Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/3_500_e.lzh/3_508.TXT

Text File | 1995-01-23 | 7KB | 138 lines

\*Ver. 7. \\Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and\\,
\\declare thou unto me\\, &c.] And prepare to give an answer to what should
be demanded of him. The same way of speaking is used in \\#Job 38:3\\;
\\see Gill on "Job 38:3"\\.

\*Ver. 8. \\Wilt thou also disannul my judgment\\? &c.] The
decrees and purposes of God concerning his dealings
with men, particularly the afflictions of them, which
are framed with the highest wisdom and reason, and
according to the strictest justice, and can never be
frustrated or made void; or the sentence of God concerning
them, that is gone out of his mouth and cannot
be altered; or the execution of it, which cannot be
hindered: it respects the wisdom of God in the government
of the world, as Aben Ezra observes, and
the particular dealings of his providence with men,
which ought to be submitted to; to do otherwise is
for a man to set up his own judgment against the
Lord's, which is as much as in him lies to disannul it;
whereas God is a God of judgment, and his judgment
is according to truth, and in righteousness, and will
take place, let men do or say what they please;
\*\\wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous\\? Is
there no other way of vindicating thine own innocence
and integrity, without charging me with unrighteousness;
at least saying such things as are judged by
others to be an arraignment of my justice, wisdom,
and goodness, in the government of the world?  Now
though Job did not expressly and directly condemn
the Lord, and arraign his justice, yet when he talked
of his own righteousness and integrity, he was not upon
his guard as he should have been with respect to the
justice of God in his afflictions; for though a man may
justify his own character when abused, he should take
care to speak well of God; and be it as it will between
man and man, God is not to be brought into the question;
and though some of his providences are not so
easily reconciled to his promises, yet let God be true
and every man a liar.

\*Ver. 9. \\Hast thou an arm like God\\? &c.] Such
power as he has, which is infinite, almighty, and uncontrollable,
and therefore there is no contending with
him; as he has an arm on which good men may lean
on and trust in, and by which they are supported,
protected, and saved, so he has an arm to crush like a moth
all that strive with him or against him;
\*\\or canst thou
thunder with a voice like him\\? thunder is his voice;
see \\#Job 37:4,5 Ps 29:3\\, &c. and is expressive
of his power, \\#Job 26:14\\; and his powerful
voice may be observed in calling all things out of nothing
into being in creation; in commanding and ordering
all things in providence according to his pleasure;
and in quickening sinners through his Gospel, by
his spirit and grace in conversion, and will be in calling
men out of their graves and summoning them to
judgment at the last day. God can both overpower
and outvoice men, and therefore it is in vain to oppose
him and contend with him.

\*Ver. 10. \\Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency\\, &c.]
With excellent majesty, as I am decked
and clothed, \\#Ps 93:1\\;
\*\\and array thyself with glory
and beauty\\; appear in the most glorious and splendid
manner thou canst, make the best figure thou art able,
put on royal robes, and take thy seat and throne, and
sit as a king or judge in state and pomp, and exert
thyself to do the following things; or take my seat
and throne as the judge of the whole earth, and try if
thou canst govern the world better than I do; for these
and the expressions following are ironical.

\*Ver. 11. \\Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath\\, &c.]
Work thyself up into a passion, at least seemingly;
put on all the airs of a wrathful and enraged king on a
throne of state, whose wrath is like the roaring of a
lion, and as messengers of death; pour out menaces
plentifully, threatening what thou wilt do; and try if
by such means thou canst humble the spirit of a proud
man, as follows;
\*\\and behold every one [that is] proud, and abase him\\; look sternly
at him, put on a fierce,
furious, and menacing countenance, and see if thou
canst dash a proud man out of countenance, and humble
him before thee, as I am able; among the many
instances of divine power the Lord pitches upon this
one, and proposes it to Job to try his skill and power
upon, the humbling of a proud man.

\*Ver. 12. \\Look on every one [that is] proud, [and] bring him low\\,
&c.] As the Lord often does; see \\#Isa 2:11,12\\;
this is the same as before;
\*\\and tread down the
wicked in their place\\; the same with the proud, for
pride makes men wicked; it is a sin, and very odious
in the sight of God, and is highly resented by him; he
resists the proud: now Job is bid, when he has brought
proud men low, and laid their honour in the dust, to
keep them there, to trample upon them, and tread them
as mire in the street; and that in their own place, or
wherever he should find them; the Septuagint render
it %immediately%; see \\#Isa 28:3\\.

\*Ver. 13. \\Hide them in the dust together\\, &c.] Either
in the dust of death, that they may be seen no more
in this world, in the same place and circumstances
where they showed their pride and haughtiness; or in
the dust of the grave, and let them have an inglorious
burial, like that of malefactors thrown into some common
pit together; as, when multitudes are slain in
battle, a large pit is dug, and the bodies are cast in together
without any order or decency; or it may be
rendered %alike% {b}, let them be treated equally alike, no
preference given to one above another;
\*\\[and] bind their faces in secret\\;
alluding, as it is thought, to malefactors
when condemned and about to be executed, whose
faces are then covered, as Haman's was, \\#Es 7:8\\;
or to the dead when buried, whose faces are bound
with napkins, as Lazarus's was, \\#Joh 11:44\\; the
meaning of all these expressions is, that Job would abase
and destroy, if he could, every proud man he met with,
as God does, in the course of his providence, sooner or
later. There had been instances of divine power in
this way before, or in the times of Job, which might
come to his knowledge; as the casting down of the
proud angels out of heaven, \\#2Pe 2:4\\; and of casting proud Adam
out of paradise, \\#Ge 3:24\\; the drowning the proud giants of the
old world, \\#Ge 7:23\\; and of dispersing the proud builders of Babel,
\\#Ge 11:8\\; and of destroying Sodom and Gomorrah by fire, \\#Ge
19:24,25\\,
one of whose reigning sins was pride, \\#Eze 16:49\; and of drowning
proud Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea, \\#Ex 15:4\\: which last
seems to have been done much about the time Job lived.

{b} \^dxy\^ %pariter%, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Schultens.