Job v.
Notes & Commentary:
Ver. 1. Saints. This is a proof of the invocation of the saints (Calmet) and angels. (Haydock) — The Jews often begged God to have mercy on them for the sake of the patriarchs, 2 Paralipomenon vi. 42. (Calmet) — Eliphaz, therefore, exhorts Job, if he have any patron or angel, to bring him forward in his defence. (Menochius) — Septuagint, “Invoke now if any one will hear thee, or if thou perceive any of the holy angels,” (Haydock) as I have done. (Menochius) — He extols himself, to correct the pretended presumption of his friend, (Calmet) and other defects, which none will dare to deny, as he supposes. See St. Gregory, v. 30. (Worthington)
Ver. 2. Foolish and….little, here denote the wicked, as in the book of Proverbs. (Calmet) — He accuses Job of anger (Menochius) and folly. (Calmet)
Ver. 3. And I. Septuagint, “But presently their subsistence was eaten up.” I envied not their riches: but judged they would soon end. (Haydock)
Ver. 4. Gate, in judgment. (Menochius)
Ver. 6. Ground. If you had not sinned, you would not suffer. (Calmet)
Ver. 7. Bird. Hebrew, “sparks fly up.” (Haydock) — You can no more then expect to pass unpunished, since it is impossible for man to be innocent! (Calmet) and, at any rate, labour is inevitable. (Menochius) — We must gain our bread by the sweat of our brow. [Genesis iii. 19.] (Worthington)
Ver. 8. I will, or if I were in your place, I would sue for pardon. (Calmet) — Protestants, “I would seek unto God,” (Haydock) under affliction. (Menochius)
Ver. 15. Mouth; detraction and calumny. (Calmet)
Ver. 19. In six, mentioned below; (Menochius) or in many, indefinitely. (Calmet) — Both during the six days of (Menochius) life, and at death, God’s grace delivers us. (St. Gregory) (Worthington)
Ver. 21. Scourge. Ecclesiasticus (xxvi. 9., and xxviii. 21.) has the same expression. See James iii. 6. (Calmet) — Calamity, from robbers, as the Hebrew shod, (Haydock) intimates. The word is rendered destruction, vastitate, ver. 22. (Menochius)
Ver. 23. Stones, so as not to stumble; or, the rocks will be a retreat for thee.
Ver. 24. Beauty does not mean his wife, as some grossly imagine, (Calmet) but a house well ordered. (Menochius) — Hebrew, “thy habitation.” Yet Sanchez adopts the former sentiment. In effect, the habitation includes all the regulation of a wife and family. (Haydock)
Ver. 26. Abundance. “With loud lamentations.” (De Dieu) — “In full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in its season.” (Protestants) — After a life spent in happiness, thy memory will not be obliterated. Many shall bewail thy loss. (Haydock)
Ver. 27. Which thou. Septuagint, “And what we have heard: but do thou reflect with thyself what thou hast done.” (Haydock) — What had been revealed to Eliphaz was very true. Yet his conclusions were unwarrantable. (Calmet) — How confidently does he speak of his own knowledge, and how great must have been his disappointment, when God condemned him of folly, and sent him to be the prayers of that very man whom he now considered as a wretched sinner! (Haydock)
Bible Text & Cross-references:
Eliphaz proceeds in his charge, and exhorts Job to acknowledge his sins.
1 Call now, if there be any that will answer thee, and turn to some of the saints.
2 Anger indeed killeth the foolish, and envy slayeth the little one.
3 I have seen a fool with a strong root, and I cursed his beauty immediately.
4 His children shall be far from safety, and shall be destroyed in the gate, and there shall be none to deliver them.
5 Whose harvest the hungry shall eat, and the armed man shall take him by violence, and the thirsty shall drink up his riches.
6 Nothing upon earth is done without a cause, and sorrow doth not spring out of the ground.
7 Man is born to labour, and the bird to fly.
8 Wherefore I will pray to the Lord, and address my speech to God:
9 Who doth great things, and unsearchable and wonderful things without number:
10 Who giveth rain upon the face of the earth, and watereth all things with waters:
11 Who setteth up the humble on high, and comforteth with health those that mourn.
12 Who bringeth to nought the designs of the malignant, so that their hands cannot accomplish what they had begun:
13 *Who catcheth the wise in their craftiness, and disappointeth the counsel of the wicked:
14 They shall meet with darkness in the day, and grope at noon-day as in the night.
15 But he shall save the needy from the sword of their mouth, and the poor from the hand of the violent.
16 And to the needy there shall he hope, but iniquity shall draw in her mouth.
17 Blessed is the man whom God correcteth: refuse not, therefore, the chastising of the Lord:
18 For he woundeth, and cureth: he striketh, and his hands shall heal.
19 In six troubles he shall deliver thee, and in the seventh, evil shall not touch thee.
20 In famine he shall deliver thee from death; and in battle, from the hand of the sword.
21 Thou shalt be hidden from the scourge of the tongue: and thou shalt not fear calamity when it cometh.
22 In destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: and thou shalt not be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
23 But thou shalt have a covenant with the stones of the lands, and the beasts of the earth shall be at peace with thee.
24 And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle is in peace, and visiting thy beauty, thou shalt not sin.
25 Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be multiplied, and thy offspring like the grass of the earth.
26 Thou shalt enter into the grave in abundance, as a heap of wheat is brought in in its season.
27 Behold, this is even so, as we have searched out: which thou having heard, consider it thoroughly in thy mind.
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13: 1 Corinthians iii. 19.