Job 36
PATfor vengeance; who, though ho be not hurt himself by it, is touched with a sense of their affliction. Haying reprehended some of the unwarrantable expressions in Job’s discourses (which he himself would not justify), Elihu comes closer to the business, and speaks ^to the very cause itself. Shewing, from the nature of God, and the methods of his providence, that if Job had, instead of disputing, submitted himself humbly to God’s corrections, he would have delivered him (it being as easy for him to lift up as to cast down): and that his not discerning the reason of his corrections, (which Job had made a great cause of his grief, xix. 7.) ought not to have hindered* his humble submission; because we are not able to comprehend any of the works of God, which wc see every day, and acknowledge to bo most excellently contrived.
Job 36:1
JujLIHU also proceeded, and said. Job still keeping silence, Elihu proceeded in Ma discourse, an^ said,
Job 36:2
Suffer me a little, and I tvill shew thee that I have yet to speak on God’s behalf. Be not weary, and 1 will open my mind more fully; for thpu hast not yet heard all that God hath to say for himself by my mouth *
Job 36:3
I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and I will ascribq righteousness to my Maker. Which shall now, from the most sublime contemplations, assert the righteousness of my Maker.
Job 36:4
For truly my words shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledgeistviththee. For assure thyself I will not seek to baffle thee with sophistical arguments: he that discourses with thee is none of those, subtle, disputers, but loves sincere and solid reason.
Job 36:5
Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom. Know then that God is, most mighty, but despiseth not the meanest: the excellence of his power, and the greatness of his mind, will not suffer him to wrong any body.
Job 36:6
He preserveth not the life qf the wicked: but giveth right to the poor. When men are extremely wicked, and fit to be punished, he will let them live.no longer; but the poor at last shall recover their right, and be delivered out of their affliction.
Job 36:7
He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with kings are they on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted. For whatsoever affliction the righteous suffer, God never ceases to take a special care of them; and sometimes raises them to the highest offices that kings can confer upon them: in which they are settled as long as they live, and exalted above the power of their enemies that would pull them down.
Job 36:8
And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction. Or if they should fall into any trouble, which lies as heavy on them, and holds them as fast, as i£ they were bound with chains and with cords;
Job 36:9
Then fie sheweth them theirivork, and their trans gressfons that they have exceeded.* It is only to make them reflect upon their lives, and to shew them their sins; because they grow strong, and begin to prevail over them.
Job 36:10
But none saith, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night J. The greatest mischief is, that not one of these miserable wretches inquires seriously after God, who gavo him his being; and is abl$ therefore not only to relieve him, but to comfort, yea, to fill him with joy in the midst of the saddest affliction. He openeth also their ear to discipline, and cammandeth that they returnfrom iniquity.] He disposeth them, hereby to listen to instruction, and admonishes them to forsake their sins, and return to their duty.
Job 36:11
Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, andmaketh ns wispthan the fowls of heaven?. Having endued us with reason and wisdom to consider, that he, who takes care of the beasts and the birds, will not neglect us, if we do not merely cry and groan under our oppressions (as those brute creatures do); but, with hearty repentance, and a thankful sense of his benefits, and humble confidence in his goodness, piously address ourselves unto him. Jfthey obey and serve him, they shall spend tlieir days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.] And if they profit so much by their affliction, as to obey his counsel, and devoutly serve him, they shall regain their former splendour; and pass the rest of their life in prosperity and pleasure.
Job 36:12
There they cry (but none giveth answer), because of the pride of evil men.) This is the reason that God doth riot deliver them; because they lie crying, indeed, under their affliction; but it is not a sense of him, but only the haughty violence of their oppressors, which extorts it from them. But if they obey not, they shall perish by tlie sword, and they shall die without knowledge.] But if they be disobedientjthey shall be utterly cut off, and die in their folly.
Job 36:13
Surely God tvill not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it. For we must not think that God (though he be inclined to relieve the afflicted) will give ear to men so void of piety: he will not regard those who have so little regard to him; even for this reason, because he stands in need of nobody. But the hypocrites in heart heap tip wrath; they cry not when he bindeth them.] And they that arc falsehearted, do but heap up wrath to themselves by their counterfeit piety: which surprises them so suddenly, thjit it gives them no time so much as to cry to God, when his punishments seize on them.
Job 36:14
Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore tntst thou in him. Therefore, although thou complainest that thou dost not see him appear for thy deliverance, (xxiii. 8.) yet do not conclude from thence that he is unrighteous.; but go and condemn thyself before him, and then patiently wait for. his mercy. Tlmj die in youth, and their life is among the unclean.’] They die before their time, in the flower of their age; and perish like the impure S odontites, with a hasty and unexpected destruction.
Job 36:15
But now, because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth it not in great^ extremity. But now, because there is nothing of this in thee, God hath thus severely afflicted thee; and not at; all regarded the exceeding great prosperity wherein thou hast hitherto lived.‘Ver. 16. Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain.; he multiplieth words without knowledge.] And Job may spare his complaints hereafter, for they are to no purpose; he heapeth up words without reason. He delivereth the poor in his affliction, and openeth their ears in oppression.] Whereas he deliVfers the £oor humble man in his affliction; arid makes his oppression the means of giving him wholesome Counsel:
Job 36:16
Even so would lie have removed thee out of the strait into a broad place, where there is no straitness; and that which should beset on thy table should befall of fatness. Even so would he have rescued thee (if thou hadst humbly submitt A to his correction) out of these miserdble straits to which thou art reduced: arid not bhly enlarged thee, but set thee so far froth all danger of falling again into them, that peace and plenty should have befen thy portion.
Job 36:17
But thoii hast fulfilled the judgment df the wHcked: judgment andjtistice take hold diithee. But thou hast maintained the cause of the wicked: arid such as a man’s cause is, such will the judgment of God be upon him.
Job 36:18
Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away tvith his stroke: then it grtdt rdiisdm cannot deliver thee. And because God is angry with thfed, tak£ heed lest thou farther incense him to punish thee so heavily, that upon no terms he will deliver thee.
Job 36:19
Will he esteem thy riches? no, not gold, nor all the forces of strength. Dost thou think he will have any regard to thy riches? ri6, not if thou hadst all the treasure and all the force which all the povrer on fcarth can muster up.
Job 36:20
Desire hot the night, when people are cut off in their place. Do not dream that they can do thee any service; nor entertain thyself with vain hopes, as thou art musing oil thy bed in the night; wheh God soitictiirics destroys whole nktiohs on a sudden.
Job 36:21
Take heed, regard not iniquity: for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction. But let thy sufferings teach thee caution, and make thee afraid to go on to provoke offended justice: for thou hast done it too much already, in choosing rather to accuse Divine Providence, than to submit patiently to his chastisements.
Job 36:22
Behold, Godexalteth by his power: who teacheth like him?. Consider the vast extent of God’s power, which lifts men up as well as c&sts them down. What lord is there so absolute as he? or who shall tea6h him how to govern his dominions?
Job 36:23
Who hath enjoined him his way? or who can say, Tliou hast wrought iniquity?. What visitor is there over him, to examine and take an account of his actions? or who may presume to say, this or that is not well done?
Job 36:24
Remember that thou magnify his work, which men behold. See.that thou leave off this carping at his providence, and remember to extol and magnify it, as well as the wonderful fabric of the world, which men behold with admiration and praise.
Job 36:25
Every man may see it; man may behold it afar off. All mankind contemplate it with astonishment: thfcre arc nono so dull, but in the farthest parts of the earth they behold, if they open their eyes, the majesty of God;
Job 36:26
Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out. And mhst confess that he is great in wisdom and power, and cahntft be comprehended by our shallow understandings; which arfe presently confounded, when they enter into the search of his eterii&i being.. *
Job 36:27
For he maketh the small drops of water: tliey potir doivn rain according to the vapour thereof. Pox it is he who dissolves the clouds into water, and doth riot pour it down all at once; biit by small drops sweetly restores to the earth the vapour which was exhaled from thence:
Job 36:28
Which the clouds do drop and distil upon a man abundantly. For he hath made the clouds to be fluid bbdicis; which distil their showers iri so many places, that th^re are multitudes of spectators aiid admirers of this wonderful contrivance.
Job 36:29
Also can any understand the spreadings of the clouds, or the noise of his tabernacle?. ’ And can auy one understand how he spreads those clouds, and makes them hang iri the air, when they are full of water? of give an account of the dreadful sounds which are heard from thence, arid which tell us that he dwells in those celestial places 7 Ver. 3(J. Behold, he spreadeth his light upon it, and covereth Hie bottom of the sea.] Observe also how lie spreads the be&nis of the sun upon the sea, and covers it all over with light; which raises new vapours and clouds iri the room 6t those which are exhausted.
Job 36:31
For by them judgeth he the people; he giveih meat in abundance. Which he uses for quite contrary ends; both to punish mankind by storms, and tempests, arid fldods, and to make a plentiful provision for them by fruitful showers.
Job 36:32
With ctotids he covereth the light; and commandeth it not to shine, by the cloud that cometh betwixt. By those clouds also he sometimes quite hideth the sun from us, that it cannot ripen the fruits; and soirietimes only intercepts its beams awhile, that it may not burn them up by immoderate heat.
Job 36:33
The noise thereof sheweth concerning it, the, cattle also concerning the vapour. The very cattle perceive the clond as soon as it rises, and declare what God intends to do with it; whether to turn it into storms and tempests, or into fruitful fain and showers.