Albert Barnes

Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you.

“Acquaint now thyself with him - Margin, that is, “with God.” Eliphaz takes it for granted now, that Job was a sinner wholly unreconciled to God, and unacquainted with him. This fact, he supposes, was the source of all his calamities.”

If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents

“If thou return to the Almighty - Assuming that he was an impenitent sinner, and wholly unreconciled to him.”

then the Almighty will be your gold and the finest silver for you.

“Yea, the Almighty shall be - Or, rather, “then the Almighty shall be” - והיה yehâyâh. The meaning is, that if he would return to God, and cast off his anxiety for gold, “then” the Almighty would be his real treasure, and would impart to…”

When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly.

“When men are cast down - The meaning of this is, probably, when people are usually cast down, or in the times of trial and calamity, which prostrate others, you shall find support.”

If only I knew where to find Him, so that I could go to His seat.

“Oh that I knew where I might find him! - Where I might find “God.” He had often expressed a wish to bring his cause directly before God, and to be permitted to plead his cause there; see Job 13:3, note; Job 13:20, notes.”

I would plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.

“I would order my cause before him - Compare the notes at Isa 43:26. That is, I would arrange my arguments, or plead my cause, as one does in a court of justice.”

I would learn how He would answer, and consider what He would say.

“I would know the words which he would answer me - That is, I wish to understand what would be “his” decision in the case - and what would be his judgment in regard to me.”

When He is at work in the north, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the south, I cannot see Him.

“On the left hand - That is, in the North - at the left hand when the face was turned to the East. So the Chaldee, בצפונא - “on the North.””

But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires.

“But he is in one mind - He is unchangeable. He has formed his plans, and no one can divert him from them. Of the truth of this sentiment there can be no dispute.”

Therefore I am terrified in His presence; when I consider this, I fear Him.

“Therefore am I troubled at his presence - The doctrine of divine purposes and decrees “is fitted to impress the mind with awe.””

Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.

“Because I was not cut off before the darkness - Before these calamities came upon me. Because I was not taken away in the midst of prosperity, and while I was enjoying his smiles and the proofs of his love.”

“Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment? Why may those who know Him never see His days?

“Why, seeing times are not hidden froth the Almighty - Dr. Good renders this, “Wherefore are not doomdays kept by the Almighty. So that his offenders may eye his periods?” Dr. Noyes: “Why are not times of punishment reserved by the Almighty.”

They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow’s ox in pledge.

“They drive away the ass of the fatherless - Of the orphan, who cannot protect himself, and whose only property may consist in this useful animal.”

Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go to work foraging for food; the wasteland is food for their children.

“Behold, as wild asses in the desert - In regard to the wild ass, see the notes at Job 6:5. Schultens, Good, Noyes, and Wemyss, understand this, not as referring to the haughty tyrants themselves, but to the oppressed and needy wretches whom they had…”

Without clothing, they spend the night naked; they have no covering against the cold.

“They cause the naked to lodge without clothing - They strip others of their clothing, and leave them destitute.”

The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt.

“They pluck the fatherless from the breast - That is, they steal away unprotected children, and sell them, or make slaves of them for their own use.”

They crush olives within their walls; they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.

“Which made oil within their walls - Or rather, they compel them to express oil within their walls. The word יצהירו yatshı̂yrû, rendered “made oil,” is from צחר tsachar, to shine, to give light; and hence, the derivatives of the word are used to denote…”

Then there are those who rebel against the light, not knowing its ways or staying on its paths.

“They are of those that rebel against the light - That is, they hate the light: compare Joh 3:20. It is unpleasant to them, and they perform their deeds in the night.”

The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight. Thinking, ‘No eye will see me,’ he covers his face.

“The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight; - compare the description in Pro 7:8-9, “He went the way to her house; in the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night.””

For to them, deep darkness is their morning; surely they are friends with the terrors of darkness!

“For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death - They dread the light as one does usually the deepest darkness. The morning or light would reveal their deeds of wickedness, and they therefore avoid it.”

As drought and heat consume the melting snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned.

“Drought and heat consume the snow-waters - Margin, “violently take;” see the notes at Job 6:17. The word rendered “consume,” and in the margin “violently take” (יגזלו yı̂gâzelû), means properly to strip off, as skin from the flesh; and then to pluck or tear away…”

They prey on the barren and childless, and show no kindness to the widow.

“He evil entreateth the barren - The woman who has no children to comfort or support her. He increases her calamity by acts of cruelty and oppression. To be without children, as is well known, was regarded, in the patriarchal ages, as a great calamity.”

He gives them a sense of security, but His eyes are on their ways.

“Though it be given him to be in safety - That is, God gives him safety. The name God is often understood, or not expressed. The meaning is, that God gives this wicked man, or oppressor, safety.”

If this is not so, then who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?”

“And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar? - A challenge to anyone to prove the contrary to what he had said. Job had now attacked their main position, and had appealed to facts in defense of what he held.”

Can His troops be numbered? On whom does His light not rise?

“Is there any number of his armies? - The armies of heaven; or the hosts of angelic beings, which are often represented as arranged or marshalled into armies; see the notes at Isa 1:9.”