“Attendite me et obstupescite, et superponite digitum ori vestro.”
“Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth. Mark: Heb. Look unto me”
“Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth.”
“Look at me, and be astonished. Lay your hand on your mouth.”
“480 me, and be astonished, And lay your hand upon your mouth.”
He chargeth them as though they were not able to comprehend this his feeling of God’s judgment, and exhorteth them therefore to silence.
Hearken to. Literally, “look steadfastly on me.” (Haydock) — Compare my present with my former condition, and do not pretend to fathom God’s judgments; which fill me also with astonishment, when I consider why the virtuous are distressed, and the wicked prosper, ver. 7. — Mouth be silent. Harpocrates, the god of silence, was represented in this posture; and Virgil says, Intentique ora tenebant. (Æneid ii.) — Septuagint, “upon the cheek,” like men in deep consideration. (Calmet)
All Job's three friends, in their last discourses, had been very copious in describing the miserable condition of a wicked man in this world. "It is true," says Job, "remarkable judgments are sometimes brought upon notorious sinners, but not always; for we have many instances of the great and long prosperity of those that are openly and avowedly wicked; though they are hardened in their wickedness by their prosperity, yet they are still suffered to prosper."
Verses 1-6 Job comes closer to the question in dispute. This was, Whether outward prosperity is a mark of the true church, and the true members of it, so that ruin of a man's prosperity proves him a hypocrite? This they asserted, but Job denied. If they looked upon him, they might see misery enough to demand compassion, and their bold interpretations of this mysterious providence should be turned into silent wonder.