Job 15:12 Komentář

Perhaps Job was so clear, and so well satisfied, in the goodness of his own cause, that he thought, if he had not convinced, yet he had at least silenced all his three friends; but, it seems he had not: in this chapter they begin a second attack upon him, each of them charging him afresh with as much vehemence as before. It is natural to us to be fond of our own sentiments, and therefore to be firm to them, and with difficulty to be brought to recede from them. Eliphaz here keeps close to the principles upon which he had condemned Job, and, I. He reproves him for justifying himself, and fathers on him many evil things which are unfairly inferred thence (Job 15:2-13). II. He persuades him to humble himself before God and to take shame to himself (Job 15:14-16). III. He reads him a long lecture concerning the woeful estate of wicked people, who harden their hearts against God and the judgments which are prepared for them (v. 17-35). A good use may be made both of his reproofs (for they are plain) and of his doctrine (for it is sound), though both the one and the other are misapplied to Job.

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 15 Job's three friends having in their turns attacked him, and he having given answer respectively to them, Eliphaz, who began the attack, first enters the debate with him again, and proceeds upon the same plan as before, and endeavours to defend his former sentiments, falling upon Job with greater vehemence and severity; he charges him with vanity, imprudence, and unprofitableness in his talk, and acting a part unbecoming his character as a wise man; yea, with impiety and a neglect of religion, or at least as a discourager of it by his words and doctrines, of which his mouth and lips were witnesses against him, Job 15:1; he charges him with arrogance and a high conceit of himself, as if he was the first man that was made, nay, as if he was the eternal wisdom of God, and had been in his council; and, to check his vanity, retorts his own words upon him, or however the sense of them, Job 15:7; and also with slighting the consolations of God; upon which he warmly expostulates with him, Job 15:11; and in order to convince him of his self-righteousness, which he thought he was full of, he argues from the angels, the heavens, and the general case of man, Job 15:14; and then he declares from his own knowledge, and from the relation of wise and ancient men in former times, who made it their observation, that wicked men are afflicted all their days, attended with terror and despair, and liable to various calamities, Job 15:17; the reasons of which are their insolence to God, and hostilities committed against him, which they are encouraged in by their prosperous circumstances, Job 15:25; notwithstanding all, their estates, riches, and wealth, will come to nothing, Job 15:28; and the chapter is closed with an exhortation to such, not to feed themselves up with vain hopes, or trust in uncertain riches, since their destruction would be sure, sudden, and terrible, Job 15:31.

Why doth thine heart carry thee away?.... To such conceit of thyself, and contempt of others, and even to slight the consolations of God; the heart, being deceitful and wicked, sometimes carries away good men to say and do those things which are unbecoming; and if, in any instance, this was Job's case, it was owing to his own heart, which carried him beyond due bounds; for whenever any man is "tempted" to do evil, "he is drawn away of his own lust", and enticed, Jam 1:14; and what do thine eyes wink at; conniving at and shutting his eyes against his own sins and iniquities, unwilling to see them, and be convinced of them, and own them; or shutting them against the charges and reproofs of his friends, and all the light and evidence with which they came; or rather as carelessly attending to them, and scoffing and sneering at them: some render it, "what do thine eyes aim at" (c)? as men, when they take an aim at a mark, wink with or shut one eye; what are thy designs? what hast thou in view? what wouldest thou be at, talking and behaving in such a manner as thou dost? (c) "collimant", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius; so Broughton.

Ver. 12. Why does thine heart lift thee up, and hast thou thine eyes astonished as thinking of great things? Often the mind of the righteous is so suspended in contemplating things on high, that outwardly their face seems to have been struck with stupefaction. But because Heretics are not taught to enforce the power of contemplation in secret, they think that it is done by the just, and those that are imbued with a right understanding, more in hypocrisy than in truth, in that what they cannot themselves obtain the possession of, they do not suppose exists in others in a genuine way.

Second, he shows that the debate was vain and proud, expanding something he had said already, "Will the wise man answer as though he were speaking to the wind?" (v.2) So he then says, "Why does your heart lift you up," in pride to make you presume so much on your wisdom. He tries to demonstrate a sign of pride saying, "and as if you were thinking great things, why do you open your eyes wide in astonishment?" For when someone thinks about great, wonderful things, he is entranced and he opens his eyes wide in astonishment.

The soft answer. Useful correction. Stability of the righteous. The contented mind. The slothful man. The fool. The covetous. The impious. The wicked opposed to the righteous; to the diligent; and to the man who fears the Lord.

Why doth thine heart carry thee away? - Why is it that thou dost conceive and entertain such high sentiments of thyself? And what do thy eyes wink at - With what splendid opinion of thyself is thine eye dazzled? Perhaps there is an allusion here to that sparkling in the eye which is excited by sensations of joy and pleasing objects of sight, or to that furious rolling of the eyes observed in deranged persons. Rosenmuller translates thus: - Quo te tuus animus rapit? Quid occuli tui vibrantes? "Whither does thy soul hurry thee? What mean thy rolling eyes?" Thou seemest transported beyond thyself; thou art actuated by a furious spirit. Thou art beside thyself; thy words and thy eyes show it. None but a madman could speak and act as thou dost; for thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth, Job 15:13. This latter sense seems to agree best with the words of the text, and with the context.

SECOND SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ. (Job 15:1-35) a wise man--which Job claims to be. vain knowledge--Hebrew, "windy knowledge"; literally, "of wind" (Job 8:2). In Ecc 1:14, Hebrew, "to catch wind," expresses to strive for what is vain. east wind--stronger than the previous "wind," for in that region the east wind is the most destructive of winds (Isa 27:8). Thus here,--empty violence. belly--the inward parts, the breast (Pro 18:8).

wink--that is, why do thy eyes evince pride? (Pro 6:13; Psa 35:19).