Job 23:10-17

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 23:8-12

Here, I. Job complains that he cannot understand the meaning of God's providences concerning him, but is quite at a loss about them (Job 23:8, 9): I go forward, but he is not there, etc. Eliphaz had bid him acquaint himself with God. ?So I would, with all my heart,? says Job, ?If I knew how to get acquainted with him.? He had himself a great desire to appear before God, and get a hearing of his case, but the Judge was not to be found. Look which way he would, he could see no sign of God's... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Job 23:13-17

Some make Job to complain here that God dealt unjustly and unfairly with him in proceeding to punish him without the least relenting or relaxation, though he had such incontestable evidences to produce of his innocency. I am loth to think holy Job would charge the holy God with iniquity; but his complaint is indeed bitter and peevish, and he reasons himself into a sort of patience per force, which he cannot do without reflecting upon God as dealing hardly with him, but he must bear it because... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 23:10

But he knoweth the way that I take ,.... This he seems to say in a way of solace to himself, comforting and contenting himself, that though he could not find God, nor knew where he was, or what way he took, nor the reasons of his ways and dispensations with the children of men, and with himself, yet God knew where he was, and what way he took; by which he means either the way he took, being directed to it for his acceptance with God, his justification before him, and eternal salvation; which... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 23:11

My foot hath held his steps ,.... Trod in the steps he has walked in; he followed God closely, imitated him in acts of holiness and righteousness, of mercy, kindness, and beneficence; and he continued therein; as he set his foot in the steps of God, which were to him for an example, he persisted therein; as he followed on to know him, so to imitate him, and walk worthy of him: his way have I kept ; the way he prescribed him, and directed him to walk in, the way of his commandments, which... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 23:12

Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips ,.... From any of the commandments his lips had uttered; meaning not the ten commandments given to Israel, which perhaps as yet were not given, or had not come to the knowledge of Job; some speak of the seven commandments, given to the sons of Noah; See Gill on Genesis 9:4 . It seems to design any and every commandment that God had given to Noah or Abraham, or any of the patriarchs, before the times of Job, and which he had... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 23:13

But he is in one mind ,.... Either with respect to his commandments, every precept remains in full force, he never alters the thing that is gone out of his lips, or delivers out other commandments different from, or contrary to what he has given; and therefore Job thought it his duty to abide by them, and not decline from them; which is the sense of a Jewish commentator F3 Sophorno. , connecting the words with the preceding: Or with respect to his dispensations towards Job in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 23:14

For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me ,.... The same word is used as at the end of Job 23:12 ; where it is rendered, "my necessary food"; or appointed food a certain portion of it; food convenient, daily bread; and this has led some interpreters to take it in the same sense here, and render it, "he performeth my necessary things" F5 כי ישלים חקי "quia perfecit necessaria mea", Vatablus; so Nachmanides, Ben Gersom, Sephorno. , or things necessary for me;... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 23:15

Therefore am I troubled at his presence ,.... Not at his gracious presence, which he wanted, and every good man desires; but at his appearance as an enemy, as he apprehended him, laying and continuing his afflictive hand upon him, and indeed at his appearance as a Judge to try his cause; for though he had most earnestly desired it, yet when he thought of the sovereignty of God, and the immutability of his counsels, and of his perfect knowledge of all things; and he not knowing what he had... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 23:16

For God maketh my heart soft ,.... Not tender as Josiah's was, 2 Kings 22:19 , or as the heart of every penitent is, when God makes it humble and contrite by his spirit and grace, or takes away the stony heart, and gives an heart of flesh; though Job had such an heart, and God made it so; but he means a weak, feeble, fearful heart, pressed and broken with afflictions, that could not endure and bear up under the mighty hand of God; but became as water, and melted like wax in the midst of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Job 23:17

Because I was not cut off before the darkness ,.... That is, it was amazing to him, and troubled him when he thought of it, that he was not cut off by death, before the darkness of afflictions, or this dark dispensation came upon him; as sometimes righteous ones are taken from the evil to come, as Methuselah was before the flood, Genesis 5:27 ; and Job wonders this was not his case, or at least he wishes it had been; for so Aben Ezra seems to understand and read the words, "why was I not... read more

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