Job 13:5

And that ye would altogether hold your peace,.... Since what they said of him was not true, nor anything to the purpose, or that tended to the comfort of his afflicted soul, but the reverse; and

O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.

For then your ignorance and folly had been concealed, which is now manifest. Compare .

Job 13:5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.Ver. 5. O that you would altogether hold your peace] Heb. In being silent, would be silent: q.d. I thought much of your seven days’ silence, Job 2:13, and now I am no less troubled at your speeches. Oh that you had either continued your silence, or else would frame to say something better than silence: for hitherto ye have spoken much, but said little. I could heartily wish, therefore, that you would now stop your mouths, and open your ears, as Job 13:6, that you would be as mute as fishes, since I can hear nothing from you but what speaks you to be mere mutes, ciphers, nullities’ as Job 13:4. And it should be your wisdom] For "even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise; and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding," Proverbs 17:28. Pαςτιςαπαιδευτοςφρονιμωτατοςεστισιωπων. As when the door is shut it cannot be seen what is within the house; so the mouth, being shut by silence, the folly that is within lieth undiscovered; and as in glasses and vessels, so in men, the sound which they make showeth whether they be cracked or sound. An ass is known by his ears (saith the Dutch proverb), and so is a fool by his talk. As a bird is known by his note, and a bell by his clapper, so is a man by his discourse. Plutarch tells us, that Megabysus, a nobleman of Persia, coming into Apelles’ , the painter’ s, workshop, took upon him to speak something there concerning the art of painting and limning, but he did it so absurdly, that the apprentices jeered him, and the master could not bear with him (Plut. de Tranq.).

(5) O that ye would altogether hold your peace! is singularly like the sentiment of Pro 17:28. Their wisdom will consist in listening to his wisdom rather than displaying their own folly.

Verse 5. Hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.] In Proverbs 17:28 we have the following apophtheym: "Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise; and he that shutteth his lips, a man of understanding." There is no reason to say that Solomon quotes from Job: I have already expressed my opinion that the high antiquity attributed to this book is perfectly unfounded, and that there is much more evidence that Solomon was its author, than there is that it was the composition of Moses. But, whenever Job lived, whether before Abraham or after Moses, the book was not written till the time of Solomon, if not later. But as to the saying in question, it is a general apophthegm, and may be found among the wise sayings of all nations. I may observe here, that a silent man is not likely to be a fool; for a fool will be always prating, or, according to another adage, a fool's bolt is soon shot. The Latins have the same proverb: Vir sapit, qui pauca loquitur, "A wise man speaks little."

5. This verse is suggested by the last clause of the preceding—their impotence to help was such that their silence would be the most helpful thing they could offer. There is a final sarcasm at Zophar’s speech in the reference to “wisdom”; cf. Proverbs 17:28, Even a fool when he holdeth his peace is counted wise; and the si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses, quoted by all the commentators.

Oh that ye would altogether hold your peace! - You would show your wisdom by silence.

5. Wisdom — The Arabs say, “The wise are dumb, and silence is wisdom,” “Silence gains love,” “To repent after silence is better than to repent after wisdom.” — Cited by Erpenius.