“Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's?”
God. Eliu being greatly mortified at Job’s silence, uses still more provoking expressions, and pretends to refute one of the holy man’s assertions, which never escaped his lips, though he had complained that God treated him as an enemy, and with more severity than his sins deserved; (chap. vi. 2.; Calmet) or, that his affliction was greater than his sin, chap. xxiii. 7., &c. Eliu therefore calumniates him. (Worthington)
“For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin? if: or, by it more than by my sin”
Please thee, since thou punishest the guiltless. (Menochius) — If I sin. Job had not said so, but it seemed to follow from his expressions, chap. xxi. 7. See chap. xxii. 3. Whether sin be committed and punished, or not, what does it profit God? (Calmet) — His sovereign perfections require that he should not let sin pass unnoticed, and Job never entertained an idea to the contrary.
“I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee. answer: Heb. return to thee words”
Thee. I will shew that you are all wrong. (Haydock) — I will supply what the three have left imperfect. (Calmet)
“Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou.”
Thee. Thy sin cannot hurt, nor thy virtue add any thing to God. He is not therefore actuated by resentment, or jealousy, but by justice. (Calmet) — He revenges the injury done by the sinner to himself, ver. 8. (St. Augustine, Conf. iii. 8.) — The inference is therefore wrong, (Calmet) that God will not regard the sins or punishment of men, because he thence derives no profit, ver. 3. (Haydock) — The strong sentences of Eliu agree not (or are ill-applied) to the blessed Job. (St. Gregory xxvi. 7.) (Worthington)
“By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.”
Out. The wicked shall cry out, through vexation, but still they will not address themselves to God, ver. 10. Why are they abandoned, but because He takes cognizance of all?
“But none saith, Where is God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;”
Songs. Arabic, “thoughts,” by means of visions. Chaldean, “where is the Lord, in whose presence the angels sing canticles of praise in the night?” (Calmet) — Septuagint, “who has ordered the night watches;” (Haydock) the stars, which display the power of God? His servants also are filled with interior joy, even in the midst of afflictions. (Calmet)
“Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?”
Air: and yet the wicked make not use of their understanding, to have recourse to God under distress. (Calmet)
“Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.”
Vain. Hebrew, “falsehood.” He will not relieve the hypocrite, who does not cry to him with sincerity. This conduct shews that God acts with discretion, and hears people according to their deserts. (Calmet)
“Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.”
Before him. Try whether the assertion be true. (Haydock) — Only change thy life, and hope in him, and thou wilt see the good effects. (Calmet)
“But now, because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth it not in great extremity: he hath: that is, God hath he knoweth: that is, Job knoweth”
For. Protestants, “But now because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger; yet he (marginal note, Job) knoweth it not, in great extremity.” (Haydock) — In this world, God punishes not with rigour. (Calmet)
“Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.”
Knowledge. I have shewn that God punishes or rewards according to our deserts, and is not indifferent about our sins. If Job have not experienced the divine bounty, it is because he has not deserved it. (Calmet)