Job 22

nought, &c.] Amongst Job’s many and grievous afflictions, as it is hard to say which was the greatest, so we are sure this was not the least, that he was to wrestle with the unjust and bitter upbraidings of unreasonable and incompassionate men. They came to visit him as friends, and as friends they should have comforted him. But sorry friends they were, and “miserable comforters,” chap. xvi. 2; indeed not comforters, but tormentors; and accusers, rather than friends. Seeing God’s hand heavy upon him, for want of better or other proof, they charge him with hypocrisy. And because they would not seem to deal all in generalities, for against this general accusation of hypocrisy it was sufficient for him as generally to plead the truth and uprightness of his heart, they therefore go on more particularly, but as falsely, and as it were by way of instance, to charge him with oppression. Thus Eliphaz by name taxes him in this chapter. Against these foul aspersions, the good man defends himself something largely in the twenty-ninth chapter, in which he declares how he demeaned himself in the time of his prosperity in the administration of his magistracy, far otherwise than was laid to his charge. Bp. Sanderson. — stripped the naked of their clothing.] The Arabs call their upper garment a hyke; which is a blanket, or gown, five or six yards long, and five or six yards broad. This is wrapped over the tunic, or close-bodied frock, which is the inner garment, and girded about their waist in time of work or action. Persons, who have no hyke or upper garment, but only their tunic and shirt, may be said to be “naked,” according to the mode of speaking in the East. Dr. Shaw, Scott. The sense is, Thou hast stripped of their garments even those, who had no more but just enough to cover their nakedness. Bp. Patrick.

Chap. XXIII. ver. 2, 3. Even to day is my complaint bitter:] Job, being provoked to a high degree by the freedom Eliphaz had taken with him in his last speech, in charging him directly with the most enormous sins, (chap. xxii. 5, 6,) turns to God, according to his custom, and earnestly begs that He would bring him to this trial; that he would hear the matter fully, and determine between him and his friends. “Oh that I knew where I might find Him! (that is, God;) that I might come even to His seat!” (or tribunal.) Peters.

Even still I have every day more cause than another to complain of my great affliction, and the stroke that I feel from God is more heavy than my groaning can express. Bp. Hall.

Job 22:3

3—10. Oh that I knew where I might find him! &c.] What exalted and sublime conceptions Job entertained

Job 22:7

7. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink.] Thou hast been hard-hearted to the weary traveller, when thou sawest him ready to die with thirst or hunger. Bp. Patrick. Entertainment of travellers, and charity to the poor, were looked upon by the Arabs, and by the ancient Greeks, as duties of the most sacred obligation. The Odyssey of Homer has some noble sentiments on this subject; and the poems of the Arabs abound with them. The vilest of all characters among them was the inhospitable and avaricious man. Scott.

Job 22:13

13. And thou sayest, How doth God know? &c.] It may be you are so wicked as to imagine, that God cannot, or that He will not, see the wickedness done upon earth: but consider how he drowned the world for their wickedness. Bp. Wilson.

Job 22:15

15. Hast thou marked the old way, &c.] This was the way of reasoning in the old world, till God convinced them of their error by destroying them with a deluge of water. Let me therefore advise you not to follow these men’s steps, but make your peace with God by a timely repentance, ver. 21. Bp. Wilson.

15, 16. Hast thou marked, &c.] As the universal deluge was a most signal and memorable instance of God’s displeasure against wickedness and wicked men, Eliphaz takes occasion here to enlarge upon it as a proper lesson (so he thought it) for his friend, and then closes it with the mention of another destruction either past or to be expected, which is described to be as general, and as fatal to the wicked; see ver. 20. Peters.

Job 22:16

16. — whose foundation] Whose habitation; denominated here from its essential part, the better to express the durable materials of which their palaces were formed. Scott. Eliphaz exhorteth Job to repentance, with promises of mercy. Before CHRIST about 1520. Or, salute. Or, their excellency. That is, with God. d Chap. 8. 5. Or, on the dust. Or, gold. Heb. silver of strength.

Job 22:20

20. Whereas our substance is not cut down, &c.] This is the lot of wicked men; whereas we, who are righteous and godly, speed otherwise; our substance is both continued and multiplied; but as for them, that which remains of their riches, together with their persons, shall be consumed with the fire of God’s displeasure. Bp. Hall.

Job 22:21

21. Acquaint now thyself with him.] To “acquaint ourselves with God,” is a phrase of the same import with coming to God, and seeking for Him, and many other expressions in Scripture, which signify nothing else but to become religious. Abp. Tillotson.

Job 22:23

23. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, &c.] Thou shalt soon feel the comfortable fruits of it: for if thou return to the Almighty, who hath laid thee thus low, He will return to thee, and raise thee up as high as ever: He will pardon thine iniquity, and remove the punishment of it far from thee and thine. Bp. Patrick.

Job 22:29

29. When men are cast down.] When thou seest good men cast down, then shalt thou, by the strength of thy faith, say, There shall be an exaltation for these men; and God will find a time to deliver and honour the humble person. Bp. Hall.

Job 22:30

30. He shall deliver the island of the innocent:] Rather, “He,” that is, God, “shall deliver the habitation of the innocent;” see Isa. xx. 6, and the note there. Parkhurst. Or, “The innocent shall deliver a country, and it shall be delivered by the pureness of his hands.” Men of exemplary piety and virtue are sometimes the preservers of a whole people, by means of their favour with God. This grand idea of the efficacy of true religion, and the vast utility of virtuous men, is derived from the patriarchal history; see Gen. xviii. 23, &c. Scott. Yea, a whole country shall owe its safety to thy innocence; it shall be delivered by thy pious prayers and blameless actions. Bp. Patrick.

It is “the innocent that delivereth the land,” and reprieveeth it from destruction, when the sentence of desolation is pronounced against it; “and it is delivered by the pureness of his hands.” How great was the goodness of God, which would have spared the five