Ver. 1. Call now, if there be any that will answer thee] The beginning of this chapter is hard, saith Mercer, till you come to the seventh or eighth verses, and then all is plain and easy. That which Eliphaz driveth at here is, to drive Job out of all good conceit of his own condition, and to persuade him that never any good man suffered such hard and heavy things as he, or, at least, suffered them so untowardly and impatiently. Call, I pray thee, saith he, call over the roll, look into the records of former saints, and see if thou canst find among them all such another knotty piece as thyself, that needed so much hewing, and made such a deal of complaining. Was there ever the like heard of? Call now, if there be any one answerable to thee. Broughton rendereth it, Call now, if there be any one that will defend thee, that is, be thy patron or advocate, in word, or in the example of their lives. And to which of the saints wilt thou turn?] q.d. Thou art alone, neither mayest thou hope to meet with thy match in the matter or manner of thine afflictions, unless it be among hypocrites and graceless persons, as Job 5:2. The Septuagint read it, To which of the angels wilt thou look? and the Popish commentators think they have here an unanswerable ground for their doctrine of invocation of saints and angels. But did not the buzzards take notice of an irony here, and that Eliphaz assureth Job that it would be in vain for him to call to any saint? &c. Is it not plain, or probable, at least, that he here meaneth the saints living in this world? or if not, yet is Gregory the Great of no authority with them, who acknowledgeth none other to be called upon, here meant, but God; and that the saints are mentioned to Job in derision, as if it were a ridiculous thing to call to them departed out of this life, who cannot hear us.
Ver. 2. For wrath killeth the foolish man] Such as thou art, Job; hot and hasty, pettish and passionate, fretting thyself to do evil, and so provoking God to fall foul upon thee as a just object of his wrath, to thine utter ruin, without repentance. Surely, with the froward God will show himself froward, Psalms 18:26. Neither hath ever any one hardened himself against the Lord and prospered, Job 9:4. For what reason? he is wise in heart, and mighty in strength, as it is there, every way able to overly master an adversary: if he but turn his own passions loose upon him, such as are wrath and envy, they will soon dispatch him. How many are there who, like sullen birds in a cage, beat themselves to death! Did not Bajazet do so? and was Diodorus any wiser (Laert. lib. 2)? or Homer, who died for anger that they could not resolve certain questions put unto them? or Terence, who drowned himself for grief, that he had lost certain comedies that he had composed? We read of some, that, out of discontent, they turned atheists, as Diagoras, Lucian, Porphyry, &c.; and of others, that, missing of bishoprics, or other church preferments, they turned heretics in sui solatium: were not these great sinners against their own souls, like the angry bee, who, to be revenged, loseth her sting, and soon after her life? Died they not like fools indeed, that died of the sullens, and so were deeply guilty of suicide? especially if their wrath were bent against God, if they howl against heaven; such are at once twice slain; slain with the wrath of God, and with their own. And envy slayeth the silly one] Him that is under the power of his passions, et minima afflictione ab officio abducitur, saith Mercer, and is turned off from duty by every light affliction; such a one doth envy at another man’s prosperity, Αγηνορια δε μιν εκτα (De Ajace, Homer). It is the same with wrath, nisi quod vehementius est, but that it is somewhat worse, saith the same author, as being a most quick sighted and sharp fanged malignity. Hence that of Solomon, Wrath is cruel, and anger outrageous; but who can stand before envy? Proverbs 27:4. It is the rottenness of the bones, Proverbs 14:30. And like the serpent porphyrius, it drinks the most part of its own venom. [See Trapp on “Pr 14:30”]
Ver. 3. I have seen the foolish taking root] q.d. I grant that wicked men are not always presently punished, sed Nemesis in tergo; et subito tollitur, qui diu toleratur. God’s wrath is such as no wicked man can avert or avoid. This had Eliphaz well observed, “I have seen”; he had set a memorandum on God’s just judgments, and marked his spits with his own stars, as one speaketh. Eliphaz was a man of much experience. See Job 4:8. In him that was true which Elihu saith should be, that days spake, and multitude of years taught wisdom, Job 32:7. Only herein he is mistaken, that he misapplieth all to Job, arguing from his outward condition to his inward; as if, therefore, he were wicked, because seemingly wretched. Thus the gloss he set was viperous, eating out the bowels of the text; it was a truth of God that he uttered, and the same in sense with that of David, Psalms 37:35; and that of Solomon, Proverbs 23:18. But why should he thus writhe it and wrest it, to make the tune sound to his own key? St Peter speaketh of some that wrest the Scriptures, 2 Peter 3:16, putting them upon the rack, and making them speak that which they never thought. And Tertullian saith of others, that they do murder the Scriptures for their own turns, and to serve their own purposes, Caedem scripturarum faciunt. The make a slaugter of the scriptures. But let us hear Eliphaz: “I have seen,” saith he, and what more sure than sight? Numbers 16:14, “the foolish,” the wilful fool, and perhaps he points at some one such rich fool as is mentioned Luke 12:20, not unknown to Job, and, as Eliphaz deemeth, a fit parallel for him, “taking root,” dwelling alone in the earth, confirmed and settled in a fair estate, in a prosperous condition, as Nebuchadnezzar, that goodly tree, thought himself, Daniel 4:4,22, [see Jeremiah 12:2] and Dionysius, tyrant of Sicily, who conceited that his kingdom was bound fast unto him with chains of adamant; but he was soon after cast out, and thereby convinced of singular folly (Aelian. Var. Hist. lib. 2). A tempest, or, at least, an axe, of Divine vengeance, can easily fell these rooted fast and best fruited trees, and lay them low enough, as he did Nebuchadnezzar, that club of the nations and rod of God’s wrath, Isaiah 14:4-8 Da 4:22, &c., and Attila, the conquering Hun, who called himself the wrath of God and scourge of the world, and arrogantly said, that the stars of heaven fell before him, and the earth trembled (Jovius), but was soon after rooted up by impartial death in the midst of his nuptial solemnities, Subita morte extinctus est, sanguine copiose in fauces exundante et ex ore erumpente. He died suddenly, much blood pouring from his throat and his mouth. And suddenly I cursed his habitation] His house, which he held his castle, together with his family, Job 5:4, and his family provisions, Job 5:5. All these Eliphaz suddenly (even when he was in the ruff of all his jollity, in the height of his flourish) cursed, Heb. pierced, or bored through, not so much by a malediction as a prediction, Male ominatus sum iis, I foresaw and foretold that that happiness would not hold long; I ominously divined it; I both thought it and spake it. Pium non decent dirae; cursing men are cursed men; but a godly person may presage a curse, and foretell it, according to that, Proverbs 3:33, “The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked,” yea, the flying roll of curses, that is ten yards long and five yards broad, shall remain in the midst of it, and consume it, Zechariah 5:4. Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation, and the fire of God shall kindle it; so that his roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off, &c., Job 18:15,16.