Job 23:3

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 23:1-7

Job is confident that he has wrong done him by his friends, and therefore, ill as he is, he will not give up the cause, nor let them have the last word. Here, I. He justifies his own resentments of his trouble (Job 23:2): Even to day, I own, my complaint is bitter; for the affliction, the cause of the complaint, is so. There are wormwood and gall in the affliction and misery; my soul has them still in remembrance and is embittered by them, Lam. 3:19, 20. Even to day is my complaint counted... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 23:3

O that I knew where I might find him ,.... That is, God, who is understood, though not expressed, a relative without an antecedent, as in Psalm 87:1 ; Jarchi supplies, and interprets it, "my Judge", from Job 23:7 ; and certain it is Job did desire to find God as a judge sitting on his throne, doing right, that he might have justice done to him: indeed he might be under the hidings of God's face, which added to his affliction, and made it the heavier; in which case, the people of God are... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 23:3

O that I knew where I might find him! - This and the following verse may be read thus: "Who will give me the knowledge of God, that I may find him out? I would come to his establishment; (the place or way in which he has promised to communicate himself); I would exhibit, in detail, my judgment (the cause I wish to be tried) before his face; and my mouth would I fill with convincing or decisive arguments;" arguments drawn from his common method of saving sinners, which I should prove applied... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 23:1-7

Job to Eliphaz: 1. The experience of a seeker after God. I. GREAT SORROW . (Verse 2.) Two wonders. 1 . An afflicted man a seeker after God. Designed to recall men to God ( Job 36:8 , Job 36:9 ; Isaiah 19:22 ; Jeremiah 2:27 ; Hosea 5:15 ), temporal calamity is not always attended by so blessed a result. Unaccompanied by grace, it tends to harden rather than soften the human heart, to repel rather than attract the soul's confidence and love. Happily, however, in Job's case... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 23:1-17

Longing for the appearance of the delivering and justifying God. I. EXCLAMATION . ( Job 23:2-5 .) So bitter is his complaint, "his hand is heavy upon his groaning," i.e. he must force groan after groan out of himself. Oh that he knew where to find the judgment-seat of God, and that he might have the opportunity of pleading his cause! ( Job 23:3-5 ). He possesses still "faith and a good conscience," those best jewels of a Christian ( 1 Timothy 1:5 ), and can think of appearing... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 23:3

Oh that I knew where I might find him! This is the cry of the desolate human soul, feeling its need of God, and yet not knowing how to approach him. God seems to be very far removed from us. He is in heaven, and we are on earth; nay, he is in the highest heaven, or outside it, walking on its circumference ( Job 22:14 ). How are we to approach near to him, so near as to be sure that he can hear us? How are we to "find" him? So, in all ages, has the human heart gone out to God, aspiring... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 23:3

A great question answered. I. THE RECORDED QUESTION . "Oh that I knew where I might find him!" 1 . Necessary ; since man does not naturally understand either where or how to find God ( Romans 1:28 ; 1 Corinthians 1:21 ; Ephesians 4:18 ). 2 . Important ; since only in the finding and knowing God lies the secret of true happiness ( Job 22:21 ) and the pathway to eternal life ( John 17:3 ). 3 . Personal ; since no man can find God for his neighbour, but... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 23:3

The search for God. I. ITS SOURCE . Job is prompted to seek God by his terrible troubles. The false accusations make him the more anxious to find the just Judge, who can clear up the dreadful misunderstandings and vindicate his injured cause. Thus the innocent man in trouble needs God. Still more does the guilty man; for no one can deliver from sin but he against whom one has sinned. Although it is most evident that many who thus need God are not actively seeking for him, yet, even if... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 23:3-13

The true support under deferred judgment. In the bitterness of his complaint and the heaviness of his stroke, Job makes known his desire to appeal directly to God. In the impossibility of this his faith is more and more severely tested; but he reposes in an assurance that the Divine eye is upon him, and he is confident of a just and even merciful sentence. So does conscious integrity uphold the tried and suffering believer, over whom for the present the shadows of suspicion gather, although... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 23:3

Oh that I knew where I might find him! - Where I might find “God.” He had often expressed a wish to bring his cause directly before God, and to be permitted to plead his cause there; see Job 13:3, note; Job 13:20, notes. But this he had not yet been able to do. The argument had been with his three friends, and he saw that there was no use in attempting further to convince them. If he could get the cause before God, and be allowed go plead it there, he felt assured that justice would be done... read more

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