known everything that was done in all
ages from the beginning, and hast gathered a large share of knowledge from long
experience, and by making strict observations on men and things in such a
length of time? or, as the Targum,
"wast
thou born with the first man, without father and mother?'
and
hast thou existed ever since? or, "wast thou born before Adam?"
before the first manF26So Mercerus, and some in Vatablus, Schmidt,
Jarchi, & Bar Tzemach. ? Art thou the wisdom and son of God, who was before
Abraham, before Adam, before any creature whatever, was in the beginning with
God, and was God? What dost thou make thyself to be, Job? thou, a mere man,
dost thou make thyself to be the eternal God? for to be before the first man,
or to be the firstborn of every creature, or to be born before every creature,
is expressive of eternity, as is the following phrase:
or wast thou made before the hills? or existed before they
did? as is said of the son of God, Proverbs 8:25; what
is before the hills and mountains is eternal; the eternal God and his eternity
are thus described, Psalm 90:2.
Job 15:8 8 Have you heard the counsel
of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
YLT
8Of the secret counsel of
God dost thou hear? And withdrawest thou unto thee wisdom?
Hast thou heard the secret
of God?.... Or, "in the secret of God"F1בסוד אלוה "in secreto
Dei", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius. Schultens. , in his cabinet council,
what was said and done there? hast thou stood in the council of God? hast thou
been one of his privy council, or counsellors, and been let into all the secrets
of God, of his purposes and providence, and into the reasons of all his
administrations, that thou talkest so freely, and boldly, and confidently as
thou dost? Indeed Christ, the son of God, was the Angel of the great council;
the counsel of peace was between him and his Father; yea, he was in his bosom,
and privy to all his thoughts, designs, and decrees, and knew everything, what
would be, and the reasons thereof; as well as the nature of his Father, his
perfections, mind, and will, which he has declared: but could Job pretend to
this, or anything like it? no, surely. Indeed there are some secrets of God
which he makes known to his people, and no doubt, in some measure, Job was
acquainted with them; such as the secrets of God's love, and of the covenant of
his grace, which are with them that fear him; and such an one Job was, and with
whom, in times past at least, the secret of God was, even his everlasting love
in the open manifestation of it to him; which is a secret in the heart of God,
till revealed and shed abroad in the hearts of his people; and so the
"mysteries" of God, as some render the word, the doctrines of the
Gospel, the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, the knowledge of them, is given
to the sons of men; Job was acquainted with them, with the incarnation of
Christ, redemption by him, and the resurrection of the dead; the secrets of
Providence, though they may not always be known now, they will be hereafter;
yea, God does nothing but he reveals his secrets to his servants the prophets Amos 3:7, as he did
to Abraham his friend; and as for the purposes of God, which are the secret
things that belong to him, and can never be known unless revealed, and when fulfilled,
even those, such as relate to the election of men, their redemption by Christ,
and the effectual calling, are made known by God's saving and calling them
according to them:
and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? not keep it
to himself without communicating it to others, which to do is to imprison the
truth, and detain it in unrighteousness; as men have freely received, they
should freely give; but he arrogated and ascribed wisdom to himself,
monopolized it, and would allow no man to have any share of it but himself; he
reckoned so highly of himself, as if he was the only wise man in the world;
thus what he charged his friends with Eliphaz retorts upon himself, Job 12:2; as he
does his own words in Job 15:9.
Job 15:9 9 What do you know that we
do not know? What do you understand that is not in us?
YLT
9What hast thou known, and
we know not? Understandest thou -- and it is not with us?
What knowest thou that we
know not?.... Which are pretty near the words of Job to his friends, Job 12:3; and to
the same sense is what follows:
what understandest
thou which is not in us? in our hearts, minds, and understanding; or
among us, which one or other, or all of us, have not: yet all men have not
knowledge alike; some that profess themselves to be wise, and to have a large
share of knowledge, are fools; and such who think they know something
extraordinary, and more than others, know nothing as they ought to know; and
such who have gifts of real knowledge have them different one from another;
even of the things known there is not a like degree of knowledge, and
particularly in spiritual things; some are little children in understanding,
some are young men and know more, and some are fathers, and know most of all;
an equality in knowledge belongs to another state, to the latter day glory,
when the watchmen shall see eye to eye, and all shall know the Lord, from the
least to the greatest, and especially to the ultimate glory, when saints will
know as they are known.
Job 15:10 10 Both the gray-haired and
the aged are among us, Much older than your father.
YLT
10Both the gray-headed And
the very aged [are] among us -- Greater than thy father [in] days.
With us are both the
grayheaded,.... The grayheaded man, or one that is so, it is in the singular
number; gray hairs are a sign of old age, and an emblem of wisdom, see Job 12:12; to which
words Eliphaz may be thought to refer; Job there suggesting as if wisdom was
with him, being an ancient man:
and very aged men; or "man" rather; Mr. Broughton
renders it, and "all gray", as if the other word only signifies one
that has a mixture of gray hairs on him, but this one all whose hairs are
turned gray:
much elder than thy father; or "greater",
as the same learned man renders it; and so Aben Ezra and Bar Tzemach say in the
Arabic language the word signifies, and may design a third person. Ben Gersom
thinks that Eliphaz was older than Job, and that his other two friends were
younger than he, or Zophar only was younger than he; one of the Targums
paraphrases the words thus,
"but
Eliphaz who is gray, and Bildad who is aged, are with us, and Zophar who is
greater in days than thy father;'
it
appears that they were very old men by what Elihu says, Job 32:6; though it
may be Eliphaz may not barely have respect to themselves and their age, but to
their ancestors, their fathers, from whom they had their knowledge, when they
were but of yesterday, and knew little, and so pleads antiquity on their side;
and it has been observed that Teman, from whence Eliphaz was, was famous for
wisdom, and wise men in it, at least it was so in later times; and if so early,
the observation would be more pertinent, and the sense might be thought to be,
that we have at Teman men as ancient and as wise as at Uz, in the schools of
the one as in the schools of the other, and so have the opportunity of gaining
as much wisdom and knowledge as Job: or it may be the meaning only is this,
that we have on our side the question as many ancient and learned men, or more,
than Job can pretend to; and thus, as before, antiquity is pleaded; but is not
a sure rule to go by, at least by trusting to it men may be led aside; for
though truth is the good old way, and is the oldest way, yet error is almost as
old as truth; it follows so close upon the heels of it, that it is difficult,
in some cases, to discern which is first, though truth always is: there is the
old way which wicked men have trodden; and a pretence to antiquity, if not
carefully observed, may lead into it, see Jeremiah 6:16, Job 22:15.
Job 15:11 11 Are
the consolations of God too small for you, And the word spoken gently[a] with you?
YLT
11Too few for thee are the
comforts of God? And a gentle word [is] with thee,
Are the consolations of God small with thee?.... Meaning
either those which Eliphaz and his friends had administered, when, upon his
repentance and reformation, they promised him great and good things that should
befall him and his family, and that his latter end should be greater than his
beginning; which Job slighted, took no notice of, nor entertained any hope
concerning it; and these they called the consolations of God, not only because
great, as things excellent have the name of God added to them, to express their
excellency, but because they were administered in the name of God, and were
according to the word and will of God, at least as they thought: Ben Gersom
renders it, "the consolations of these"; these were Bildad and
Zophar; so Bar Tzemach; or, as others, "these consolations"F2תנחומות אל "consolationes
istorum virorum", Vatablus; "consolationes istae", so some in
Drusius. which I and my friends have suggested; but not human, rather divine
consolations are meant; and this is a fresh charge against Job, that he made light
of such, even the consolations of God, Father, Son, and Spirit, who are each of
them comforters; saints may and should comfort one another, and ministers of
the Gospel are Barnabases, sons of consolation; but God is the great Comforter,
it is he only can speak and apply comfort to purpose; and his consolations are
not to be accounted "small", if it be considered from whence they
come, from the great God, the Creator, to creatures, dust and ashes, sinful
ones, on whom they are bestowed, such as are undeserving of them, yea,
deserving of the wrath of God, and the curses of his law; and also the nature
of these comforts, as that they are strong consolations, and effectual through
the power and grace of God, and are everlasting, the matter and foundation of
them being so; and though they may be refused through unbelief, as being too
great in the view of a sinful creature for himself yet they can never be
accounted small, or slighted and despised by a gracious soul; nor can it be
though they were by Job, since he was so distressed with the arrows of the
Almighty, a sense of divine wrath, and was so desirous of the divine Presence,
and even begged he might take comfort a little:
is there any secret thing with thee? any secret wisdom and
knowledge which they were strangers to; or any secret way of conveying comfort
to him they knew not of; or any secret sin in him, any Achan in the camp, Joshua 7:11, that
hindered him from receiving comfort, or put him upon slighting what was offered
to him.
Job 15:12 12 Why does your heart carry
you away, And what do your eyes wink at,
YLT
12What -- doth thine heart
take thee away? And what -- are thine eyes high?
Why doth thine heart carry
thee away?.... To such conceit of thyself, and contempt of others, and even
to slight the consolations of God; the heart, being deceitful and wicked,
sometimes carries away good men to say and do those things which are
unbecoming; and if, in any instance, this was Job's case, it was owing to his
own heart, which carried him beyond due bounds; for whenever any man is
"tempted" to do evil, "he is drawn away of his own lust",
and enticed, James 1:14;
and what do thine eyes wink at; conniving at and
shutting his eyes against his own sins and iniquities, unwilling to see them,
and be convinced of them, and own them; or shutting them against the charges
and reproofs of his friends, and all the light and evidence with which they
came; or rather as carelessly attending to them, and scoffing and sneering at
them: some render it, "what do thine eyes aim at"F3זמון "collimant", Junius & Tremellius,
Piscator, Cocceius; so Broughton. ? as men, when they take an aim at a mark,
wink with or shut one eye; what are thy designs? what hast thou in view? what
wouldest thou be at, talking and behaving in such a manner as thou dost?
Job 15:13 13 That you turn your spirit
against God, And let such words go out of your mouth?
YLT
13For thou turnest against
God thy spirit? And hast brought out words from thy mouth:
That thou turnest thy
spirit against God,.... Not against men, his friends only, but against God himself,
being filled with wrath and indignation at him; showing the enmity of his heart
unto him, and committing hostilities upon him, stretching out his hand, and
strengthening himself against him, running upon him, on the thick bosses of his
buckler, as after expressed:
and lettest such words go out of thy mouth? as in Job 9:22.
Job 15:14 14 “What is man, that
he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be
righteous?
YLT
14What [is] man that he is
pure, And that he is righteous, one born of woman?
What is man, that
he should be clean?.... Frail, feeble, mortal man, or woeful man, as Mr. Broughton
renders it; since he is sinful, whereby he is become such a weak and dying creature:
this question, as well as the following, is put by way of contempt, and as
lessening man in a comparative sense, and in order to abate any high conceit of
himself; who is not naturally clean, but the reverse, being conceived and born
in sin; nor can he be so of himself, nor by any means he is capable of; and
however clean he may be in his own eyes, or in the eyes of others, yet is not
clean in the sight of God, and still less pure than him, his Maker, as in Job 4:17; and
indeed cannot be clean at all, but through the grace of God, and blood of
Christ, which cleanses from all sin:
and he which is born of a woman; a periphrasis
of man, Job 14:1;
that he should be righteous? as no man is naturally;
there is none righteous, no, not one; though man originally was made righteous,
yet sinning he lost his righteousness, and all his posterity are without any;
nor can they become righteous of themselves, or by any works of righteousness
done by them; and though they may trust in themselves that they are righteous,
and may appear outwardly so before men, yet by the deeds of the law no flesh
can be justified or accounted righteous in the sight of God, and much less be
more just than he, as in Job 4:17; nor can
any of the sons of men be made or reckoned righteous but by the obedience of
Christ, or by that justifying righteousness that is in him: what Eliphaz here
says concerning the impurity, imperfection, and unrighteousness of men, are
very great truths; but if he aims at Job, as he seems to do he misses his mark,
and mistakes the man, and it is in vain with respect to him, or as a refutation
of any notions of his; for Job asserts the corruption and depravity of human
nature as strongly as it is expressed here, Job 14:4; nor does
he ever claim, but disclaims, sinless perfection, Job 9:20; nor did
he expect to be personally justified before God by any righteousness of his
own, the imperfection of which he was sensible of, but by the righteousness of
his living Redeemer, Job 9:30; but what
he pleaded for was the integrity and uprightness of his heart in opposition to
hypocrisy he was charged with; and the holiness and righteousness of his life
and conversation, in opposition to a course of living in sin, or to his being
guilty of some notorious sin or sins for which he was afflicted, as was
insinuated. Eliphaz here recurs to his oracle, Job 4:17; and
expresses it much to the same sense.
Job 15:15 15 If God puts no
trust in His saints, And the heavens are not pure in His sight,
YLT
15Lo, in His holy ones He
putteth no credence, And the heavens have not been pure in His eyes.
Behold, he putteth no
trust in his saints,.... In holy men, set apart for himself by his grace, whose sins
are expiated by the blood of his Son, and whose hearts are sanctified by his
Spirit, and who live holy lives and conversations, as Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob; these, though he trusts many of them with much, as the prophets of old
with the messages of his grace and will, and the ministers of the word with
treasure, in their earthen vessels, the sacred "depositum" of the
glorious Gospel, with gifts of grace, fitting them for their work, and with the
care of the souls of men; yet he trusts none of them with themselves, with the
redemption and salvation of their souls, with the regeneration and
sanctification of their hearts, and with their preservation to eternal glory;
he has put those into the hands of his Son and Spirit, and keeps them by his
power through faith unto salvation: the Targum renders it, in his saints above,
in the saints in heaven, in glorified men; he is there their all in all; as
their happiness, so their safety and protection; see an instance of his care and
preservation of them after the resurrection, when in a perfect state, Revelation 20:8; or
this may be understood of the angels, who sometimes are called saints, Deuteronomy 33:2;
who though they have been trusted with many things to impart to the sons of
men, yet not with the salvation of men, nor even with the secret of it; they
were not of God's privy council when the affair was debated and settled; nor
with other secrets, as the day and hour of the last judgment, the coming of the
Son of Man: or the sense may be, "he putteth no perfection or stability"F4לא יאמין "non posuit
stabilitatem", Pagninus; "immutabilitatem, sive perfectionem
absolutam", Vatablus; "firmum opus non produxit", Tigurine
version; "non crediturns esset firmitatem", Junius & Tremellius.
in them, that is, perfection in comparison of his; for if theirs were equal to
his, they would be gods, which it is impossible to be, or for God to make them
such; and likewise such stability as to have been able to have stood of
themselves, which it appears they had not, since many of them fell, and the rest
needed confirming grace, which they have by Christ, the Head of all
principalities and powers:
yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight; heaven born
men, partakers of the heavenly calling, whose hearts and affections are set on
heavenly things, and have their conversation in heaven; yet these, in the sight
of a pure and holy God, and in comparison of him, are impure and unholy; or
they of heaven, as Mr. Broughton renders it, the inhabitants of heaven; the
angels on high, as the Targum paraphrases it; these are charged by him with
folly, and they, conscious of their imperfection with respect to him, cover
their faces with their wings, while they celebrate the perfection of his
holiness, who is so glorious in it; though the natural heavens may be intended,
at least not excluded, and the luminous bodies in them, as Bildad seems to
explain it, Job 25:5; the stars
are reckoned the more dense and thick part of the heavens, the moon has its
spots, and by later discoveries it seems the sun is not without them, and the
heavens are often covered with clouds and darkness, and the present ones will
be purified with fire at the general conflagration, which supposes them unclean,
and they shall pass away, and new ones succeed, which implies imperfection in
the former, or there would be no need of others; this is the proof Eliphaz
gives of what he had suggested in Job 15:14.
Job 15:16 16 How much less man, who
is abominable and filthy, Who drinks iniquity like water!
YLT
16Also -- surely abominable
and filthy Is man drinking as water perverseness.
How much more abominable
and filthy is man,.... In his natural, corrupt, and unregenerate estate; man, as a
creature, was not abominable, but becoming sinful he is; he is so in himself,
cast out to the loathing of his person, being full of wounds, bruises, and
putrefying sores, yea, like a dead corrupted carcass, for he is dead in
trespasses and sins, Ephesians 2:1; and
he appears to be corrupt by the abominable works done by him, as all the works
of the flesh are; yea, he is abominable to himself, when made sensible of his
state and case; he then abhors himself, and repents of his sins, he loathes his
sins, and himself for them; and must be much more so in the sight of God, who
is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, as man is nothing else than a mass of
sin, and therefore must be "filthy"; for sin is of a defiling nature,
it defiles the body and all its members, and the soul with all its powers and
faculties: man is naturally and originally filthy, being conceived in sin, and
shapen in iniquity; nor can a clean thing be brought out of an unclean; he is
internally and universally unclean, his heart is a sink of sin, desperately
wicked, and wickedness itself; his mind and conscience are defiled, and there
is no place clean; and this appears outwardly in his actions, in his life and
conversation, which is filthy also: for if the ploughing of the wicked is sin,
and the righteousnesses of men are filthy rags, how impure must the immoral
actions of wicked men be? man is so impure, that nothing but the blood of
Christ can purify his heart, and purge his conscience from dead works, and make
white his outward conversation garment:
which drinketh iniquity like water; it is as natural to him
to commit iniquity as it is for a man to drink water when he is thirsty, and he
does it with equal gust, delight, and pleasure; as cold water is delightful to
a thirsty soul, so is sin to a sinner, a sweet morsel he holds in his mouth;
various lusts are various pleasures, though these pleasures are but for a
season: sin, like water, is easy to be come at, it is near at hand, it easily
besets men, and is all around them, and they easily give into it; everyone
turns to his wicked course as readily as the horse rushes into the battle; and
the phrase may be expressive of the abundance of sin committed, like large
draughts of water greedily taken down by a man athirst, and repeated again and
again; moreover, as water drank enters into men, and is taken down as an
harmless thing, yet often proves very hurtful and pernicious to them when drank
while they are hot, and occasions disorders, which issue in death; so sin,
though it may seem harmless, and be pleasing and refreshing, going down like
water, yet it works like poison, and is the gall of asps within a man, and ends
in eternal death, if grace prevents not. This is the conclusion and application
of the whole to man, arguing from the greater to the lesser, and so proving the
impurity and imperfection of man, and that he cannot be clean and righteous
before God of himself.
Job 15:17 17 “I will tell you, hear me;
What I have seen I will declare,
YLT
17I shew thee -- hearken to
me -- And this I have seen and declare:
I will show thee, hear me,.... Here
Eliphaz proceeds to illustrate and make plain, to clear and defend, his former
sentiment and proposition, and into which the rest of his friends came; that
only wicked, and not righteous men, are afflicted of God, especially in such a
manner as Job was; and he proposes to show things worthy of his regard, and not
such vain and unprofitable things which Job had uttered; and, in order to stir
up and engage his attention, he says what follows:
and that which I have seen I will declare; what he had
been an eyewitness of himself; the same he had observed, Job 4:8; and such
testimonies are most regarded, and reckoned most authentic and creditable,
especially when they come from men of character; see Luke 1:1.
Job 15:18 18 What wise men have told, Not
hiding anything received from their fathers,
YLT
18Which the wise declare --
And have not hid -- from their fathers.
Which wise men have told
from their fathers,.... Men wise in the best sense, not to do evil, but to do good;
not worldly wise men, but such who have wisdom, sound wisdom in the inward
parts; who are wise to salvation, and who are partakers of divine and spiritual
wisdom; and such men, as they would never tell an untruth, so they would never
report a false or a foolish thing they had heard, nor any thing but upon a good
testimony, what they have received from their fathers, who were also wise and
good men; and therefore such a testimony, though not ocular, but by tradition,
deserves regard:
and have not hid it; their fathers did not
hide it from them, and what they have received from their fathers they did not
hide it from their children; and so it came to be handed down from one to
another with great truth, exactness, and certainty, and to be depended upon,
see Psalm 44:1.
Job 15:19 19 To whom alone the land was
given, And no alien passed among them:
YLT
19To them alone was the land
given, And a stranger passed not over into their midst:
Unto whom alone the earth
was given,.... Who were intrusted with the government of whole kingdoms and
nations; and therefore not mean men, but persons of great consequence, and to
be credited; being such as were appointed by God, and by him put into such an
high office, for which they were qualified by him; and being observed to be
such by men, were made choice of by them to take the government of them: this
is not to be restrained to the land of Canaan, and to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, to whom it was given, and to their posterity; and who it is very
probable at this time did not yet enjoy it; but it respects more and larger tracts
of land, and the rulers of them, and at a greater distance of time, and very
likely Noah and his sons, to whom the whole earth was given, and by whom it was
replenished, and among whom it was divided; this seems opposed to what Job had
said, Job 9:24;
and no stranger passed among them; either there was no
wicked man among them, a stranger to God and godliness; or an enemy that
invaded them, passed through them, disturbed and dispossessed them of their
power and substance; which shows how wise and good men are regarded by the
Lord, and not distressed and afflicted as wicked men be; as well as serves to
strengthen the credit of their character, and the report received and derived
from them by tradition, and tacitly glances at Job's distress and disturbance
by the Chaldeans and Sabeans; next follows the account of the things either
seen by Eliphaz, or handed down from such credible persons now described.
Job 15:20 20 The wicked man writhes
with pain all his days, And the number of years is hidden from the
oppressor.
YLT
20`All days of the wicked he
is paining himself, And few years have been laid up for the terrible one.
The wicked man travaileth
with pain all his days,.... Either to commit iniquity, which he is
at great pains to do, and even to weariness; and, agreeably to the metaphor
used, he conceives it in his heart, he travails with it in his mind, and he
brings forth falsehood and a lie, what disappoints him, and which issues in
death, eternal death, see Psalm 7:14; or to
get wealth and riches, in obtaining of which he pierces himself through with
many sorrows; and these being like thorns, in using them he gets many a
scratch, and has a good deal of trouble, pain, and uneasiness in keeping them,
insomuch that he cannot sleep comfortably through fear of losing them;
wherefore he does not enjoy that peace, comfort, and happiness, it may be
thought he does; and, besides all this, he has many an inward pain and gripe of
conscience for his many sins and transgressions, which lie at the door of
conscience, and when it is opened rush in, and make sad work, and put him to great
pain and distress; for otherwise this cannot be said of every wicked man, that
they are in outward pain and distress, or in uncomfortable circumstances, at
least in appearance; for of some it is said, "they are not in trouble as
other men, neither are they plagued like other men", Psalm 73:5; they
live wholly at ease, and are quiet, and die so, at least seemingly: some
restrain this to some particular person whom Eliphaz might have in view; the
Targum paraphrases it of wicked Esau, who it was expected would repent, but did
not; others think that he had in his eye some notorious oppressor, that had
lived formerly, or in his time, as Nimrod, the mighty hunter and tyrant, or
Chedorlaomer, who held for some years several kings in subjection to him; but
it is much if he does not design Job himself; however, he forms the description
of the wicked man in such a manner, that it might as near as possible suit his
case, and in many things he plainly refers to it: and this is a sad case
indeed, for a wicked man to travail in pain all his days in this life, and in
the world to come to suffer the pains of hell fire to all eternity; the pains
of a woman, to which the allusion is, are but short at most, but those of the
wicked man are for life, yea, for ever; and among the rest of his pains of
mind, especially in this world, what follows is one, and which gives much
uneasiness: and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor; Mr. Broughton
renders it, soon numbered years; that is, few, as the years of man's life at
most are but few, and those of the oppressor fewer still, since bloody and
deceitful men do not live out half the days of the years of man's life, but are
oftentimes cut off in the midst of their days; and be they more or fewer, they
are all numbered and fixed, and the number of them is with God, and him only;
they are fixed and settled by the decree of God, and laid up in his purposes,
and reserved for the oppressor; but they are a secret to him, he does not know
how long he shall live, or how soon he may die, and then there will be an end
of his oppression and tyranny, and of his enjoyment of his wealth and riches
unjustly got; and this frets him, and gives him pain, and makes him uneasy;
whereas a good man is easy about it, he is willing to wait his appointed time,
till his change comes; he is not so much concerned to know the time of his
death as to be in a readiness for it. The Targum paraphrases this of Ishmael the
mighty: the oppressor is the same with the wicked man in the preceding clause.
Job 15:21 21 Dreadful sounds are
in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him.
YLT
21A fearful voice [is] in his
ears, In peace doth a destroyer come to him.
A dreadful sound is
in his ears,.... Or "a voice", or "sound of fears"F20קול פחדים "sonitus
timorum", Pagninus, Montanus, Bolducius; to the same sense Codurcus,
Junius & Tremellius, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schmidt, Schultens. , of what
causes fears; and which are either imaginary; sometimes wicked men, fear when
there is no cause or occasion for it; they fancy an enemy at their heels, and
flee, when none pursues them; they are a "Magormissabib", or
"terror on every side", a fear to themselves and all about them, Jeremiah 20:3; like
Cain, who fancied and feared that every man that met him would slay him Genesis 4:13; such
is the effect of a guilty conscience: or real; and these either extraordinary
sounds, such as were made in the ears of the Syrian host, which caused them to
flee, and leave their tents, and all their substance in them, 2 Kings 7:6; or
ordinary, as the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war, wars and rumours which
are very terrible, especially to some persons; or sounds of fears, reports of
one calamity after another, which cause fears; and so may respect Job's
troubles, and the dreadful sound of them in his ears, brought by one messenger
of bad tidings after another: but there is a more dreadful sound than either of
these, which is sometimes in the ears of wicked men; the terrors of the law of
God broken by them, the menaces and curses of it, and a sound of hell and
damnation, which continually rings in their ears, and fills the with horror and
black despair; and so the Targum,
"the
voice or sound of the fears in hell is in his ears;'
and
among the rest of his fears what follows is one, and so some connect the words,
thatF21"Vastatorem invasurum eum", Junius &
Tremellius. .
in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him; either God
the lawgiver, whose law he has transgressed, and who is able, as to save his
people, so to destroy the wicked, soul and body, in hell; and destruction from
the Almighty, Job himself says, was a terror to him, Job 31:23; or a
destroying angel, such an one as went through the land of Egypt, and destroyed
the firstborn, and into the camp of Israel, when they committed sin, and were
destroyed of the destroyer; or some enemy, plunderer, and robber, such as the
Sabeans and Chaldeans were, and to whom respect may be had; or even the devil
himself, Apollyon, the destroyer of the souls of men, and who sometimes wicked
men fear will come and carry them away, soul and body, to hell; or it may be
death is meant, which kills and destroys all men; and wicked men are afraid
that in the midst of all their peace and prosperity sudden destruction by death
should come upon them, like a thief in the night, and remove them from all
their enjoyments; and whether they are or no under any fearful apprehensions of
this, it certainly will be their case.
Job 15:22 22 He does not believe that
he will return from darkness, For a sword is waiting for him.
YLT
22He believeth not to return
from darkness, And watched [is] he for the sword.
He believeth not that he
shall return out of darkness,.... When he lies down at night he despairs
of ever seeing the light of the morning, through fear of an enemy, a robber, a
murderer, or of one disaster or another, Deuteronomy 28:66;
or when he is in any affliction and calamity, which is often signified by
darkness, he cannot persuade himself that he shall ever be delivered out of it,
and restored to his former condition again: and here Eliphaz seems to glance at
Job, who had no hope of his being brought into such a state of prosperity he
had been in; whereas good men, when in darkness, believe they shall be brought
again to the light, as the church in Micah 7:8; or the
infidel, who knows he must be laid in the dark and silent grave; the Heathen
man, such as were many of the neighbours of Eliphaz, the Idumeans, among whom
he dwelt, who were without the hope of a glorious resurrection; and which is an
article of pure revelation, and which the idolatrous Heathen were strangers to,
and so believed it not, or any deliverance from the grave; or this may respect
the blackness of darkness, the outer darkness, the darkness of hell, which when
once a wicked man is cast into, and enveloped with, he despairs, as he well
may, of ever being delivered out of it:
and he is waited for of the sword; or by them that kill
with the sword, as the Targum, who lie in wait for him, to rob him, and kill
him; or in his own apprehension he seems to have nothing but drawn swords about
him, or a sword hanging over his head, or the judgments of God ready to fall
upon him for his sins; for he, having killed others with the sword, must expect
to be killed with it himself.
Job 15:23 23 He wanders about for
bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is
ready at his hand.
YLT
23He is wandering for bread
-- `Where [is] it?' He hath known that ready at his hand Is a day of darkness.
He wandereth abroad for
bread,.... Either as a plunderer and robber, he roves about to increase
his worldly power and substance; or rather, being reduced to poverty, wanders
about from place to place, from door to door, to beg his bread; which is a
curse imprecated on the posterity of wicked men, Psalm 109:10;
saying, where is
it? where is bread to be had? where shall I go for it? where lives a
liberal man that will give it freely and generously? by this question it seems
as if it was difficult for such a man to get his bread by begging; he having
been cruel and oppressive to others, unkind and ungenerous in his time of
prosperity, now finds but few that care to relieve him; and indeed a man that
has not shown mercy to the indigent, when in his power to have relieved them,
cannot expect mercy will be shown to him; this he does, wanders about, seeking
food, "wheresoever he is"F23So Noldius in Ebr. Concord.
Part. p. 87. :
he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand; either that a
day of affliction and adversity is coming upon him, perceiving his affairs to
grow worse and worse, or to be immediately and already on him, which obliges
him to wander about for bread; or that the day of death is at hand, which he is
made sensible of by one symptom or another; or rather it may be the day of
everlasting darkness in hell, the wrath of God to the uttermost he has
deserved; he finds the day of judgment is at hand, and the Judge at the door,
and in a short time he must receive the reward of eternal vengeance for the
wicked deeds he has done; for so the words may be rendered, "that the day
of darkness is prepared by his hand"F24בידו
"suis factis", Tigurine version; "per manum suam", Schmidt.
; by the evil works his hand has wrought, and so has treasured up to himself
wrath against the day of wrath, and righteous judgment of God.
Job 15:24 24 Trouble and anguish make
him afraid; They overpower him, like a king ready for battle.
YLT
24Terrify him do adversity
and distress, They prevail over him As a king ready for a boaster.
Trouble and anguish shall
make him afraid,.... Either his present troubles shall frighten him, they being
so very dismal, terrible, and distressing, and make him fear that others were
coming on, more dreadful and formidable; or those troubles he fears will be his
portion hereafter, these terrify him beyond measure, even that indignation and
wrath, tribulation and anguish, that shall come upon every soul of man that
doeth evil, Romans 2:8;
they shall prevail against him as a king ready to the battle; that is,
trouble and anguish shall prevail against him; he will be no more able to
resist them than a very inferior force, or even a single man, is able to resist
a warlike king, attended with a numerous army, and these set in battle array;
such a man's troubles will come upon him as an armed man, against which he
cannot stand; the Targum is,
"they
shall surround him as a king prepared for a footstool;'
who
being taken by the enemy shall be used as a footstool to mount on horseback;
and as the word has the signification of a globe or ball, see Isaiah 22:18; some
think it has respect to the manner of kings, when taken captive, put into an
iron cage, as Bajazet was by Tamerlane; or into an iron hoop, bound hand and
foot, and hung up in chains; or, as Ben Gersom thinks, to the manner of
drowning persons, who used to be tied hand and foot, as if rolled up in the
form of a globe, and so cast into the water; but rather the reference is to an
army, besieging a place all around in the form of a ball or globe, so that
there is no escaping them; or rather it may be to a king drawing up his army in
such a form, ready to engage in battle; or putting it in such a position when
encamped or entrenched, waiting the motion of the enemy; see 1 Samuel 26:5; and
such are the troubles that surround and prevail against a wicked man, see Isaiah 29:3; the
reasons of the wicked man being brought into such a woeful condition follow.
Job 15:25 25 For he stretches out his
hand against God, And acts defiantly against the Almighty,
YLT
25For he stretched out
against God his hand, And against the Mighty he maketh himself mighty.
For he stretched out his
hand against God,.... Being an hater of him, an enemy to him, yea, enmity itself
against him; an enemy in his mind, which appears by his wicked works, which are
so many acts of hostility against God; all sins are against God, his nature,
his will, his law, and all his remonstrances, exhortations, cautions, and
instructions; but some are more daring and impudent than others, or are
committed in a more open, bold, and audacious manner, as were those committed
by the inhabitants of Sodom, and those who are similar to them; especially such
as strike at the being of God and his perfections, his providence and
government of the world; and such as deny these may most truly be said to
stretch out their hands against God, and strike at him: and this may regard not
only sins committed against the light of nature and the law of God, but against
the evangelic revelation, the doctrines of the Gospel, and the ordinances of
it; for such who deny the one, and reject the other, openly oppose themselves
to God, and expose themselves to his wrath and vengeance; for of how much sorer
punishment shall such be thought worthy, who trample Christ and his blood under
foot, despise and disobey his Gospel:
and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty; by hardening
his heart against him as Pharaoh did; by putting on a bold and brazen
countenance, by setting his mouth against God in heaven, and suffering, his
tongue to walk through the earth, fearing neither God nor man; by entering into
a friendship with the world, and making alliances with the enemies of God, even
by making a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell; all which is
egregious folly and madness: for a sinful man to oppose himself to God is to
set briers and thorns to a consuming fire; for a weak feeble creature to set
himself against the Almighty, who can crush him in a moment, and send him down
to hell, is the height of folly; let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of
the earth, but not man with his Maker; who ever strengthened or hardened
himself against him, and prospered?
Job 15:26 26 Running stubbornly against
Him With his strong, embossed shield.
YLT
26He runneth unto Him with a
neck, With thick bosses of his shields.
He runneth upon him, even
on his neck,.... As a fierce and furious enemy runs upon another with great
wrath and fury; as the he goat in Daniel's vision ran upon the ram, in the fury
of his power, that is, Alexander upon Darius; which instance Bar Tzemach refers
to; and as an adversary, who throws down his weapons, and goes in to closer
quarters, and takes his antagonist by the throat, or round the neck, in order
to throw him down to the ground; in such a bold and insolent manner does the
wicked man encounter with God; he makes up to him, and flies in his face, and
most audaciously attacks him: or he runs upon him "with his
neck"F25בצואר "erecto
collo", V. L. Piscator; "duro collo", Drusius, Michaelis;
"cum cervice", Cocceius, Schmidt, Schultens. ; with a stretched out
neck, in the most haughty manner, with a neck like an iron sinew, and with a
brow like brass:
upon the thick bosses of his bucklers; alluding to
shields, embossed in the middle, where they are thicker than in the other
parts, and used to have a spike of iron set in the middle; so that it was
daring and dangerous to run upon them: these may design the perfections of God,
denied by the wicked man; or his providential dispensations, despised by him;
or his purposes and decrees ridiculed, replied unto, and disputed; or the
flaming sword of justice, and the curses of a righteous law, in defiance of
which wicked men go on in sin: or "with the bosses of his bucklers"F26בעבי גבי מגניו
"cum erassitie umbonum clypeorum suorum", Cocceius; so Schmidt,
Michaelis, Schultens. ; with all his family, as Schmidt; or employing all his
wealth and riches, his power and authority, against God, and the interest of
religion in the world. Some understand this of God, meeting the wicked man,
stretching out his hand, and strengthening himself against him, as if he, God,
ran upon the wicked man, and upon his neck, and took him by it, and shook him; as
in Job 16:12; and upon
the thick bosses of his buckler, his bones and nerves, as Mr. Broughton; or on
his power and wealth, which are not able to secure him from the vengeance of
the Almighty; but the former sense seems best.
Job 15:27 27 “Though he has covered his
face with his fatness, And made his waist heavy with fat,
YLT
27For he hath covered his
face with his fat, And maketh vigour over [his] confidence.
Because he covereth his
face with his fatness,.... He has no fear of God, nor shame for his sin; he blushes not
to rise up against God in the manner he does, because his eyes stand out with
fatness; or rather his face is covered with it, that is, he abounds in riches,
he enjoys great prosperity, a large affluence of all good things; and this
makes him haughty and imperious, neither to fear God, nor regard man like
Jeshurun, who, when he "waxed fat, was grown thick, and covered
with fatness, kicked" against God, and his providences, sinned and
rebelled against him; "forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed
the Rock of his salvation", Deuteronomy 32:15;
and to the same purpose is the following clause:
and maketh collops of fat in his flanks; a description
of a very fat man, and one that pampers the flesh, and indulges himself in
eating and drinking; and, figuratively, of one that abounds in the good things
of this world, and which make him vain and proud, and lead him on to commit sin
in a bold and daring way, promising himself impunity in it, but without any
just ground for it, as the following verses show; perhaps some respect may be
had to Job's children feasting with one another in their prosperity, which led
on to sin, and issued in their ruin, as Eliphaz would suggest.
Job 15:28 28 He dwells in desolate
cities, In houses which no one inhabits, Which are destined to become ruins.
YLT
28And he inhabiteth cities
cut off, houses not dwelt in, That have been ready to become heaps.
And he dwelleth in
desolate cities,.... This is either a continuation of the account of the wicked
man's prosperity, which makes him haughty; such is his might and power, that he
destroys cities and palaces, built and enjoyed by others, and then out of the
ruins of them builds greater cities and more noble palaces, to perpetuate his
name to posterity; which sense agrees with Job 3:14; and with
the Targum,
"and
he makes tabernacles in desert cities, that he may dwelt in houses which were
not inhabited;'
and
so Ben Gersom: and hence because of his success among men, and the grandeur he
lives in, his heart is lifted up, and his hand is stretched out against God; or
else this may express the sinful course of life such a man lives, who chooses
to dwell in desolate places, and deserts, to do harm to others, to seize upon
travellers as they pass by, and rob and plunder them of their substance,
sitting and waiting for them in such places, as the Arabians in the wilderness,
Jeremiah 3:2; which
is the sense of some, as Aben Ezra observes; or rather this points at the
punishment of the wicked man, who though for the present may be in great
prosperity, possessed of large cities and stately palaces, "yet" or
"but"F1So the Annotator of the Assembly of Divines. , for
so the particle may be rendered, "he dwelleth in desolate cities"; in
such as shall become desolate, being destroyed by a superior enemy, that shall
come upon him; or through his subjects forsaking him, not being able to bear
his tyranny and cruelty; or he shall be driven from his dominions by them, and
be obliged to fly, and dwell in desert places; or he shall choose to dwell
there, through the horrors of a guilty conscience; or, best of all, he shall be
reduced to such distress and poverty, that he shall not have a house fit to
dwell in; but "shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a
salt land, and not inhabited", Jeremiah 17:6; as
follows:
and in houses which no man
inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps; such as have been
deserted by their former inhabitants, because come to decay, and ready to fall
down upon them, and become heaps of stones and rubbish.
Job 15:29 29 He will not be rich, Nor
will his wealth continue, Nor will his possessions overspread the earth.
YLT
29He is not rich, nor doth
his wealth rise, Nor doth he stretch out on earth their continuance.
He shall not be rich,.... Though
his heart is set upon it, he is determined at any rate to be rich; he labours
for it with all his might and main, and yet shall not attain what he is so
desirous of; many, who take a great deal of pains to be rich, and even in a
lawful way, and are men of understanding in trade and business, and yet riches
are not their portion; and some who got a great deal, yet do not grow rich;
what they get, they put into a bag of holes, and it drops through as fast as
they put in; what they get in one sinful way they consume in another, and so
are always poor; and others, though they have amassed together a vast
substance, yet still are but poor men, not using what they have either for
their own good, or the good of others; and not being content with what they
have, but always craving more, and so are even poor in their own account, not
having what they would have: however, such a man is not rich towards God; for
in godly and spiritual things he is destitute of the true riches of grace, and
has no title to the riches of glory; and as for his earthly riches, these shall
not endure; though he may be rich for the present, he will not be always so;
And this sense the next clause confirms:
neither shall his substance continue; or "his
strength"F2חילו "ejus
robur", Mercerus; "potentia ejus", Drusius. his power and might,
a rich man's wealth being his strong city, in which he places his trust and
confidence; riches are called "substance", though their are but a
shadow, yea, mere nonentities, things that are not, in comparison of heavenly
things; see Proverbs 23:5; at
least they are not an enduring substance; they are uncertain things, here
today, and gone tomorrow; that make themselves wings, and fly away from the owners
of them; or they are taken away front them, and are not like the riches of
grace, which are durable riches; or like those of glory; but by one means or
another are taken out of the hands of the possessors of them, and they are
reduced to poverty: and this "their substance shall not rise"; or
rather, "not rise again"F3לא יקום "neque resurgent opes ejus", Schmidt. , as
the word may be rendered; notwithstanding all the pains they may take, their
substance shall not rise, grow, and increase; or not rise up to the former
heights it did, but being fallen into poverty there they lie:
neither shall he prolong the perfection of it upon the earth; though,
indeed, there is no perfection in the creature, nor in creature enjoyments, nor
in outward riches and substance; such as have had the largest share of them, as
David and Solomon, have declared they have seen an end of all perfection, and
that all things, the highest enjoyments, are vanity and vexation of spirit; yet
when men are got to the summit, and height, and perfection of outward
happiness, as they or others may think, this is not prolonged, or continued
long in the earth, or they continued in it; but often are suddenly cast down
from the pinnacle of honour, wealth, and riches; hence some render the words,
"and their prosperity shall not be fixed into the earth"F4ולא יטה לארץ
מנלם "nec mittet in terra radicem suam", V.
L. "et non pangetur in terram prosperitas eorum", Schultens. ; shall
not take root, though it may seem to do, Jeremiah 12:2; and
so shall not spread itself as a tree well rooted does; and as does the
spiritual prosperity, perfection, and fullness of good men, which they have in
and by Christ; being rooted in the love of God, in the grace of Christ, and
having the root of the matter in them, they cast forth their roots as Lebanon,
and their branches spread, and they are full of the fruits and blessings of
grace, Hosea 14:5.
Job 15:30 30 He will not depart from
darkness; The flame will dry out his branches, And by the breath of His mouth
he will go away.
YLT
30He turneth not aside from
darkness, His tender branch doth a flame dry up, And he turneth aside at the
breath of His mouth!
He shall not depart out of
darkness,.... Out of the darkness of poverty, calamity, and distress he
comes into, and, indeed, he despairs of it himself, as in Job 15:22; and in a
spiritual sense he departs not out of the darkness of sin, out of the dark
state of unregeneracy; nor will he depart out of the blackness and darkness
reserved for him hereafter, when he is once come into it:
the flame shall dry up his branches; alluding either to a
violent drought and heat, which dries up pastures, herbs, and trees, and the
branches of them; or to a wind, as the Septuagint, a burning wind, in the
eastern countries, which consumed all green things; or to a flash of lightning,
which shatters, strips, and destroys branches of trees: here it may signify the
wrath of God, like a flame of fire consuming the wealth and substance, and
families, of wicked men; whose children particularly may be compared to
branches, and so respect may be had to Job's children, who were suddenly
destroyed by a violent wind, which threw down the house in which they were:
and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away; out of the
world, a phrase expressive of death; either because of the breath of his own
mouth, as some in Jarchi, because of his blasphemies against God and his
people, because of his cursing and swearing his mouth is full of, and the many
vain, foolish, and idle words which come out of it, and for which he will be
condemned; or rather
"by
the breath of the mouth of God,'
as
the Targum; either according to his purpose and decree, and by his order, and
the word that goes out of his mouth; the wicked man shall be obliged to depart
out of the world at once, being struck dead by him, as Ananias and Sapphira
were; or by his powerful wrath and vengeance, whose breath is as a stream of
brimstone, and with which he will slay the wicked of the earth, and
particularly will consume the wicked one, antichrist, even with the spirit of
his mouth, and with the brightness of his coming, Isaiah 11:4.
Job 15:31 31 Let him not trust in
futile things, deceiving himself, For futility will be his reward.
YLT
31Let him not put credence in
vanity, He hath been deceived, For vanity is his recompence.
Let not him that is
deceived trust in vanity,.... Every wicked man is deceived, either by Satan, who deceives
the whole world, deceived our first parents, and deceives all their posterity,
not only profane sinners, but many professors of religion also; or by their own
hearts, which are deceitful and desperately wicked; or through the
deceitfulness of sin, which promises profit, pleasure, and liberty, and issues
in ruin, pain, and bondage; and through the deceitfulness of riches, which
promise that satisfaction they do not give: and such as are deceived in this
manner are prone to trust in vanity; in men, who in every state, high or low,
are altogether vanity; and in creature enjoyments, in outward riches and
wealth, which are all vanity and vexation of spirit; and in their own hearts,
and the vanity of their minds, which to do is extreme folly; and in their
righteousness and external privileges, which will be of no service to them, as
to their acceptance with God, and eternal happiness; and therefore trust in
whatsoever is vain and empty, and affords no solid satisfaction, real pleasure,
and advantage, is here dehorted from; unless the words will be allowed to be
justly rendered, as I think they may, "trust not in him that is deceived
by vanity"F5בשוא נתעה
"per vanitatem deceptus", Beza; so Tigurine version. ; by any of the
above vain things, since he must himself be a vain man, and therefore not to be
confided in; to which sense the Targum inclines;
"he
will not (or should not) believe in a son of man (or in a man), who errs
through falsehood;'
the
reason dissuading from it follows:
for vanity shall be his recompence; all that a man gets by
trusting in vanity, or by trusting in a man deceived, is nothing but emptiness
and vanity; he gets nothing solid and substantial, that will be of any
advantage to him here or hereafter; and yet this he will not easily believe;
and so Beza reads the words, "he that is deceived by vanity will not
believe that vanity shall be his recompence".
Job 15:32 32 It will be accomplished
before his time, And his branch will not be green.
YLT
32Not in his day is it
completed, And his bending branch is not green.
It shall be accomplished
before his time, Either the recompence or reward of his trusting vanity, in vain
persons or things, the punishment of such a trust, the sorrows and troubles
following upon it; these shall come upon the wicked man "before his
day"F6בלא יומו
"ante diem suam", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. , as
it may be rendered; before the day of his death, even before his old age;
before the evil days come in a course of nature, and those years in which he
has no pleasure: or his life, and the days of his life, "shall be filled
up"F7תמלא "complebitur",
Montanus; "implebitur", Schultens. ; or be at an end before his time;
not before the time fixed in the decree and purpose of God, Job 14:5; but
before his own time, that he and his friends thought he might have lived, and
as his healthful constitution promised; or before the then common term of human
life; and so the phrase is expressive or an immature death:
and his branch shall not be green; but dried up and wither
away; his wealth and riches, his children and family, be utterly extinct;
instead of being like a branch, green and flourishing, shall be like a dry
stick, useless and unprofitable, only fit for burning; see Job 15:30.
Job 15:33 33 He will shake off his
unripe grape like a vine, And cast off his blossom like an olive tree.
YLT
33He shaketh off as a vine
his unripe fruit, And casteth off as an olive his blossom.
He shall shake off his
unripe grape as the vine,.... Either the wicked man himself shall shake off or lose his
substance; or God shall shake off from him all that was dear and valuable to
him; or he shall be shaken by one providence or another, just as a vine is
shaken by a violent wind and tempest, and its unripe grapes are battered off by
an hailstorm, or plucked off by the hand, or drop off through rottenness; so it
is signified by this metaphor, that a wicked man should be stripped of his
wealth and riches in a sudden manner; or his children should be snatched from
him in their youth, before they were well grown up to maturity, and so like the
unripe grape; perhaps respect is had to Job's case, both with regard to his
substance and his family:
and shall cast off his flower, as the olive: which tree,
when shaken in a violent manner, drops its flower, and so brings forth no
fruit; it is observed by naturalistsF8Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 16. c. 25.
l. 17. c. 2. 24. , that these two trees, the vine and the olive, flourish much
about the same time, and suffer much by storms and tempests, which destroy
their fruits, and especially when rain falls in the time of their flowering; the
some thing is intended in this clause as in the former.
Job 15:34 34 For the company of
hypocrites will be barren, And fire will consume the tents of bribery.
YLT
34For the company of the
profane [is] gloomy, And fire hath consumed tents of bribery.
For the congregation of
hypocrites shall be desolate,.... Hypocrites are such
who seem to and would be thought to be, what they are not; they are outwardly
righteous before men, but inwardly very wicked; have a form of godliness, but
are destitute the power of it, 2 Timothy 3:5;
pretend to much religion, and to be worshippers of God, when it is only in
outward appearances, and not in reality and sincerity: and such as these have
been in the congregations of the righteous, in all ages; but here Eliphaz
speaks of a congregation of them, a society, a family of them; and very
probably has his eye upon Job's, and would represent hereby that he, the head
of his family, and his children, when living, and his servants and associates,
were all hypocrites, and now become desolate, reduced to want and poverty, and
in distressed circumstances: or were "solitary"F9 and
alone, as the word is rendered in Job 3:7; destitute
of friends, and of the comforts of life; and perhaps reference may be had to
the future state of such, when they shall aloud be bid to depart from God, have
no society with angels and saints, but shall have their portion with those of
the same character with them, hypocrites, in the highest degree of torment and
misery, Matthew 24:51;
and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery; either such
tents, or houses, as were built with money taken as bribes; see Habakkuk 2:12; or
where such who received bribes dwelt; unjust judges, who took a gift that
blinds the eyes, to pervert justice. Job is afterwards by Eliphaz represented
as if he was an oppressor, a wicked magistrate, and guilty of such like crimes
as here pointed at, Job 22:6; and the
"fire" said to consume the dwelling places of such may be understood
either of material fire, such as came down from heaven, and destroyed Job's
sheep, Job 1:16; or
figuratively, the wrath of God often compared to fire, which would appear in
one way or another, to the utter ruin of such persons, their habitations, and
those that dwelt in them.
"solitarium",
Montanus; and to the same sense Vatablus, Beza, Tigurine version, Junius &
Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius, Cocceius.
Job 15:35 35 They conceive trouble and
bring forth futility; Their womb prepares deceit.”
YLT
35To conceive misery, and to
bear iniquity, Even their heart doth prepare deceit.
They conceive mischief,.... That is,
such wicked persons as before described; they meditate sin in their minds, and
contrive how to commit it, and form schemes within themselves to do mischief to
others:
forth vanity; or sin; for lust when it is conceived
bringeth forth sin, and that is vanity, an empty thing, and neither yields
profit nor pleasure in the issue, but that which is useless and unserviceable,
yea, harmful and ruinous; for sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death,
even death eternal, James 1:14;
and their belly prepareth deceit; their inward part frames
and devises that which is designed to deceive others, and in the end proves
deceitful to themselves: the allusion is to a pregnant woman, or rather to one
who seems to be so, and whose conception proves abortive, and so deceives and
disappoints herself and others; see Psalm 7:14.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)