Job 22:13

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 22:5-14

Eliphaz and his companions had condemned Job, in general, as a wicked man and a hypocrite; but none of them had descended to particulars, nor drawn up any articles of impeachment against him, until Eliphaz did so here, where he positively and expressly charges him with many high crimes and misdemeanours, which, if he had really been guilty of them, might well have justified them in their harsh censures of him. ?Come,? says Eliphaz, ?we have been too long beating about the bush, too tender of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 22:13

And thou sayest, how doth God know ?.... What is done on earth, the works of the children of men, their sinful actions, when he dwells at such a distance, and so remote from the earth, as the height of the stars, and highest heavens, be; not that Job said this expressly with his lips, but in his heart; Eliphaz imagined and supposed that such was the reasoning of his mind; it was an invidious consequence he had drawn from what Job had said concerning the afflictions of the godly, and the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 22:1-30

Eliphaz returns to the attack, but with observations that are at first strangely pointless and irrelevant, e.g. on the unprofitableness of man to God (verses l, 2), and on the slight importance of Job's case (verse 3). After this weak prelude, however, there is more vigour in his assault. In verses 4-9 he directly charges Job with a number of specified sins, and in verses 10, 11 declares his sufferings to be the consequence of them. He then proceeds to accuse him of denying God's... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 22:1-30

Censorious and uncharitable reasoning. Eliphaz again takes up the word. He does not contest Job's position, that life presents many examples of the prosperity of the godless, and of the calamities of the godly, but he still maintains that only grievous sins, such as he proceeds to specify — oppression, hard-heartedness, injustice to his neighbours—could be the cause of his misfortunes and miseries (verses 2-10). He then proceeds to give an earnest warning against further indulgence in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 22:5-20

Eliphaz to Job: 2. A false accusation. I. A CHARGE OF FLAGRANT IMMORALITY . 1 . Generally preferred. (Verse 5.) All sin may be justly characterized as great, being committed against a great God, a great Law, great light, great love, great obligations, and great penalties; and every man's iniquities may be styled "without an end," i.e. numberless, since David says of his, "They are more than the hairs of mine head" ( Psalms 40:12 ); but Eliphaz designs to represent Job's... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 22:13

And thou sayest, How doth God know? Job had not said this in so many words, but, by equalizing the godly and the wicked ( Job 9:22 ; Job 21:23-26 ), he might be supposed to mean that God took no note of men's conduct, and therefore had not a perfect knowledge of all things. The psalmist implies that many men so thought ( Psalms 10:11 ; Psalms 73:11 ; Psalms 94:7 ). Can he judge through the dark cloud? rather, through the thick darkness. God was supposed to dwell remote from... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 22:13

God's knowledge. I. THE APPARENT DIFFICULTY OF IT . It may not be asserted that God does not know all, and yet people act as though they could hide from God. In distress and loneliness it sometimes seems as though God could not know whet were the troubles of his children, or he would not permit them to be so grievously tried. The vastness of the universe raises the same difficulty. Many things are covered up, and it is not easy for us to believe that he can "judge through the thick... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 22:13-14

The unseen eye. God is exalted; he is "in the height of heaven." He is unseen by man, and therefore often forgotten. He is above, beyond; and the frail judgment perverts this great truth into— I. A SUPPOSITION OF THE DIVINE IGNORANCE OF HUMAN AFFAIRS . "How doth God know?" "Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not." Thus ignorance or folly perverts the right and the good. Either the judgment or the moral character is at fault. Men sin in forgetfulness that... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 22:13

And thou sayest, How doth God know? - That is, it “follows” from what you have said; or the opinion which you have advanced is “the same” as if you had affirmed this. How common it is to charge a man with holding what we “infer,” from something which he has advanced, he must hold, and then to proceed to argue “as if” he actually held that. The philosophy of this is plain. He advances a certain opinion. “We” infer at once that he can hold that only on certain grounds, or that if he holds that he... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 22:13

Job 22:13. And Or therefore, thou sayest, How doth God know? &c. From this true and certain principle, thou drawest a false and wicked conclusion, and fanciest, perhaps, that because he is so high he minds not what is done here below: or, that he cannot discern the difference of things so very remote, through those immense and innumerable clouds which lie between the heaven and the earth. read more

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