Job 11:7,Job 11:8

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 11:7-12

Zophar here speaks very good things concerning God and his greatness and glory, concerning man and his vanity and folly: these two compared together, and duly considered, will have a powerful influence upon our submission to all the dispensations of the divine Providence. I. See here what God is, and let him be adored. 1. He is an incomprehensible Being, infinite and immense, whose nature and perfections our finite understandings cannot possibly form any adequate conceptions of, and whose... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 11:7

Canst thou by searching find out God ?.... God is not to be found out by human search; that there is a God may be found out by inquiring into the book of nature, by considering the creatures that are made, who all proclaim some first cause or maker of them, who is God; but then it cannot be found out what God is, his nature, being, and perfections: an Heathen philosopher F9 Simonides, apud Cicero, de Nat. Deor. l. 1. , being asked by a certain king what God was, required a day to give... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 11:7

Canst thou by searching find out God? - What is God? A Being self-existent, eternal, infinite, immense, without bounds, incomprehensible either by mind, or time, or space. Who then can find this Being out? Who can fathom his depths, ascend to his heights, extend to his breadths, and comprehend the infinitude of his perfections? read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 11:1-20

Zophar, the Naamathite, the third of Job's comforters ( Job 2:11 ), and probably the youngest of them, now at last takes the word, and delivers an angry and violent speech. He begins by accusing Job of having spoken at undue length, and at the same time, boastfully and mockingly (verses 2-4). He then expresses a wish that God would take Job at his word, and really answer him, since he is sure that the result would be to show that Job had been punished much less than he. deserved to be... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 11:1-20

Humble yourselves beneath the mighty hand of God. Zophar, the youngest of the friends, now comes forward once more to beat down the complaint of Job with the old arguments and commonplaces. To support his words, he does not appeal to a vision like Eliphaz, nor rely on the wisdom of the ancients like Bildad, but depends on his own understanding and zealous though narrow instinct for God. His whole speech is an example of the beauty and, at the same time, the defect of religious zeal. In... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 11:7

Canst thou by searching find out God? literally, Canst thou attain to the searching out of God? Canst thou suppose, that is, that, whatever thy wisdom, learning, subtlety, sagacity, power of insight, thou wilt be able to search out and fully know the character, attributes, modes of thought and action, of the Most High? No. In one sense, all men do well to profess them. selves "Agnostics"—not that they can know nothing of God, but that they can never know him fully, never exhaust the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 11:7

The unsearchable depth of God. It has been said that Zophar shows "some touch of the base courtier spirit and motive" in thus eulogizing the wisdom of God. He seems to wish to secure God on his side. While he rebukes Job he flatters God. Nevertheless, though his motive may be unworthy, the question which he here raises is real and important. I. GOD 'S THOUGHT IS UNFATHOMABLY DEEP . 1 . It must be so because God is infinite. If we could understand God completely, it would... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 11:7-12

Zophar to Job: 2. God's wisdom and man's folly. I. THE PERFECTION OF DIVINE WISDOM . 1 . Unsearchable. Zophar's interrogations (verse 7) may signify either that man can never fully understand God, or that man's wisdom can never fully equal God's. Taken either way, they mean that the Divine wisdom, already described as "fold upon fold" (verse 6), transcends the comprehension of a finite mind. Whether the knowledge of God attainable by the speculative reason is a real and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 11:7-12

Man humbled before God. Vain man reasons upon the ways of God, and presumes to penetrate to the depths of the Divine wisdom. A professed wisdom lands him in folly. To scale the heavens is as easy as to "find out the Almighty to perfection," to fathom the depths of the Divine designs. Job and his friends and hosts of others of us attempt to explain the name and ways of God, but our efforts are vain, and but expose a folly equal to our ignorance. I. THE DIVINE NATURE AND THE ... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 11:7

Canst then, by searching, find out God? - In order to illustrate the sentiment which he had just expressed, that the secrets of divine wisdom must be far above our comprehension, Zophar introduces here this sublime description of God - a description which seems to have the form and force of a proverb. It seems to have been a settled opinion that man could not find out the Almighty to perfection by his own powers - a sentiment, which is as true now, as it was then, and which is of the utmost... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 11:7-12

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 11:7

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Job 11:7

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 11:1-20

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 11:1-20

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 11:7

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 11:7

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 11:7-12

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 11:7-12

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 11:7

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