Job 35:10

But none saith, where [is] God my Maker?.... Or "Makers" (y), as in Psalms 149:2; for there are more concerned in the formation of man, Genesis 1:26; even the Father, Son, and Spirit, who are the one

But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night; But the reason is, that the innocent sufferers often do not humbly seek God for succour; so to their "pride" is to be laid the

None, i.e. few or none (for few are oft called and accounted as none, both in Scripture and other authors) of the great numbers of oppressed persons. None saith, to wit, seriously or sincerely, and it may be not so much as in word and profession. Where is God? they howl and cry out of men, and to men, but they seek not after God; they do not acknowledge him in all their ways; they praise him not for that ease, and liberty, and estate, and other mercies which God gave them; and by this unthankfulness they forfeit their mercies; and therefore if God suffer oppressors to take them away, they have no cause to complain of God, but only of themselves: they will not vouchsafe to pray to God seriously and fervently, either to continue or to restore their lost mercies; and therefore if God do not hear nor regard their brutish cries, arising only from a natural sense of their misery, it is not strange nor unjust. My Maker; who alone made me, and whose power and providence preserveth me every day, and who only can protect and deliver me; all which were obligations upon them to praise God, and pray to him, and depend upon him, and aggravations of their gross neglect of God. Heb. my Makers, in the plural number; which being used not only here, but also , and that without any necessity, when it might as well have been put in the singular number, yea, though Elohim be plural, as it is , plainly implies a plurality of persons in the Divine essence, of which see on . Songs, i.e. matter of songs; great occasion to rejoice and praise God. In the night; either, 1. Metaphorically taken, i.e. in the night of affliction; implying that they want not cause to bless God even in their afflictions. Or rather, 2. Properly, as this word is always used in Job, one place excepted, which is doubtful, to wit, ; which he may mention rather than the day, either because oppressed persons, who in the day time are cruelly used by their oppressors, are permitted to rest in the night; or because the hand and mercy of God is more manifest in the preservation, and rest, and sleep of the night, than in the blessings of the day, which are procured by man’ s industry; or because the day is the time of action, the night of contemplation, when we do and ought to remember God’ s mercies with thanksgiving: compare 119:62.

Job 35:10 But none saith, Where [is] God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;Ver. 10. But none saith, Where is God my maker] Heb. my makers; to note the Trinity, say some; others think that he speaks of God in the plural number only for honour’ s sake. They call not upon God as their Creator, they praise him not as their preserver and benefactor, saith Elihu in this and the next verse; but express a great deal of pride and vanity, Job 35:12-13; and thence it is that their prayers are unanswered and themselves unrelieved. The oppressed should not only make moan and fill the air, vagis clamoribus, with brutish outcries (the fruit of the flesh for ease, rather than of the spirit for grace), but beg help of God by faithful prayer, and say, "Where is God my maker?" as Elisha once said, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" Did he not make me, and will he not maintain me? built he not the earthly house of this tottering tabernacle, and is not he bound to repairs? will he cast off the care of his own handiwork? Qui nos fecit, idem ille est qui nos fovet, conservat ac sustentat, &c. (Brent.). Is he not my master as well as my maker? and shall other lords beside him have dominion over me, and do with me at their pleasure? Lord, look upon the wounds of thy hands (said Queen Elizabeth while she was a prisoner at Woodstock, and had like to have been burnt in her bed one night), and despise not the work of thine hands. Thou hast written me down in thy book of preservation with thine own hand; oh read thine own handwriting, and save me, &c. Who giveth songs in the night] As the oppressed pray not, and therefore are not eased (they are deservedly miserable, that might, but will not, make themselves happy by asking), so they praise not, God for former deliverances by day and night conferred upon them. Thou hast compassed me about, saith David, with songs of deliverance, Psalms 32:7, that is, Thou hast given me plentiful matter of praising thy name. So here, Qui dat Psalmormn argumentum de nocte, as Tremellius translateth it; who giveth cause to praise him with psalms by night, as David did, Psalms 119:62, and as Paul and Silas, Acts 16:25; and as Mr Philpot and his fellows did in the Bishop of London’ s coal house. In the night season it is that God giveth his beloved sleep, and keepeth them and theirs then in safety.

(10) But none saith.—Some render this, “But he who giveth songs in the night saith not, Where is God my Maker,” i.e., the selfish and luxurious oppressor, who spendeth the night in feasting and revelry. This is an intelligible meaning. On the other hand, though the phrase, “who giveth songs in the night,” has become proverbial, and, with the meaning assigned to it, is very beautiful, it may be doubted whether it is so obvious or natural in this place. This is a matter for individual taste and judgment to decide. If it is understood of God, it ascribes to Him the turning of sorrow into gladness, and the night of affliction into joy—an office which is, indeed, frequently assigned to God, but of which the appropriateness is not so manifest here. The decision of this question will perhaps partly depend upon the view we take of the words which follow—“Where is God my Maker?”—whether they are part of the cry of the oppressed or whether they are the words of Elihu. If the latter, then they become more intelligible; if otherwise, it is difficult to see their special appropriateness in this particular place. Perhaps it is better to regard them as the words of Elihu.

Verse 10. Where is God my Maker] They have no just apprehension of his being; they do not consider themselves his creatures, or that he who created them still preserves them, and would make them happy if they would pray unto him. Who giveth songs in the night] This is variously translated. "Before whom the high angels give praise in the night." - CHALDEE. "Who sets the night-watches." - SEPTUAGINT. "Gives meditations in the night." - SYRIAC and ARABIC. "And that shyneth upon us that we might prayse him in the night." - COVERDALE. A holy soul has continual communion with God: night and day its happiness is great; and God, from whom it comes, is the continual subject of its songs of praise.

10. The explanation of the anomaly. Where is God] The language of one devoutly seeking God. songs in the night] They seek not God in truth, who by sudden deliverances (comp. ch. Job 34:20; Job 34:25) fills the mouth of the afflicted with singing, Psalms 32:7.

But none saith - That is, none of the oppressed and down-trodden say. This is the solution which Elihu gives of what appeared so mysterious to Job, and of what Elihu regarded as the source of the bitter complaints of Job.

10. But none saith — But they do not say. The reason that they are not heard is, that their cry has no element of faith or regard for God, in this respect resembling the instinctive cries of beasts and birds. My maker — òùׂ ?é.