Job 5:9

Which doeth great things,.... The things of creation are great things, the making of the heavens and the earth, and all therein, by the word of the Almighty, out of nothing, and which is a display of

Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number: No JFB commentary on this verse.

Here Eliphaz enters upon a discourse of the infinite perfection and greatness of God’ s nature and works; which he doth partly as an argument to enforce the exhortation to seek and commit his cause to God, , because God was infinitely able, either to punish him yet far worse, if he continued to provoke him, or to raise him from the dust, if he humbly addressed himself to him; and partly that by a true representation of God’ s excellency and glory, and of that vast disproportion which was between God and Job, he might both convince Job of his great sin in speaking so boldly and irreverently of him, and prevent his relapse into the same miscarriage. Unsearchable; either such things as we may not boldly and curiously search into, ; or such as by searching we cannot find out, ; such as we cannot thoroughly understand, either the works themselves, or God’ s way and manner of doing them, or God’ s designs or ends in doing them. And therefore, O Job, thou art guilty of great impiety and folly to censure the ways and works of God as unreasonable, ,20, because thou dost not fully understand the nature and use of them. Marvellous things; which (though common, as the following works are, and therefore neglected and despised, yet) are just matter of wonder even to the wisest men.

Job 5:9 Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:Ver. 9. Which doth great things and unsearchable] The better to persuade Job to take his counsel, he entereth into a large description of God’ s attributes, his power, wisdom, justice, mercy, &c., all which are clearly seen in his works of wonder as in a mirror, or as on a theatre. These he is ever in doing, as the word here signifieth; and showeth himself great in great things, and not little in the least, dum nemora culicis et pulicis disponit (Aug.), yea, he useth to be greater in smaller things than in bigger. The soul is more operative in ants than in elephants; in dwarfs than in giants. So he delights to help his people with a little help, Daniel 11:34 (that through weaker means they may see his greatest strength), to magnify his power in pardoning their many and mighty sins, Numbers 14:17-18 Micah 7:18; to illustrate his power in their perseverance and wonderful preservation amidst a world of evils and enemies, John 10:29 1 Peter 1:5; to fulfil his promises, seem they never so improbable or impossible, Jeremiah 32:14-15; to answer prayers that look as if lost, and to do for his people exceeding abundantly above all that they can ask or think, according to the power that worketh in them, Ephesians 3:20. All this Eliphaz would have Job to consider, that he might not cast away his confidence, but seek to God, and turn his talk to him, as Beza turneth the foregoing words. And unsearchable] Heb. And no search, for they are fathomless, and past finding out, Romans 11:33. This Eliphaz might say, to stop Job’ s curiosity; and to humble him for his sin, in inquiring too much into the reason of God’ s so severe dealing with him, Job 3:1-26; in prying too far, or too boldly, into the secret workings of God. It should suffice us to know that the will of God is the rule of right, that his judgments are sometimes secret, always just; that it is extreme folly to reprehend what we cannot comprehend (we may as soon comprehend the sea in a cockleshell as the unsearchable things of God in our narrow and shallow understandings); that at the last day all things shall be cleared up, and every mouth stopped, when exquisite reasons of all God’ s proceedings (which now seem not so well carried) shall be produced, and wisdom shall be justified of her children. Marvellous things] Such as the wisest may well wonder at. God is the only Thaumaturgus, the great wonder worker; and these marvels are more ordinary than the most are, either at all either aware of, or affected with. To let pass those wonders of the creation (for which, see Psalms 136:4-7), Canst thou tell how the bones grow in her that is with child, saith Solomon? Ecclesiastes 11:5.

Verse 9. Which doeth great things] No work, however complicated, is too deep for his counsel to plan; none, however stupendous, is too great for his power to execute. He who is upright is always safe in referring his cause to God, and trusting in him.

9. This description of God as great in power and wonderful in working supports the implied exhortation in Job 5:8. Eliphaz in Job’s place would commit his cause, or exactly as we say colloquially, his case, unto God, for He, being great and wonderful in His ways, is capable of dealing with it, perplexed and mysterious though it be. A touch of humanity seems here almost to get the better of the moral and religious severity of Eliphaz.

Which doeth great things - The object of this is, to show why Job should commit his cause to God.

9. Without number — Literally, “Till there be no number.” Each avenue of research opens upon the infinite. Science has brought to light worlds of creative might of which Eliphaz had not dreamed.