John Wesley

In disquieting visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on men,

“Visions differed from dreams herein, that God imparted his mind to men in dreams when asleep, but in visions, when they were awake. And these visions sometimes happened by day, but most frequently by night.”

Then a spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body bristled.

“A spirit - An angel in visible shape, otherwise he could not have discerned it. Stood up - Through that excessive horror caused by so glorious, unusual, and terrible a presence.”

It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; a form loomed before my eyes, and I heard a whispering voice:

“An image - I saw some visible resemblance, though in a confused manner. Silence - The spirit, which possibly had made some noise with his motion, now standing still made no noise; all other persons and things about me were silent, and I also kept…”

His sons are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.

“Children - Whose greatness he designed in all his enterprizes, supposing his family would be established forever. Safely - Are exposed to dangers and calamities, and can neither preserve themselves, nor the inheritance which their fathers left them.”

The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from the thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.

“Harvest - Which they confidently expect to reap after all their cost and labour, but are sadly and suddenly disappointed. The hungry - The hungry Sabeans eat it up.”

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

“Strength - My strength is so spent, that it is vain for me to hope for such restitution as thou hast promised me, chap. v,”

What is man that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart upon him,

“What, &c. - What is there in that poor, mean, creature called man, miserable man, as this word signifies, which can induce thee to take any notice of him, or to make such account of him?”

He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden.

“Branch - His children, who are here mentioned as additions not only to his comfort, but also to his strength and safety.”

Behold, God does not reject the blameless, nor will He strengthen the hand of evildoers.

“Yet it may be, he will not be lifted up in this world: and therefore Bildad could not infer, that if Job was not restored to temporal prosperity, he was not a good man.”

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

“These he names as constellations of greatest eminency; but under them he seems to comprehend all the stars, which as they were created by God, so are under his government. Arcturus is a northern constellation, near that called the Bear.”

He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number.

“Doth great things, &c. - Job here says the same that Eliphaz had said, chap. v, 9, and in the original, in the very same words, with design to shew his full agreement with him, touching the Divine perfections.”

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

“Breaketh - Unexpectedly, violently, and irrecoverably. Cause - Not simply without any desert of his, but without any special cause of such singular afflictions; and peculiar and extraordinary guilt, such as his friends charged him with.”

If it is a matter of strength, He is indeed mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him?

“Is Strong - Stronger than I. Judgment - If I would contend with him in a way of right. Who - There is no superior judge that can summon him and me together.”

Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both.

“Lay his hand - Order and govern us in pleading; and oblige us to stand to his decision. Our Lord Jesus is now the blessed days-man, who has mediated between heaven and earth, has laid his hand upon us both: to him the father hath…”

Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me.

“Fear - The fear and dread of his majesty and justice. Let him not deal with me according to his perfect justice, but according to his grace and clemency.”

Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:

“Then answered - How hard is it, to preserve calmness, in the heat of disputation! Eliphaz began modestly: Bildad was a little rougher: But Zophar falls upon Job without mercy.”

Should your babbling put others to silence? Will you scoff without rebuke?

“Lies - Both concerning thy own innocency, and concerning the counsels and ways of God. Mockest - Our friendly and faithful counsels, chap. vi, 14, 15, 25, 26.”

You have said, ‘My doctrine is sound, and I am pure in Your sight.’

“Clean - I am innocent before God; I have not sinned either by my former actions, or by my present expressions. But Zophar perverts Job's words, for he did not deny that he was a sinner, but only that he was an hypocrite.”

But if only God would speak and open His lips against you,

“Speak - Plead with thee according to thy desire: he would soon put thee to silence. We are commonly ready with great assurance to interest God in our quarrels.”

But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?

“Such things - The truth is, neither you nor I have any reason to be puffed up with our knowledge of these things: for the most barbarous nations know that God is infinite in wisdom, and power, and justice.”

I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.

“Upon God - Even by my religious neighbours, by those who call upon God, and not in vain; whose prayers therefore I covet, not their reproaches.”

The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure—those who carry their god in their hands.

“Are secure - Job's friends had all supposed, that wicked men cannot prosper long in the world. This Job opposes, and maintains, that God herein acts as sovereign, and reserves that exact distribution of rewards and punishments for the other world.”

If He holds back the waters, they dry up, and if He releases them, they overwhelm the land.

“The waters - Which are reserved its the clouds, that they may not fall upon the earth. They - The waters upon the earth, springs, and brooks, and rivers. As at the time of the general deluge, to which here is a manifest allusion.”

True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.

“He governs the deceiver and sets bounds to his deceits, how far they shall extend; he also over-rules all this to his own glory, and the accomplishment of his righteous designs of trying the good, and punishing wicked men, by giving them up to believe…”

He loosens the bonds placed by kings and fastens a belt around their waists.

“Girdeth - He reduces them to a mean and servile condition; which is thus expressed, because servants did use to gird up their garments (that after the manner of those parts were loose and long) that they might be fitter for attendance upon their masters…”