Ver. 1. Then Job answered and said] He replied as followeth to Bildad’s bitter and taunting invective. His miseries he here setteth forth graphically and tragically, granting to Bildad that he was dealt with no otherwise than if he were that wicked man described in the foregoing chapter, and yet denying himself to be any such one, by his lively hope of a joyful resurrection, such as would make a plentiful amends for all, Job 19:26-28. For though Mercer make question of it yet I am out of doubt, saith Beza, that this is the true meaning of this place. And surely the whole Scripture doth not yield us a more notable or a more clear and manifest testimony, to confirm unto us the resurrection of our bodies, than this. This confession of his faith, saith Lavater, is the chief thing in this chapter, and therefore challengeth our best attention.
Ver. 2. How long will ye vex my soul?] viz. With your furious and reproachful charges and criminations? Have I not misery enough already, but you must lay more load of scorn and contempt upon me; and so go on to trouble me by adding to my saddest sorrows, such as pierce to the very soul? Call you this comforting an afflicted friend? Hoccine est maestum consolari? How long will ye break me in pieces with words?] Words also have their weight, and if hard and harsh, Leniter volant, non leniter violant. Like mauls, they break the heart in pieces; like a rack, they torment it, Psalms 42:10. As with a murdering weapon in my bones, mine enemies reproached me. You shall find some, saith Erasmus, that if death be threatened can despise it; but to be belied, reproached, slandered, they cannot brook, nor from revenge contain themselves. Job was a strong man both in faith and patience, yet put hard to it by the hard words given him by Bildad and the rest, who did rather hurt his ear, by the loudness of their voices, than helped his heart, by the force of their reproofs. God’s servants “must not strive, but be gentle,” 2 Timothy 2:23,24, “showing all meekness to all men,” Titus 3:2 Jas 3:17. Gentle showers comfort the earth, when dashing storms drown the seed. There is a twofold inconvenience followeth upon bitter and boisterous proceedings with a supposed offender. First, the party looketh not so much to his own failing as to their passion. Secondly, as he is unconvinced, so they are not esteemed; but though they have the right on their side, yet they lose the due regard of their cause and reverence of their persons.
Ver. 3. These ten times have ye reproached me] i.e. Oftentimes. Herein Job endured a great fight of affliction, as the apostle styleth it, Hebrews 10:32,33; a manifold fight, as the word there signifieth. Cato was two and thirty times accused publicly, and as oft cleared and absolved. Basil was counted and called a heretic, even by those who, as it appeared afterwards, were of the same judgment with him, and whom he honoured as brethren. Dogs in a chase bark sometimes at their best friends, &c. Ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me] Or, Are you not ashamed that ye harden yourselves against me? or, that ye jeer and jest at my misery? or, that ye make merchandise of me, and take your penny worths out of me? Significat etiam emere, vel cauponari. Beza (agreeable to our translation) paraphraseth it thus, Ye take me up so short, as if ye dealt with a stranger and foreigner, and not with a friend. And so the word is taken, Genesis 42:7.
Ver. 4. And be it indeed that I have erred] Of human frailty; for that there is any way of wickedness in me (as you would have it) I shall never yield. But nimis angusta res est, nuspiam errare. Involuntary failings I am not free from; who knoweth the errors of his life? Psalms 19:12. What man is he that liveth and sinneth not? It is the sad privilege of mortality, saith one, Licere aliquando peccare, to have licence sometimes to sin (Euphorm.). Mine error remaineth with myself] q.d. It is little that you have done toward convincing me of any error in all this time, and talk, which until ye have done, I must still remain of the same mind. Or thus, You shall neither answer nor suffer for mine error; what need, then, all this heat and harshness? Not that every man must be left to himself, and let alone to live as he wishes. Admonition is a Christian duty, and the word of exhortation must be suffered, sharp though it be, and to the flesh irksome; better it is that the vine should bleed than die. Had Job been guilty, he would or should have been, as Vespasian is reported, patientissimus veri, patient of a reproof. But his friends falsely accused him for a hypocrite, and fell foul upon another man’s servant, whom they had nothing to do to condemn, Romans 14:10. And hence this expression of his discontent.
Ver. 5. If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me] Or, Will you indeed magnify yourselves against me? sc. because of mine error, as Job 19:4, which yet ye have not convinced me of? Will ye insult me, therefore, and throw dirt upon me? Of Bonassus, a certain beast as big as an ox, Aristotle reporteth, that having horns bending inward and unfit for fight, after that he is wounded by the hunters, he fleeth for his life, and often letteth fly his dung for four yards or more, upon the dogs or men that pursue him, to their great annoyance (Hist Animal., lib. ix. cap. 4, 5). In like sort deal many disputers of this world; when they cannot make good their matter by strength of argument, they cast upon their adversaries the dung of calumnies, so seeking to magnify themselves against him, and pleading against him his reproach. And plead against me my reproach] Affliction exposeth a man to reproach. Where the hedge is low the beast will be breaking over. See Zephaniah 3:12. [See Trapp on “Zep 3:12”]