Verse 1. Saints. This is a proof of the invocation of the saints ( Calmet.) and angels. Bible.—The Jews often begged God to have mercy on them for the sake of the patriarchs. 2 Chronicles 6:42. 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,” ( Bible.) 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 Saint Gregory verse 30. Worthington.
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Verse 2. Foolish and … little, here denote the wicked, as in the book of Proverbs. Calmet.—He accuses Job of anger ( Menochius.) and folly. Calmet.
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Verse 3. And I. Septuagint “But presently their subsistence was eaten up.” I envied not their riches: but judged they would soon end. Bible.
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Verse 4. Gate, in judgment. Menochius.
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Verse 6. Ground. If you had not sinned, you would not suffer. Calmet.
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Verse 7. Bird. Hebrew “sparks fly up.” Bible.—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. Worthington.
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Verse 8. I will, or if I were in your place, I would sue for pardon. Calmet.—Prot. “I would seek unto God,” ( Bible.) under affliction. Menochius.
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Verse 15. Mouth; detraction and calumny. Calmet.
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Verse 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. Saint Gregory Worthington.
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Verse 21. Scourge. Ecclus. (26:9 and 28:21) has the same expression. See Jam. 3:6. Calmet.—Calamity, from robbers, as the Hebrew shod, ( Bible.) intimates. The word is rendered destruction, vastitate, verse 22. Menochius.
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Verse 23. Stones, so as not to stumble; or, the rocks will be a retreat for thee.
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Verse 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. Bible.
Job
Verse 26. Abundance. “With loud lamentations.” De Dieu.—“In full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in its season.” Prot.—After a life spent in happiness, thy memory will not be obliterated. Many shall bewail thy loss. Bible.
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Verse 27. Which thou. Septuagint “And what we have heard: but do thou reflect with thyself what thou hast done.” Bible.—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! Bible.