Job 23:4

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 23:4

I would order my cause before him ,.... Either, as a praying person, direct his prayer to him, and set it in order before him, see Psalm 5:3 ; or else as pleading in his own defence, and in justification of himself; not of his person before God, setting his works of righteousness in order before him, and pleading his justification on the foot of them; for, by these no flesh living can be justified before God; but of his cause, for, as a man may vindicate his cause before men, and clear... 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 23:3-13

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

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 23:4

I would order my cause before him . Job has put away the feelings of shame and diffidence, which were predominant with him when he said, "How should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand" ( Job 9:2 , Job 9:3 ); and again, "How much less shall I answer him, and cheese out my words to reason with him? Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer; but I would make my supplication to my Judge" ( Job 9:14 , Job 9:15 ). He now... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 23:4

I would order my cause before him - Compare the notes at Isaiah 43:26. That is, I would arrange my arguments, or plead my cause, as one does in a court of justice. I would suggest the considerations which would show that I am not guilty in the sense charged by my friends, and that notwithstanding my calamities, I am the real friend of God.And fill my mouth with arguments - Probably he means that he would appeal to the evidence furnished by a life of benevolence and justice, that he was not a... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 23:3-5

Job 23:3-5. O that I knew where I might find him! Namely, God, as his friends well knew. Thou advisest me to acquaint myself with him, I desire nothing so much as his acquaintance and presence; but, alas! he hides his face from me, that I cannot see or come near him. That I might come even to his seat To his throne or judgment-seat, to plead my cause before him. I would order my cause Declare in order the things which concern my cause, would set it in a true light, and show the justice... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Job 23:1-17

Job’s reply to Eliphaz (23:1-24:25)Again Job says that he is not rebelling against God or running away from him as his friends claim. On the contrary he wants to meet God, so that he can present his case to him and listen to God’s answer (23:1-5). He is confident that God will declare him innocent of the charges people have made against him (6-7).No matter where Job has searched for God, he has not found him. He cannot see God, but God can see him. God knows he is upright, and one day, when... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Job 23:4

4. order—state methodically (Job 13:18; Isaiah 43:26). fill, &c.—I would have abundance of arguments to adduce. read more

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