John Gill

What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What is my future, that I should be patient?

“What is my strength, that I should hope?.... For a perfect restoration of health, suggested by Eliphaz; since it was so sadly weakened by the present affliction, which made death more desirable than life lengthened out in so much weakness, pain, and sorrow; or "that…”

darkened because of the ice and the inflow of melting snow,

“Which are blackish by reason of the ice,.... When frozen over, they look of a blackish colour, and is what is called a black frost; and these either describe Job and his domestics, as some (h) think whom Eliphaz and his two friends compared to…”

deliver me from the hand of the enemy; redeem me from the grasp of the ruthless’?

“Or, deliver me from the enemies' hand?.... Or, "out of the hand of straitness" (c); out of tribulation and difficulties with which he was pressed on every side: or redeem me from the hand of the mighty?”

if you are pure and upright, even now He will rouse Himself on your behalf and restore your righteous estate.

“If thou wert pure and upright,.... By which he tacitly intimates that he was neither; though the character given of him is, that he was perfect and upright, feared God and eschewed evil, and which is confirmed by God himself, and even after he had…”

Then Job answered:

“Then Job answered and said. Without taking notice of Bildad's harsh expressions and severe censures, or his unfriendliness to him; he enters directly into the argument, grants some things, confutes others, and defends himself and his conduct.”

He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.

“Which maketh Arcturus,.... By which is meant not a single star, but a collection of stars, as Bar Tzemach and Ben Melech, a constellation; hence we read of Arcturus and his sons, Job 38:”

If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice.

“If I had called, and he had answered me,.... Mr. Broughton reads the words, "if I cry, will he answer me?"”

For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause.

“For he breaketh me with a tempest,.... Which rises suddenly, comes powerfully, and carries all before it irresistibly; hereby signifying the nature of his present sore afflictions, which came upon him at once, pressed him down, and utterly destroyed him, against which there was no…”

If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave.

“I should have been as though I had not been,.... For though it cannot be said absolutely of such an one, an abortive or untimely birth, that it is a nonentity, or never existed; yet comparatively it is as if it never had a being…”

Then Job answered:

“And Job answered and said. In reply to Zophar, and in defence of himself; what is recorded in this and the two following chapters.”

Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; let the fish of the sea inform you.

“Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee,.... Or ask "a sprig of the earth" (n), any shrub, or tree, or whatsoever grows out of it, and they will all unite in this doctrine, that they are raised and preserved by the power…”

He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.

“He poureth contempt upon princes,.... Not on good princes, such as rule in righteousness, and decree judgment and govern their subjects according to good laws, in a mild and gentle manner, and answer to their name of free, liberal, beneficent and munificent.”

He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, then disperses them.

“He increaseth the nations, and destroyeth them,.... As he did before the flood, when the earth was tilled, and all over peopled with them, but at the flood he destroyed them at once.”

Why do I put myself at risk and take my life in my own hands?

“Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth,.... Or bite my lips, to keep in my words, and refrain from speaking?”

You put my feet in the stocks and stand watch over all my paths; You set a limit for the soles of my feet.

“Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks,.... Which is one kind of punishment of offenders, and a preservation of them from making their escape; and is a security and reservation of them for further punishment sometimes; and so Job looked upon his afflictions as…”

As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dry,

“As the waters fail from the sea,.... the words may be rendered either without the as, and denote dissimilitude, and the sense be, that the waters go from the sea and return again, as with the tide: and the flood decays and dries up; and…”

For then You would count my steps, but would not keep track of my sin.

“For now thou numberest my steps,.... Or "but now" (g), at this present time thou seemest to have no desire to me, or affection for me, but the reverse.”

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

“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…”

Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself?

“Hast thou heard the secret of God?.... Or, "in the secret of God" (a), in his cabinet council, what was said and done there? hast thou stood in the council of God?”

His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.

“His archers compass me round about,.... Satan and his principalities and powers casting their fiery darts at him; or rather, his friends shooting their arrows, even bitter words, reproaches, and calumnies; or the various diseases of his body, his boils and ulcers, which were so…”

He breaks me with wound upon wound; He rushes me like a mighty warrior.

“He breaketh me with breach upon breach,.... Upon his substance, his family, and the health of his body, which came thick and fast, one after another; referring to the report of those things brought by one messenger upon the back of another, see Eze 7:26…”

“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.

“My breath is corrupt,.... Through the force of his disease, which made it have an ill smell, so that it was strange and disagreeable to his wife, Job 19:17; passing through his lungs, or other parts, which were affected with some disorder, or as frequently…”

You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.

“For thou hast hid their heart from understanding,.... That is, the hearts of his friends, and therefore they were unfit to undertake his cause, or be sureties for him, or be judges in it.”

Why are we regarded as cattle, as stupid in your sight?

“Wherefore are we counted as beasts,.... This seems to refer to Job 12:7; where Job sends them to the beasts, to get knowledge and instruction; and therefore it was concluded he reckoned them as such, and put them on a level with them, yea, made…”

The light in his tent grows dark, and the lamp beside him goes out.

“The light shall the dark in his tabernacle,.... Not the light of the eye, in the tabernacle of his body, rather the light of nature and reason in him; and when that "light that is in a man becomes darkness", as our Lord says, "how…”