Verse 1
Job 36:1. 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 the general course
of his providence is to favour
the righteous; that though he
may sometimes correct them in
love, yet, if they submit
patiently to his fatherly
correction, and amend their
ways, they shall enjoy all
manner of prosperity; but, if
they are stubborn, and will not
submit, they only draw down
greater degrees of his vengeance
on themselves. That, if Job had,
instead of disputing, submitted
himself humbly to God’s
corrections, he would have
delivered him, (it being as easy
for him to lift up as to cast
down.) And that his not
discerning the reason of his
corrections (which Job had made
a great cause of his grief, Job
19:7) ought not to have hindered
his humble submission; because
we are not able to comprehend
any of the works of God, which
we see every day, and
acknowledge to be most
excellently contrived. He
therefore warns him to make use
of the present opportunity, lest
God should cut him off while in
a state of rebellion. That God
was infinitely powerful; that
there was therefore no resisting
him; infinitely wise, as
sufficiently appeared by his
works; there was therefore no
escaping out of his hand; that
his purity was so great, that
the sun in his presence was more
dim than the smallest ray when
compared to that bright
luminary; that his holiness was
manifest from his aversion to
iniquity, and his goodness in
supplying the wants of his
creatures. That man was utterly
incapable of accounting for the
least of his works; how then
dared he to attempt to penetrate
the secrets of his providence,
and to call him to an account
for his dealings with men? This
could proceed only from an
unjustifiable self-conceit; a
crime which the Almighty would
not fail severely to punish.
Upon the whole, the difference
between the argument of Elihu
and that of the three friends
seems to be this; they suppose
Job to be guilty of great
crimes, which had drawn down the
divine vengeance on him, and
infer his guilt merely from his
sufferings; on the contrary,
Elihu takes it for granted his
plea of innocence was true,
nevertheless, thinks him
exceedingly blameworthy for his
behaviour under his afflictions:
that he did not sufficiently
consider the infinite distance
between a weak, frail, sinful
creature, and an all-powerful,
wise, just, and good Creator;
that, instead of submitting
himself, as was his duty, and
owning the justice of God’s
providence toward him, he acted
the part of the hardened sinner,
and flew in the face of the
Almighty; accusing him of
injustice and severe treatment;
rudely challenging him to answer
for his conduct, and pretending
to erect himself into a judge of
his actions. He tells him, as
long as he continued in those
dispositions, there was no hope
of an abatement of the
correction he was under; but he
might rather expect an increase
of affliction, if not an utter
destruction. Job himself is so
sensible of the truth of what
Elihu had said, that he doth not
so much as attempt to answer;
and, though he doth not
absolutely give up the point —
for it was God must convince
him, and not man — yet it
undoubtedly laid the foundation
of that disposition, which ended
in an entire submission to God’s
will, and a thorough conviction
of his own vileness.
Verses 2-4
Job 36:2-4. 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, and things. I will not
confine my discourse to any
particular case, but will
justify God by declaring his
great and glorious works of
creation and providence, both in
the heaven and the earth, and
the manner of his dealings with
men in other parts and ages of
the world. These are the chief
heads of the following
discourse, and therefore the
best comment upon this general
expression. And will ascribe
righteousness to my Maker — I
will prove and maintain this
truth, that God is righteous in
all his ways. My words shall not
be false — Neither contrary to
truth, nor to my views and
apprehensions of it. I will
admit into my discourse no kind
or degree of flattery, calumny,
or sophistry; he that is perfect
in knowledge is with thee — He
that is sincere and upright in
his use of his knowledge, who
will deliver his opinion
honestly and truly, unbiased by
fear or favour, passion or
prejudice; and who believes
that, as he has accurately
considered, so he fully
understands the matters about
which he will speak. Bishop
Patrick’s paraphrase on the
verse is, “Assure thyself I will
not seek to baffle thee with
sophistical arguments: he that
discourses with thee is none of
those subtle disputers, but
loves sincere and solid reason.”
The latter clause, however, may
be considered as connected with
what follows, and understood as
spoken of God. The meaning then
will be, Thou hast to do with a
God of perfect knowledge, by
whom all thy words and actions
are weighed.
Verse 5
Job 36:5. 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 toward his creatures,
either of which would be an
instance of folly.
Verse 6-7
Job 36:6-7. 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, oppressed ones, from all
their oppressors. He will avenge
their quarrel upon their
persecutors, and force them to
make restitution of what they
have unjustly robbed them of.
For if men will not right the
injured poor, God will. He
withdraweth not his eyes from
the righteous — He never ceases
to care for and watch over them;
no, not when they are afflicted
or persecuted, when he may seem
to neglect them. If our eye be
ever toward God in duty, his eye
will be ever upon us in mercy,
and when we are at the lowest
will not overlook us. With kings
are they on the throne — He
sometimes raises them to the
highest offices that kings can
confer upon them; yea, he doth
establish them for ever — Their
felicity is more stable and
permanent than that of the
wicked; they are established as
long as they live. And they are
exalted — Above the power of
their enemies, that would pull
them down: or, they continue to
be exalted, and are not cast
down from their dignity, as the
wicked commonly are.
Verses 8-10
Job 36:8-10. 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 — That they have
greatly sinned by abusing their
power and prosperity, which even
good men are too prone to do. He
openeth also, &c. — He inclines
them to hearken to what God
speaks by his rod, who would not
hear in the time of their
prosperity; namely, to hear the
rod and him that hath appointed
it; and commandeth — Either by
his word or Spirit accompanying
this affliction, and discovering
the design of God in this
dispensation; that they return
from iniquity — The chief cause
of their calamity and trouble.
Verse 11-12
Job 36:11-12. 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 common
course of God’s providence in
those days, which Elihu and
other good men had observed; and
their years in pleasures —
Abounding in worldly comforts,
and delighting themselves in the
love and favour of God thereby
manifested to them. But if they
obey not — If the righteous,
spoken of Job 36:7, opposed to
the hypocrites, mentioned in the
next verse, be disobedient to
the divine admonitions; they
shall perish by the sword — They
shall be cut off by some
extraordinary or remarkable
judgment; and they shall die
without knowledge — Shall die in
or for their inadvertency or
folly, or, because they are
without knowledge, as בבלי דעת,
bibli dagnath, may be rendered,
because they are ignorant, or
brutish, and will not learn the
lessons which God so plainly
teaches them.
Verse 13-14
Job 36:13-14. 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 bindeth them —
Namely, with the cords of
affliction expressed Job 36:8,
which is mentioned as an
aggravation of their wickedness;
because even wicked men, if not
hardened in their vices, will
seek God in a time of
affliction. They die in youth —
They provoke God to cut them off
before their time. The Hebrew is
literally, Their soul dieth in
youth. And their life is among
the unclean — They die young
because they lived among
prostitutes, or sodomites, as
the word,
קדשׁים, kedeshim, properly
signifies: they die by some
exemplary stroke of divine
vengeance. Yea, and after death
their life is among the unclean,
the unclean spirits, the devil
and his angels, for ever
excluded from the New Jerusalem,
into which no unclean thing
shall enter.
Verse 15-16
Job 36:15-16. 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
afflicted persons, but only
those whose ears he openeth to
receive his counsels. Even so
would he have removed thee — If
thou hadst opened thine ear to
God’s counsels, humbled thyself
under his correcting hand, and
sued to him for mercy; out of
the strait into a broad place —
Hebrew, מפי צר, mippi tzar, out
of the mouth or jaws of
tribulation; which, like a wild
beast, is ready to swallow thee
up, into a state of ease and
freedom. That which should be
set on thy table — Thy dishes,
or the food in them; should be
full of fatness — Should be
rich, nourishing, agreeable, and
delicious. Such are the
expressions which Elihu uses to
denote that liberty and plenty
to which he thought the
righteous were entitled; in
opposition to confinement and
scarcity, the portion of the
wicked.
Verse 17
Job 36:17. But thou hast
fulfilled the judgment of the
wicked — Or, the cause, or
sentence, as the word דיןdin,
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
hast maintained their cause
against God, and God passes
against thee the sentence of
condemnation due to wicked men.
Verse 18-19
Job 36:18-19. 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 anger by striking with
their hand or stamping with
their foot. Look to thyself, and
reconcile thyself to God by true
repentance, while thou hast an
opportunity. A great ransom
cannot deliver thee — If once
God’s wrath take hold on thee,
and sentence be executed upon
thee before thou repentest and
humblest thyself before thy
judge, neither riches nor
friends, nor any person or thing
in heaven or earth can redeem
thee: no ransom or price will be
accepted for thee. Will he
esteem thy riches? — If thou
hadst as much of them as ever;
no, nor all the forces of
strength — The strongest forces;
not if thou hadst all the
treasure and all the force which
all the powers of earth could
muster up.
Verse 20-21
Job 36:20-21. 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 bodies of
people, are sometimes cut off in
wrath, in their several places
where they are: or, are suddenly
taken away before they can
remove out of the place where
the stroke of God finds them;
or, in the place where they are
settled and surrounded with all
manner of comforts and friends,
all which cannot prevent their
being cut off. Take heed, regard
not iniquity — Hebrew, אל תפן,
al teepen, look not to it;
namely, with an approving or
desiring eye, as this expression
is used Proverbs 23:31. This
hast thou chosen rather than
affliction — Thou hast chosen
rather to quarrel with God, and
censure his judgments, than
humbly and quietly, submit to
them, and wait upon God by faith
and prayer for deliverance in
his due time and appointed way.
Verse 22-23
Job 36:22-23. 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 teacheth with such
authority and convincing
evidence, with such
condescension and compassion,
with such power and efficacy as
God doth, he teaches by the
Bible, and that is the best
book; by his Son, and he is the
best master. Who hath enjoined
him his way? — Wherein he should
walk; that is, what methods he
should use in the administration
of human affairs? If he had a
superior, who gave him laws for
his actions, he might be
accountable to him for what he
did; but he is supreme and
uncontrollable; who hath no law
to regulate him but his own holy
nature and blessed will, and
therefore how rash and absurd a
thing is it for any man to
censure his proceedings! Thou
hast wrought iniquity — Thou
hast swerved from the law and
rule given thee.
Verse 24-25
Job 36:24-25. 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. The power, and
wisdom, and greatness of God are
so manifest in all his works,
that all who are not stupid must
see and acknowledge them. Man
may behold it afar off — The
works of God are so great and
conspicuous, that they may be
seen at a great distance. Hence
Elihu proceeds to give some
instances, in the works of
nature and common providence.
His general aim is to show, 1st,
That God is the first cause and
supreme director of all the
creatures; whom therefore we
ought with all humility and
reverence to adore: 2d, That it
is presumption in us to
prescribe to him in his special
providence toward men, when the
operations even of common
providence about the meteors are
so mysterious and unaccountable.
Verse 26
Job 36:26. 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 his essence, in his
attributes, in his works, and in
his ways; and therefore be not
so inconsiderate and rash, O
Job, as to censure those of his
dispensations which thou canst
not fully understand. Neither
can the number of his years be
searched out — He is eternal, as
in his being, so in all his
counsels, which must be
infinitely wise, and therefore
above the comprehension of
short-lived men.
Verse 27-28
Job 36:27-28. 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 water — He
orders matters so wisely, that
the waters which are in the
clouds do not fall down at once
in spouts, which would be
pernicious to the earth and to
mankind, but by degrees and in
drops. According to the vapour
thereof — According to the
proportion of vapours which the
heat of the sun hath drawn up
from the earth or sea. So it
denotes that great work of God
by which the rain is first made
of vapours, and afterward
resolved into vapours, or into
the matter of succeeding
vapours, by a constant rotation.
Which the clouds distil
abundantly — In such plenty as
the necessities of the earth
require; which also is a
wonderful work of God.
Verse 29-30
Job 36:29-30. 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
noise of his tabernacle — The
thunder produced in the clouds,
which are often called God’s
tent or tabernacle. Behold, he
spreadeth his light — That is,
the lightning, fitly called
God’s light, because God only
can light it; upon it — That is,
upon the cloud, which is, in a
manner, the candlestick in which
God sets up this light; and
covereth the bottom of the sea —
The lightning spreads far and
wide over all parts of the sea,
and pierceth deep, reaching even
to the bottom of it.
Verses 31-33
Job 36:31-33. 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
light — With thick and black
clouds spread over the whole
heavens, as in times of great
thunders and lightnings, he
obscures the light of the day,
or the splendour of the shining
sun. Hebrew, על כפים, gnal
cappaim, with hands he covereth
the sun; either the clouds are
so called for their resemblance
to hands, or the meaning is,
that God covereth the light as
by the hollow of his hand. And
commandeth it not to shine — Or,
יצו, jetzav, giveth a charge
concerning it, that it shall be
covered; by the cloud that
cometh betwixt — Which God
interposes as a veil between the
sun and the earth. The noise
thereof showeth concerning it —
The thunder gives notice of the
approaching rain. The cattle
also, &c. — As the thunder, so
also the cattle showeth
concerning the vapour —
Concerning the coming of the
rain, by a strange instinct,
seeking for shelter when a
change of weather is near. |