CHAP. XXII.
Eliphaz asserts, that Job's justification of himself doth not please God, and that he is surrounded with snares, because he had been guilty of many iniquities. He exhorts him to repentance, with promises of mercy.
Before Christ 1645.
Job 22:1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered— Eliphaz here, increasing in his indignation, charges Job home with particular facts of cruelty and oppression; to which he adds the atrocious crime of atheism, and a denial or disbelief of Providence; and this latter he assigns as the reason of Job's obstinacy in refusing to submit and acknowledge his guilt: Job 22:2-14. He compares his wickedness with that of the mighty oppressors of the antediluvian world; with that of the inhabitants of Sodom, and the cities of the plain; intimating not obscurely, that his end would probably be the same as theirs, unless prevented by a speedy submission, and full restitution, Job 22:15-20 to which he therefore earnestly presses him, and endeavours to allure him by placing full in his view the great advantages that he would probably reap from such a conduct: Job 22:21 to the end. Heath.

Job 22:3. Is it any pleasure? &c.— Is it any advantage. Heath.

Job 22:4. Will he reprove thee— Will he dispute with thee concerning thy religion? Houbigant.

Job 22:6. For thou hast taken a pledge— See chap. Job 24:7. Who that sees this ranked among the greatest enormities, says Bishop Warbuton, but will reflect that it must have been written by one studied in the law of Moses; which says, If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the sun goeth down, &c. But was this practice of taking a pledge peculiar to the Israelites? or rather, was it not absolutely necessary in those early times, before they had the use of money, at least in any great plenty? See on chap. Job 42:11. Now, when all commerce was in a manner transacted without money, and chiefly by an exchange of one commodity for another, the taking of a pledge must of necessity happen very frequently: a proper exchange not being to be had. This, therefore, would make the custom as common in Arabia as in Judea; and I conceive that any hard usage to the poor in this way was as much to be condemned in the one country as in the other. See Peters.

Job 22:8. But as for the mighty man— But if any one had sown a field for himself, being in thy favour, he received the fruit of it. Houbigant, in part after the Syriac. Heath renders it, but as for the mighty man, the whole land was for him; and thy particular favourite he might dwell in it. The meaning of Eliphaz seems to be, that while Job oppressed the poor, he courted and paid all adulating respect to the great and the rich.

Job 22:11. Or darkness— Thou beholdest darkness, and not light. Houbigant. Heath renders it, Or is it dark, that thou canst not see? Observing that the path of the wicked man is here represented as covered with darkness, so that he cannot see the snares which are laid for him, but falls into them: in antithesis to which, the path of the righteous man is represented in the 28th verse as all light; The light shall shine upon thy ways? Houbigant renders the last cause of the 9th verse, and thou hast broken the arms of the fatherless.

Job 22:12. Is not God in the height of heaven?— Is not God high above the heavens? Yea, see the summit of the stars how high they are. This verse is the answer which he supposes Job to make; the consequences of which he draws out at large in the following verses. He takes his handle from Job 22:16 of the former chapter, as appears from his retorting the latter clause of it against Job in Job 22:18. See Heath; who observes, that the particle rendered and at the beginning of the next verse, should be rendered from whence, as it is the inference drawn from the infinite distance at which he supposes God to be removed from human affairs.

Job 22:21. Acquaint now thyself, &c.— Humble thyself, I pray thee, before him, and make restitution. Heath.

Job 22:22. Receive, I pray thee, &c.— This phrase, says Bishop Warburton, was taken from the verbal delivery of the Jewish law from Mount Sinai. He adds, "The rabbins were so sensible of the expressive peculiarity of this phrase, that they say the law of Moses is here spoken of by a kind of prophetic anticipation." It is of little moment, in the present case, what the rabbins say; the argument, if it carries any weight with it, must proceed upon this supposition, that men were under no divine law; had no precepts of their duty given them by God, before the law was published from Mount Sinai; or at least, whatever precepts might be given them, they were not distinguished by the term here used, of a law. But neither of these points can be allowed. God says to Isaac, Genesis 26:5. I will bless thee, because that Abraham kept my charge, and my law, or laws. This, we are assured, was long before the law of Moses was given; and therefore means probably some divine precepts of religion, delivered down from Adam, or from Noah, to succeeding generations. These are what Job calls the words of the holy One, chap. Job 6:10 and remarkably, chap. Job 23:12 the words of God's mouth, which he esteemed more than his necessary food.

Job 22:24. Then shalt thou lay up gold, &c.— And count the fine gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks: Job 22:25. For, the Almighty shall be thy fine gold, &c. Heath; who observes, that Grotius has given a right exposition of the 24th verse: Value not the gold more than dust, nor the gold of Ophir than the stones of the torrent.