The Pulpit Commentary — Job — Section 252

Eliphaz doce not point oht what part of need he.ve we of witueaees? behold, now ye Job's discourses he considers objectionable, have heard hie blasphemy. What think but condemns the whole of them under ye? They answered and Mid, He is guilty this broad and general description, which of <1,,ath " (Matt, xxvi. 65, 66). Malevo- even he oould not havo regarded as appli- lence delights in misunderstanding and mis- oable to more than B portion of what Job int,,rpreting the utterances of the righteous. had said. And fill his belly with the east And not I. A weak disclaimer I As if Job's wind 1 The east wind was rogarcled as the supposed guilt did not depend on the con- worst of winds. In Palestine it blew from struction put upon his words. Yea, thine the great Syrian and North Are.bian desert, own lips testify against thee. Therefore, and was of the nature of a sirocco. (On its " what forther need of witnesses?" deleterious effects, see Gen. xii. 6, 23; Jer. Ver. 7.-Art thou the first man that was xviii. 17; Ezek. :11:Vii. 10; xix. 12; xxvii. born 1 That is, "Dost thou claim to have 26: Hoe. xiii, 15; etc.) the wisdom of that first human intellig-enoe, Ver. 3.-Should he reason with unprofl.t- which, proceeding direct from God (Gen. i. able talk 1 Suoh, Eliphaz implies, hnd been 27), was without fault or flaw-a perfect in- Job's talk, altogether idle and unprofitable. ttlligence, which judged all things aright?" A wise man should have abstained from It is not clear that Eliphaz had ever heard suoh profitless arguments. They were of Adam: but he evidently believed in a speeohes wherewith he could do no good. "first ruaa," from whom all others were Ver. 4.-Yea, thou oastest o:ff fear. To descended, and he attributed to this first Eliphaz, Job's words-his bold expostula- man a mind and intellect surpassing those tions (eh. xiii. 3, 15, 22, eto. ), his declara- of all other men. His question is, of course, tions that he knows he will be justified ( eh. rather a scoff than an inquiry. He knows xiii. 18), and that God will be hie Salvation that Job makes no such f001ish pretence; (eh. xiii. 16)-seem to imply that he has but he throws it in his teeth that, from cast off altogether. the fear of God, and is what he has said, men might suppose he entirely devoid of reverence. Some of his took some such view of himself. Or wast expressions certainly seem over-bold: but, thou made before the hills 1 This is a taunt on the other hand, his sense of God's purity, of the same kind as the previous one, but perfectness, and transcendent power is con- intensified. Wisdom is the result of ex- tinue.Uy manifest, and should have saved perience. Art tilou older than all the rest him from the rude reproach here launched of us-older than the earth itself, than " the against Lim (comp. eh. ix. 1-13; xii. 9- everlasting hills"? There were Greeks who 25: xiii. 11, . 21, etc.). And restrainest claimed to be ethnically 1rpoa-b..71110,, "older prayer before God; rather, and hindereat de- than the moon," but no inhabitant of earth t1out meditation before God. Eliphaz means was ever so foolish as to imagine ilimself that Joh expresses himself in a way so of- individually more anoient than the earth ou fensive to devout souls, the.t he disturbs which he lived. their minds and prevents them from in- Ver. 8.-llast thou heard the secret of dulging in those pious meditations on tho God 1 or, Hast thou been a hearer in the secret Divine goodness which would otherwise counsel of God 1 (comp. Jer. xxiii. 18, "Who occupy them (comp. Ps. oxix. 97). Thus, hath stood in the counsel of the Lord, a.nd according to Eliphaz, Job is not only irre- bath perceived and helll'd his wortl? who ligious himself, but the cause of irreligion hath marked hie word, and heard it ? "). ,in others. No morlal man was ever admitted to the Ver. 5.-l!'or thy mouth uttereth thine secret counsel of the Most Highest (comp. iniquity. Some render, " Thine iniquity Rom. xi. 34). And dost thou restrain wis- teacheth thy mouth," causing it to utter dom to thyselfl or, Dost thou confine ( appro- &uoh profane speeches (Vulgate, Dillmann, priate) wisdom to thyself1 i.e. Dost thou Oanon Cook, Revised Version): but the suppose that thou art the only wise man in tro.nslation of the Authorized Version is all the world? (comp. oh. xii. 2, where Job defensible on grammatical grounds, and had brought the srune charge against his yields a good sense, so that no alteration three friends). is necessary. And thou ohoosest the tongue Ver. 9.-Whatknowest thou, thstwe know of the crafty j or, the tongue of the subtle not! So for as worldly wisdom went, this (comp. Gen. iii. 1, where the epithet aa- was probably quite truo. Job was not more &igned to the serpent is the same). Eli- advanced in knowledge than Eliphaz, Bil- phaz probably mee.ne to te.x Job with cloak- dad, and Zophar. But he had a. keener ing hie real impiety under I\ pretence of spiritual insight. He was wiser in the religiousness. '' wisdom which is from above." Perplexed Ver. 6.-Thine own mouth oondemneth and confused as were his thoughts con.ierniug thee. So of a greater than Job it was said, the Divine government of the universe, they "He bath spoken blasphemy; what further were nearer the truth, more worthy of the  28! ~ 'BOOK OI' .TOD.