John Gill Commentary Job 16

Then Job answered and said .
] As soon as Eliphaz had done speaking, Job stood up, and made the following reply.

I have heard many such things
As those Eliphaz has been discoursing of, concerning the punishment of wicked men; many instances of this kind had been reported to him from his preceptors, and from his parents, and which they had had from theirs, as well as Eliphaz had from his; and he had heard these things, or such like, told "many times" from one to another, as Ben Gersom interprets it; or "frequently", as the Vulgate Latin version, yea, he had heard them his friends say many things of this kind; so that there was nothing new delivered, nothing but what was "crambe millies cocta", the same thing over and over again; insomuch that it was not only needless and useless, but nauseous and disagreeable, and was far from carrying any conviction with it, or tracing weight and influence upon him; that he only gave it the hearing, and that was all, and scarce with any patience, it being altogether inapplicable to him: that wicked men were punished for their sins, he did not deny; and that good men were also afflicted, was a very plain case; and that neither good nor hatred, or an interest in the favour of God or not, were not known by these things; nor could any such conclusion be fairly drawn, that because Job was afflicted, that therefore he was a bad man:

miserable comforters [are] you all ;
his friends came to comfort him, and no doubt were sincere in their intentions; they took methods, as they thought, proper to answer such an end; and were so sanguine as to think their consolations were the consolations of God, according to his will; and bore hard upon Job for seeming to slight them, (Job 15:11) ; to which Job here may have respect; but they were so far from administering divine consolation, that they were none at all, and worse than none; instead of yielding comfort, what they said added to his trouble and affliction; they were, as it may be rendered, "comforters of trouble", or "troublesome comforters" ^F11 , which is what rhetoricians call an oxymoron; what they said, instead of relieving him, laid weights and heavy pressures upon him he could not bear; by suggesting his afflictions were for some enormous crime and secret sin that he lived in the commission of; and that he was no other than an hypocrite: and unless he repented and reformed, he could not expect it would be better with him; and this was the sentiment of them one and all:

So to persons under a sense of sin, and distressed about the salvation of their souls, legal preachers are miserable comforters, who send them to a convicting, condemning, and cursing law, for relief; to their duties of obedience to it for peace, pardon, and acceptance with God; who decry the grace of God in man's salvation, and cry up the works of men; who lay aside the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ, the consolation of Israel, and leave out the Spirit of God the Comforter in their discourses; and indeed all that can be said, or directed to, besides the consolation that springs from God by Christ, through the application of the Spirit, signifies nothing; for if any comfort could be had from any other, he would not be, as he is called, the God of all comfort; all the creatures and creature enjoyments, even the best are broken cisterns, and like the deceitful brooks Job compares his friends to, (Job 6:15) , that disappoint when any expectations of comfort are raised upon them.

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: (lme ymxnm) "consolatores molestiae", Vatablus, Drusius, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schmidt, Michaelis; "molesti", Beza, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Codurcus, Tigurine version; "molestissimi", Schultens.

Shall vain words have an end ?
&c.] Or "words of wind" ^F11 , vain empty words, great swelling words of vanity, mere bubbles that look big, and have nothing in them; here Job retorts what Eliphaz had insinuated concerning him and his words, (Job 15:2Job 15:3) ; and he intimates such worthless discourses should have an end, and a speedy one, and not be carried on to any length, they not bearing it; and wishes they were at an end, that he might hear no more of them; and suggests that it was weak and foolish in them to continue them; that if they could speak to no better purpose, it would be best to be silent:

or what emboldens you that you answer ?
when men are engaged in a good cause, have truth on their side, and are furnished with arguments sufficient to defend it, this animates and emboldens them to stand up in the defence of it, and to answer their adversaries, and to reply when there is occasion; but Job could not imagine what should encourage and spirit up Eliphaz to answer again, when he had been sufficiently confuted; when his cause was bad, and he had no strong reasons to produce in the vindication of it; or "what has exasperated" or "provoked you" ^F12 to make reply? here Job seems to have thought that he had said nothing that was irritating, though it is notorious he had, such were his grief and troubles; and so well assured he was of his being in the right, that the harsh and severe words and expressions he had used were not thought by him to have exceeded due bounds, such as (Job 12:2Job 12:3) (Job 13:2Job 13:4) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: (xwr yrbdl) "verbis venti", Beza, Bolducius, Mercerus, Schmidt, Michaelis.
• F12: (Kuyrmy hm) "quid exacerbat te", Junius & Tremellius; so Codureus, Schultens.

I also could speak as you [do]
As big words, with as high a tone, with as stiff a neck, and as haughtily and loftily; or "ought I to speak as you do" ^F13 ? That I ought not, nor would you think I ought, if you were in my case. Or, being so, "would I speak as you do" ^F14 ? No, I would not; my conscience would not suffer me:

if your soul were in my soul's stead ;
in the same afflicted state and condition, in the same distressed case and circumstances; not that he wished it, as some render the words, for a good man will not wish hurt to another; only he supposes this, as it was a case supposable, and not impossible to be a fact, some time or another, in this state of uncertainty and change. However, it is right to put ourselves in the case of others in our own imagination, that so it may be considered in the proper point of view, that we may better judge how we should choose to be treated ourselves in such circumstances, and so teach us to do that to others as we would have done to ourselves:

I could heap up words against you ;
talk as fast as you to me, and run you down with a great torrent of words; Job had a great fluency, he talked a great deal in his afflicted state, too much as his friends thought, who represent him as dealing in a multitude of words, and as a very talkative man, (Job 8:2) (11:2) ; and what could he have done, had he his health, and in prosperous circumstances as formerly?

or "would I heap up words against you?" or "ought I?" &c. {o}; no, it would not be my duty, nor would I do it; humanity and good sense would never have allowed me to do it;

but, on the contrary, I "would have joined [myself] with you", in a social, free, and familiar manner, in words ^F16 , in a friendly meeting with you, so the words may be read and paraphrased;

I would have come and paid you a visit, and sat down by you, and entered into a kind and compassionate conversation with you about your case and condition, and done all I could to comfort you;

I would have framed and composed (as the word used signifies) a set discourse on purpose; I would have sought out all the acceptable words, and put them together in the best manner I could for you ^F17 ; had I the tongue of the learned, I would have made use of it, to have spoken a word in season to you:

and shake mine head at you ;
by way of scorn and derision, that is, he could have done it as well as they; shaking the head is used as a sign of contempt, (Psalms 22:8) (Lamentations 2:15) ; or "would I", or "ought I to shake my head at you" ^F18 if in my case? no, I would not; as I ought not, I would have scorned to have done it;

or the sense may be, "I would have shook my head at you", in a way of pity, bemoaning lamenting, and, condoling your case ^F19 ; see (Job 42:11) (Nahum 3:7) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F13: (hrbda Mkk) "sicut vos loqui deberem?" Schmidt.
• F14: "Etiam ego ut vos loquerer?" Cocceius; so Broughton.
• F16: "Adjungerem me super vos in sermonibus", Montanus, Bolducius; so Vatablus, Cocceius.
• F17: "Vobis enim aptum sermonem accommodarem", Tigarine version; so Codurcus.
• F18: (yvar-heyna) "et caput meum quassarem super vobis", Cocceius; "movere deberem super vos caput meum?" Schmidt.
• F19: So Tigurine version and Bar Tzemach, (kinhsav ra karh) , Hom. II. 17. v. 200.

[But] I would strengthen you with my mouth
Comfort them with the words of his mouth; so God strengthens his people with strength in their souls, when he answers them with good and comfortable words; an angel strengthened Christ as man when in an agony, comforting him, suggesting comfortable things to him; so one saint may strengthen and comfort another when in distress, whether of soul or body; see (Psalms 138:3) (Luke 22:43Luke 22:32) ;

and thus Job had strengthened and comforted others, with his words in former times, as Eliphaz himself owns, (Job 4:3Job 4:4) and so he would again, were there a change in his circumstances, and objects presented:

and the moving of my lips should assuage [your grief] :
words uttered by him, which are done by the moving of the lips, should be such as would have a tendency to allay grief, to stop, restrain, forbid, and lessen sorrow; at least that it might not break out in an extravagant way, and exceed bounds, and that his friends might not be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.