Ver. 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said] Abruptly, without any preface, he sets upon Job (as doth likewise Bildad, Job 25), acting the part of a spiteful caviller rather than of an ingenuous accuser; reckoning and ranking just Job among the wicked, not covertly, as before, but overtly and expressly; and then thinking to salve all by an exhortation to repentance, backed with a fair promise of a full restoration. Pulcherrima parsenesis, sed quid ad Iobum? saith Brentius, A very good exhortation, but ill applied. We shall do well to take notice what a dangerous thing it is to give way to unruly passions, which, like heavy bodies down steep hills, once in motion, move themselves, and know no ground but the bottom.
Ver. 2. Can a man be profitable unto God] No, neither doth Job say he can, but the contrary, Job 21:22. Howbeit the God of glory, as he is called, Acts 7:2, although his glory is as himself, infinite and eternal, and, therefore, not capable of our addition or detraction (the sun would shine though all the world were blind), yet, to try how we prize his glory, and what we will do for him, he hath declared that he accounteth himself made glorious by us when we get so far as to conceive of him above all creatures. As he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?] Or, But he that is wise, &c. See Proverbs 9:12, which Solomon seemeth to have taken hence. Natural reason taught Plautus to bring in a countryman animating his son cheerfully to follow his business thus, Thou ploughest, harrowest, sowest, and reapest for thyself; to thee shall this labour bring in joy. The word here rendered wise sometimes signifieth prosperous, quod prudentibus omnia feliciter cedant, because prudent persons do usually prosper. Prudentiam felicitas fere sequitur, Isaiah 52:13.
Ver. 3. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous?] Num volupe est Omnipotenti? &c. Is anything added to his joy? Or needeth he thy manners and virtues to the making up of his perfection? Nothing less, surely. True it is, that he soliciteth suitors, John 4:23, and is well pleased with our performances, Psalms 51:6. But it is for our sakes, and to our benefit, and not his own. Like as the sun, when he casteth abroad his beams in the world, seemeth to receive light from some other creatures, whereas in truth they all receive light from him, and not he from them; so it is here: and as the same sun draws up vapours from the earth, not for itself, but to render them again to the earth, to moisten and fatten it; so God, the true Sun of our souls, draweth from us our sighs and services, not for his own profit, but to rain them down again upon us in so many blessings.
Ver. 4. Will he reprove thee for fear of thee?] Doth he plague and punish thee thus, for fear that in time thou mayest grow so overly good, that he cannot reward thee, or so overly great, that he cannot command thee? No such matter. Others read it thus: Would he reprove thee for thy religion? Vox timoris sire religionis active sumitur, &c. (Merlin), Would he come into judgment with thee? q.d. Surely God would not deal thus harshly with thee if thou didst truly fear him; but thou art a wicked wretch, as Job 22:5. Either God punisheth thee for thy piety or thy sinfulness. Not for the former, doubtless (for piety is profitable to all things, &c.), therefore for the latter. This is Eliphaz’s argument here. But Austin makes answer (besides what Job doth in the two following chapters), Tract. in Joan. 124, God chastiseth his best children sometimes for his own glory, as John 9:3, sometimes for their good; as, namely, for prevention, probation, purgation, preparation, either to the performance of some special service or to the receipt of some special blessing, &c., Vel ad demonstrationem debitae miseriae, vel ad emendationem labilis vitae, vel ad exercitationem necessariae patientiae. Will he enter with thee into judgment?] This seemeth to be the same in sense with the former hemistich; [The half or section of a line of verse, as divided by the cæsura or the like; also, a line of less than the usual length. spec. Such a half-line or line in Old English verse.] and then it shows Eliphaz’s confidence, though he were in an error.
Ver. 5. Is not thy wickedness great?] Why, no; God of his grace had kept Job innocent of the great transgression, Psalms 19:13, and that wicked one had not touched him, 1 John 5:18, sc. with a deadly touch, Tactu qualitativo (Cajetan); had not thrust his sting into him, or transformed him into sin’s image. Had Eliphaz ever found Job to be such a one as here he maketh him? Or doth he not, by these interrogatories, cunningly come over him (in kindness, as we say), to make him confess it? Had all been true that is alleged, Job’s wickedness must needs have been great, and his iniquity infinite. But to be accused is not enough to render a man guilty; for then who should be innocent? Novit sapiens se ad hoc scamma productum, ut depugnet cum iis qui maledictis aluntur, ut venems capreae. Cato was thirty-two times accused, and as often absolved. And thine iniquities infinite?] Heb. There is no end of thine iniquities; and hence it is that thy miseries are so many and so long lasting; commeruisti tanta tuis sceleribus. The wicked indeed are eternally tormented: 1. Because, being worthless, they cannot satisfy God’s justice in any time; 2. Because they have an infinite desire for sinning against God. But neither of these could be truly affirmed in Job. That so grave a man as Eliphaz (whom the Jewish doctors account a prophet) should fall so foul upon his innocent friend, and taking occasion by his great afflictions only, conjecture and conclude him so heinous an offender, cannot possibly be excused, Coniectura duntaxat, non rei veritate nititur.