Job 10:3

[Is it] good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress?.... This God does not approve of in others; he dehorts men from it; he threatens to punish those that do so, and to be a swift witness against

Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?

Dost thou take any pleasure in it? Hast thou any advantage or honour by it? Dost thou think it right and just, and becoming the Ruler of the world? That thou shouldest oppress, by thy absolute and irresistible power, without any regard to that justice, and equity, and clemency by which thou usest to govern mankind. That thou shouldest despise, i.e. show thy contempt of them, either by denying them common favour and protection, or by destroying them. The work of thine hands, which every workman loves and maintains. Shine upon the counsel of the wicked, i.e. by the methods of thy providence seem to favour the courses and practices of wicked men, to whom thou givest prosperity, and success, whilst thou frownest upon me and other good men. This may have reference either to Job’ s friends, whose ungodly censures God seemed to approve, by continuing Job’ s afflictions upon him; or to the Chaldeans and Sabeans, who had succeeded in their wicked attempts upon Job; but it seems to he more generally meant of wicked men.

Job 10:3 [Is it] good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?Ver. 3. Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress?] It is the guise of wicked judges to take this counsel, to follow this course; whom thou, being a most just and righteous judge, canst not confirm or encourage by thine own example, as it were by a light shining from above. Thus Job rhetoricateth; his complaints are high, yet ever with an alloy or mixture of modesty (Beza). That thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands] i.e. Me, thy poor creature, wilt thou do and undo? make a man, and unmake him again for thy mind’ s sake? Builders use not to ruin what they have built; artificers love and plead for their own handiwork; fathers foster their children with all tenderness. Some authors dote upon their own doings, as Laurentius Valla did upon his logic, as if there had been none such, calling it, in a bravado, Logicam Laurentinam; and as Campian the Jesuit did upon his ten leaden reasons, which he deemed and boasted to be unanswerable, Heliodorus would rather be unbishoped than yield that his Ethiopic history (a toilsome toy, but the brat of his brain) should be abolished. The saints are "God’ s building," 1 Corinthians 3:9; handy work, Ephesians 2:10; "children," Romans 9:26; "epistles known and read of all men," 2 Corinthians 3:2-3. This if we plead, when sorely afflicted (as the Church did, Isaiah 64:8, and David, Psalms 138:8, and Job here), we may have anything. See that notable text, Isaiah 45:11, and that other, Isaiah 59:16. And shine upon the counsel of the wicked?] That is, favour and further their designs. God makes his sun to shine upon such, but himself never shineth upon them. He may be angry enough with men, though they outwardly prosper; yea, to prosper in sin is a most heavy judgment. See Zechariah 1:15.

Verse 3. Is it good unto thee] Surely it can be no gratification to thee to distress the children of men, as if thou didst despise the work of thy own hands. And shine upon the counsel] For by my afflictions the harsh judgments of the wicked will appear to be confirmed: viz., that God regards not his most fervent worshippers; and it is no benefit to lead a religious life.

3. is it good unto thee] The usual meaning of the phrase is, Is it thy pleasure, does it seem right to thee? Deuteronomy 23:17. The words might also mean, Is it becoming thee? Exodus 14:12. The former sense suits the connexion better, because Job is groping after the discovery of some characteristic or quality in God to account for his afflictions. the work of thine hands] No doubt both Job and the wicked were all the work of God’s hands, but the righteous are in such a special sense the work of His hands that here they are so described in opposition to the wicked.

Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress - The sense of this is, that it could not be with God a matter of personal gratification to inflict pain wantonly. There must be a reason why he did it.

3. Is it good — äùׂ ?åá: Is it becoming thee? — Thus Dillmann and others. The first reason why God should not treat men as he does — for instance, in the threefold way disclosed in this verse: 1. Oppression in general; 2.