Here, [1.] He makes too light of Job's afflictions; ."It touches thee." The very word that Satan himself had used, ch. i. 11.—ii. 5. Had Eliphaz felt but the one half of Job's afflictions, he would have said, "It smites me, it wounds me;" but, speaking of Job's afflictions, he makes a mere trifle of it; "It touches thee, and thou canst not bear to be touched;" Noli me tangere—Touch me not. [2.] He makes too much of Job's resentments, and aggravates them; "Thou faintest, or thou art beside thyself; thou ravest, and knowest not what thou sayest." Men in deep distress must have grains of allowance, and a favourable construction put upon what they say; when we make the worst of every word, we do not as we would be done by.
2. As to his general character before this affliction, he charges him with wickedness and false-heartedness; that article of his charge was utterly groundless and unjust. How unkindly does he banter him, and upbraid him with the great profession of religion he had made, as if it were all now come to nothing, and proved a sham; (v. 6.) "Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? Does it not all appear now to be a mere pretence? For, hadst thou been sincere in it, God would not thus have afflicted thee, nor wouldest thou have behaved thus under the affliction." This was the very thing Satan aimed at, to prove Job a hypocrite, and disprove the character God had given of him: when he could not himself do this to God, but He still saw and said, Job is perfect and upright, then he endeavoured, by his friends, to do it to Job himself, and to persuade him to confess himself a hypocrite: could he have gained that point, he would have triumphed, Habes confitentem reum—Out of thine own mouth will I condemn thee. But, by the grace of God, Job was enabled to hold fast his integrity, and would not bear false witness against himself. Note, Those that pass rash and uncharitable censures upon their brethren, and condemn them for hypocrites, do Satan's work, and serve his interest, more than they are aware of. I know not how it comes to pass that this verse is differently read in several editions of our common English Bibles; the original, and all the ancient versions, put thy hope before the uprightness of thy ways. So does the Geneva and most of the editions of the last translation; but I find one of the first, in 1612, has it, Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, the uprightness of thy ways, and thy hope? Both the Assembly's Annotations, and Mr. Poole's, have that reading; and an edition in 1660 reads it, "Is not thy fear thy confidence, and the uprightness of thy ways thy hope? Does it not appear now, that all the religion, both of thy devotion, and of thy conversation, was only in hope and confidence that thou shouldest grow rich by it? Was it not all mercenary?" The very thing that Satan suggested. Is not thy religion thy hope, and thy right ways thy confidence? So Mr. Broughton. Or, "Was it not? Didst thou not think that that would have been thy protection? But thou art deceived." Or, "Would it not have been so? If it had been sincere, would it not have kept thee from this despair?" It is true, if thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength, thy grace, is small; (Prov. xxiv. 10.) but it does not therefore follow that thou hast no grace, no strength at all. A man's character is not to be taken from a single act.
7. Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off ? 8. Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. 9. By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. 10. The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. 11. The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.
Eliphaz here advances another argument to prove Job a hypocrite, and will have not only his impatience under his afflictions to be evidence against him, but even his afflictions themselves, being so very great and extraordinary, and there being no prospect at all of his deliverance out of them.
To strengthen this argument, he here lays down these two principles, which seem plausible enough.
I. That good men were never thus ruined: for the proof of this, he appeals to Job's own observation; (v. 7.) "Remember, I pray thee; recollect all that thou hast seen, heard, or read, and give me an instance of any one that was innocent and righteous, and yet perished as thou dost, and was cut off as thou art." If we understand it of a final and eternal destruction, his principle is true. None that are innocent and righteous, perish for ever: it is only a man of sin that is a son of perdition, 2 Thess. ii. 3. But then it is ill applied to Job; he did not thus perish, nor was he cut off: a man is never undone till he is in hell. But, if we understand it of any temporal calamity, his principle is not true. The righteous perish; (Isa. lvii. 1.) There is one event both to the righteous and to the wicked, (Eccl. ix. 2.) both in life and death; the great and certain difference is after death. Even before Job's time, (as early as it was,) there were instances sufficient to contradict this principle, Did not righteous Abel perish being innocent; and was not he cut off in the beginning of his days? Was not righteous Lot burnt out of house and harbour, and forced to retire to a melancholy cave? Was not righteous Jacob, a Syrian, ready to perish? Deut. xxvi. 5. Similar instances, no doubt, there were, which are not on record.
II. That wicked men were often thus ruined: for the proof of this, he vouches his own observation; (v. 8.) "Even as I have seen, many a time, They that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness, by the blast of God they perish, v. 9. We have daily instances of that; and therefore, since thou dost thus perish, and art consumed, we have reason to think that, whatever profession of religion thou hast made, thou hast but ploughed iniquity, and sown wickedness. Even as I have seen in others, so do I see in thee."
I. He speaks of sinners in general, politic busy sinners, that take pains in sin, for they plough iniquity; and expect gain by sin, for they sow wickedness: they that plough, plough in hope; but what is the issue? They reap the same: they shall, of the flesh, reap corruption and ruin, Gal. vi. 7 , 8. The harvest will be a heap in the day of grief and desperate sorrow, Isa. xvii. 11. He shall reap the same, that is, the proper product of that seedness: that which the sinner sows, he sows not that body that shall be, but God will give it a body, a body of death, the end of those things, Rom. vi. 21. Some, by iniquity and wickedness, understand wrong and injury done to others; they who plough and sow them, shall reap the same, that is, they shall be paid in their own coin. They who are troublesome, shall be troubled, 2 Thess. i. 6. Josh. vii. 25. The spoilers shall be spoiled; Isa. xxxiii. 1. (and they that led captive, shall go captive,) Rev. xiii. 10.
He further describes their destruction; (v. 9.) By the blast of God they perish. The projects they take so much pains in, are defeated; God cuts
